Tom Dunne: All these years later, Sparks still light up my life

Sparks were one of the first groups to make an impact on me, and I'm delighted to discover they're still making quality music 

Sparks are about to release their 26th album, Mad. 

“Would you like to talk to Ron and Russell Mael, aka Sparks?” asked the nice man in the record company.

I said yes before he’d finished saying Mael, but as I made space in my diary I couldn’t help but think, “Honestly, Ron and Russell STILL making music! How can it be?” I would have first heard Sparks’ This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us whilst sitting on my parents’ front step in 1974. The world that surrounded me on that step has long since dissolved, but the Sparks lads: untouched, it would seem, by time.