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´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 6 Music's very own Katie Puckrik shares tracks inspired by Sparks, ahead of her documentary on the band airing on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 2.

Sparks will feature in a two-part Radio 2 documentary ‘The Birth Of Sparks – from Beach Boys To Blighty’, presented by Katie. In it, she talks to Ron and Russell about their formative years growing up on Sunset Strip in the late 1960s, meeting and mingling with the stars and emerging artists of that vital Los Angeles music scene and how that experience both shaped and influenced them over the years. She also traces their move to Britain and their role in helping to define the 70s as one of musical innovation where art school sensibilities met operatic spectacle.

The 60s tracks she selected inspired Sparks (Russell was trying to sing like Mick Jagger, and Ron was trying to be Pete Townsend, except with a piano). Alice Cooper and Frank Zappa were peers in LA, and Byrds/Doors/Beach Boys were local heroes who spurred the birth of Sparks. Queen opened for Sparks at the Marquee in the early 70s, and certainly cribbed some poperatic stylings. Ron and Russell had a friendly competition going on with Roxy Music, and they loved the Chinn/Chapman stuff like The Sweet/Mud. Jimmy Sommerville, FFS, Yo La Tengo and HMLTD are the "children of Sparks".

Featured tracks:
• The Rolling Stones - Little Red Rooster
• The Beach Boys - Be True to Your School
• The Beach Boys – Vegetables
• The Ronettes - (The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up
• The Byrds - 8 Miles High
• The Who - Tattoo
• The Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina
• The Move - Blackberry Way
• T Rex - Cosmic Dancer
• The Nazz - Close My Eyes
• Doors - Break on Through
• Love – Alone Again Or
• Bob Dylan – Positively 4th Street
• Alice Cooper - Beautiful Flyaway
• Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - Why Don’tcha Do Me Right?
• Kinks - Shangrila
• Mudd - Crazy
• Sweet - Block Buster!
• Roxy Music - Do the Strand
• Queen - Killer Queen
• Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
• Sparks - High C
• Sparks - Amateur Hour
• Sparks - The No. 1 Song in Heaven (feat. Jimmy Sommerville, from Plagiarism)
• FFS - Call Girl
• Yo La Tengo - Beanbag Chair
• HMLTD - To the Door

Katie's two-part documentary 'The Birth of Sparks - from Beach Boys To Blighty' airs on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 2 on May 23 and May 30 between 2100-2200. You can also listen back on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer Radio App.

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