Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020)
Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020)
EAC Rip | FLAC (Img) + Cue + Log ~ 406 Mb | MP3 CBR320 ~ 132 Mb
Full Scans ~ 432 Mb | 00:54:27 | RAR 5% Recovery
Pop Rock, Art Rock, New Wave, Dance-Rock | BMG #538600762 / 4050538600766
EAC Rip | FLAC (Img) + Cue + Log ~ 406 Mb | MP3 CBR320 ~ 132 Mb
Full Scans ~ 432 Mb | 00:54:27 | RAR 5% Recovery
Pop Rock, Art Rock, New Wave, Dance-Rock | BMG #538600762 / 4050538600766
"Our inconsistency is our consistency/our insincerity is our sincerity," Russel Mael sings at one point on A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip. It's a sentiment that could pass for Sparks' manifesto: Over the years, fans have come to expect dizzyingly witty lyrics and dazzling, ever-changing sonics from the Mael brothers. Their 24th album offers plenty of both, as well as a more pointed outlook and a slightly more down-to-earth sound than the duo's last outing, 2017's Hippopotamus. Ron and Russel Mael give these songs about misfits, outliers, and disasters a driving urgency, whether on "Sainthood Is Not in Your Future"'s sprightly tale of betrayal or the darkly cosmic "Nothing Travels Faster Than the Speed of Light," which provides a great showcase for Ron Mael's formidable keyboard skills. Similarly, stomping synth pop hits home the message of "iPhone," where the Maels imagine technology aided lack of communication stretching back to the Garden of Eve and sum up their frustration on the earworm chorus "put your fucking iPhone down and listen to me!" Fortunately, impending doom brings out the best in Sparks' music, and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip's most trenchant songs are among its brightest highlights. On "I'm Toast," the grinding synths and guitars build as their fortunes – and those of "Empty nesters/Bad investors/Lovers who've been wronged" – sink lower and lower. With its grand sound and deprecating words, "Self-Effacing" is an instant-classic Sparks song that revives the chugging new wave the Maels reprised most recently on their Franz Ferdinand collaboration FFS, while "Left Out in the Cold"'s deep freeze reaffirms that synth pop will always be one of their greatest strengths. Elsewhere, Sparks balance A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip's sketches of failure and disappointment with just the right amount of giddy escapism; it's easy to imagine an intricately choreographed musical number involving Toros and John Deeres set to "Lawnmower"'s loopy suburban fantasia. "Stravinsky's Only Hit," which boasts a quintessentially Sparks song title along with its bombastic symphonic pop, is another triumph of the Maels' wit and craft. The duo also leave a little hope in the Pandora's box of A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, as well as some genuine emotion. On the poignant ecological plea "Please Don't Fuck Up My World," they manage to use a children's choir to non-cloying effect, and on "All That," they sing the praises of a long-running relationship's ups and downs with the sincerity only an act with as many decades behind them as they have could muster. Here and throughout A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, Ron and Russel Mael riff on their history deftly, and the results are both timely and quintessentially Sparks.~ Heather Phares, All Music
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Track List:
01. All That [4:45]
02. I'm Toast [3:32]
03. Lawnmower [3:39]
04. Sainthood Is Not In Your Future [4:13]
05. Pacific Standard Time [4:23]
06. Stravinsky's Only Hit [4:10]
07. Left Out In The Cold [4:18]
08. Self-Effacing [3:42]
09. One For The Ages [3:49]
10. Onomata Pia [2:52]
11. iPhone [4:01]
12. The Existential Threat [3:24]
13. Nothing Travels Faster Than The Speed Of Light [4:26]
14. Please Don't Fuck Up My World [3:15]
Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015
EAC extraction logfile from 5. July 2020, 22:35
Sparks / A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
Used drive : MATSHITADVD+-RW SW830 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:44.48 | 0 | 21347
2 | 4:44.48 | 3:31.43 | 21348 | 37215
3 | 8:16.16 | 3:38.44 | 37216 | 53609
4 | 11:54.60 | 4:12.52 | 53610 | 72561
5 | 16:07.37 | 4:23.15 | 72562 | 92301
6 | 20:30.52 | 4:09.72 | 92302 | 111048
7 | 24:40.49 | 4:18.12 | 111049 | 130410
8 | 28:58.61 | 3:42.08 | 130411 | 147068
9 | 32:40.69 | 3:48.52 | 147069 | 164220
10 | 36:29.46 | 2:51.63 | 164221 | 177108
11 | 39:21.34 | 4:01.25 | 177109 | 195208
12 | 43:22.59 | 3:23.55 | 195209 | 210488
13 | 46:46.39 | 4:25.62 | 210489 | 230425
14 | 51:12.26 | 3:14.40 | 230426 | 245015
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\Users\Boris\Desktop\lossless\sprx20\Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 84CAEB9D
Copy CRC 84CAEB9D
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: 8oqOmT3c4xo9tdIdXIoCAN61hAw-] found
Submit result: 8oqOmT3c4xo9tdIdXIoCAN61hAw- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
2 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
3 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
4 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
5 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
6 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
7 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
8 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
9 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
10 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
11 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
12 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
13 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
14 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum EFDCEE9EECE94F038E073A57CE749649B4544CCF4490CF638ED5A6CE073FA504 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 5. July 2020, 22:35
Sparks / A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
Used drive : MATSHITADVD+-RW SW830 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:44.48 | 0 | 21347
2 | 4:44.48 | 3:31.43 | 21348 | 37215
3 | 8:16.16 | 3:38.44 | 37216 | 53609
4 | 11:54.60 | 4:12.52 | 53610 | 72561
5 | 16:07.37 | 4:23.15 | 72562 | 92301
6 | 20:30.52 | 4:09.72 | 92302 | 111048
7 | 24:40.49 | 4:18.12 | 111049 | 130410
8 | 28:58.61 | 3:42.08 | 130411 | 147068
9 | 32:40.69 | 3:48.52 | 147069 | 164220
10 | 36:29.46 | 2:51.63 | 164221 | 177108
11 | 39:21.34 | 4:01.25 | 177109 | 195208
12 | 43:22.59 | 3:23.55 | 195209 | 210488
13 | 46:46.39 | 4:25.62 | 210489 | 230425
14 | 51:12.26 | 3:14.40 | 230426 | 245015
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename C:\Users\Boris\Desktop\lossless\sprx20\Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 84CAEB9D
Copy CRC 84CAEB9D
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database
Track 14 not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: 8oqOmT3c4xo9tdIdXIoCAN61hAw-] found
Submit result: 8oqOmT3c4xo9tdIdXIoCAN61hAw- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
2 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
3 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
4 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
5 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
6 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
7 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
8 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
9 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
10 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
11 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
12 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
13 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
14 | (6/6) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum EFDCEE9EECE94F038E073A57CE749649B4544CCF4490CF638ED5A6CE073FA504 ====