Reviews for "Miss Philadelphia"

No better way to start than with this band from Philadelphia. They combine the sound of both the Clash and the Replacements, and have released an album full of great songs like "Last Great Saturday Night", "Among The Heather", "St. Bridget's Cross" and "Positively Broad Street". It’s one of those albums you play over and over again, and has definitely been the one I've listened to the most this month.

— Los Rincones de Mister Outside

Sometimes a good press release does enough to make you know that you’re going to love a band from just a couple of lines. That’s certainly true when the details of “Miss Philadelphia” dropped in our inbox and described The Sparklers as “punch drunk romantics playing gutter pop and junk country”. That’s literally a perfect description of the music we love to hear!

The album certainly starts off in rocking style with the ballsy but catchy “Slow Songs Fast”. Tracks like “Victories Past” and “To Catch A Plane” are straight up rock songs that get the foot tapping and the heart beating. One of the things that first brought the band to our attention were references to The Replacements (one of our favourite bands) and you can certainly feel their influence on the quite brilliant “Last Great Saturday Night”. This song expertly mixes a punk bar band feel with a melodic rock sound. Indeed, songs like “Our Beloved Grudges” and “Too Many Scars” are songs that could be compared to that band at their Tim/Pleased to Meet Me peak…quite an achievement.

One of the things that made The Replacements so great (certainly as they developed) was their ability to slip in some more heartfelt slower numbers amongst all the chaotic rock n roll. The Sparklers also demonstrate that they are more than capable of carrying out that trick with songs like “Heaven Evelyn” and “St Bridget’s Cross”. The first of those in particular is a beautifully melodic song that you just wish was getting constant plays on the radio. The band contrast those more laid-back tracks with songs like “Mercury Falls” and “Among The Heather”. They’re the kind of Springsteen gone punk numbers that has made the Gaslight Anthem so popular.

This is just a great album that showcases a band committed to playing great rock n roll music. They manage to balance a sense of raucous abandon with still being able to deliver songs that are melodic and catchy. There’s a sense of authenticity and genuine love for the great music of the past that few bands seem to be able to tune into these days. Definitely an album that fans of American rock need to pick up.

— The Soul of a Clown

I’ve been blogging for 10 years, and one of these days I’ll pick a random review and try to guess what I was sad or mad about. So I can’t think of a better band to be cryptically depressed with than The Sparklers. 10 years of Adobe & Teardrops, probably a literal 1.5 million songs listened to, thousands of album reviews, and I can say confidently that The Sparklers are one of the best to ever do it.

Crying at the Low Bar is one of my all-time favorite Adobe & Teardrops albums, and you can read that review here, though the post doesn’t seem to have fully transferred from Blogger. Anyway, it’s one of my all-time favorites.

The band’s latest release, Miss Philadelphia, is as much a directive as it is a series of character sketches of the down and out in South Philly. Where the band’s previous album, All The Prettiest Girls Go Straight to Hell, captured a fiery Uncle Tupelo country-rock energy, Miss Philadelphia feels like the happy medium between that fury and the dry despondency of Crying at the Low Bar. I hear a healthy dose of Springsteen and punk here — think Gaslight Anthem but swap the youthful energy with the weight of experience.

That doesn’t mean these songs are any more muted. In fact, the band re-recording Crying‘s singular “To Catch a Plane.” Where the initial recording is permeated with regret, the new version is full of righteous fury at a person who chose to left the narrator behind.

Every time I spin the album, something new jumps out at me. A heavy hook here, a flash of lyrical brilliance there. “St Bridget’s Cross” stands out to me as a newer variation of the band’s main themes: carefully layered, maybe even a bit poppy, it finds The Sparklers at an emotional crossroads, perhaps in a place to process rather than vent. Contrast with “Positively Broad Street,” as much a testament to frustration as the righteous joyfulness of sticking things out for so long.

As with all of the band’s previous work, there’s always something to pull me back into this world. The music is a wall of sound, with the vocals sitting just behind the music, sometimes inaudible just as they would be at the local dive bar. And yet, there’s no shortage of flashes of lyrical brilliance, perhaps a reflection of the band’s world view that in spite of the chaos and existential meaninglessness of life, something beautiful always shines through. Always.

— Adobe and Teardrops

From the first notes of Miss Philadelphia, the latest album from The Sparklers, it’s obvious these guys are serious about their dad rock. The ghosts of Husker Dü, The Replacements, and The Clash haunt their music like Casper wearing Chuck Taylors. And their bar band punk songs hold their own against songs by peers like Gaslight Anthem and Lucero. Still, even though The Sparklers have been around since 2001, the South Philly band’s only released three albums and a couple of EPs. Come on, fellas! We need more Sparkle!

— Dad Rock, Etc.

Loud, melodic rock and roll best played at full blast.

This loud, melodic band from Philadelphia, who have been recording and playing together since 2001, are clearly fans of and influenced by The Clash, The Replacements and Husker Du – they combine a real twenty first century freshness with a throwback to the late 70s when rock ‘n’ roll fused with punk.

The Sparklers’ third full length album release, ‘Miss Philadelphia‘, should be played at full blast! The trio – Brian McCracken on vocals and guitar, John Douglas Smith on vocals and bass, and Steve Kirsch on drums – create a brilliantly exciting, loud and distinctive sound, featuring ‘heart on the sleeve’ lyrics, anthemic guitars and driving rhythms. From the opening chords of the excellent ‘Slow Songs Fast‘ to album closer, ‘Positively Broad Street‘, the pace barely lets up, and it is easy to imagine these songs played live in a small, sweaty bar with the audience packed in and singing along to every chorus.

Take, for example, this reviewer’s personal favourite ‘St Bridget’s Cross‘, which starts quietly then builds superbly with a refrain that really works its way under your skin. It’s a great track from a quite excellent album.

— Graham Bollands
Americana UK

Philadelphia Calling – Clashing Rockers THE SPARKLERS Have A Punk Riot Of Their Own

The Sparklers bring 1977 to 2022. They looked/listened to the past, took notes, tuned up their guitars and their monitors in their basement, and here they are today with a riot of their own. Yes, the spit and sneer spirit of iconic legends The Clash is all over this record.

Spiky guitars on a ripping roll, throbbing drum beats, and anxious vocals (Slow Songs Fast / Late Great Saturday Night / Among The Heather). But also Bob Mould and his former mates Hüsker Dü are part of the party ( Victories Past / Positively Broad Street / Mercury Falls).

This Philly trio masters all the triggering tricks to make you jump all over the place like a crackpot on a pogo stick. Need more to vote? I don’t think so.

Miss Philadelphia has won the contest.

— JL
Turn Up The Volume