134: Sparks - Balls (2000) - Aeroflot

Sparks invite us aboard one of the most questionable flights in pop history with “Aeroflot.”We discuss the track’s hard-edged electronic production, its slow build from a relatively thin opening into a much more forceful final section, and the guitar, synths and live drum fills that give the closing stretch its impact. The result feels closely related to the title track “Balls,” though several of us wonder whether the studio version needed even more punch.Lyrically, this is classic Sparks: an apparent advertisement for Aeroflot filled with reasons to feel deeply uneasy about flying with them. Lines about having “reservations,” loving adventure and making Richard Branson jealous turn the song into a brilliantly ambiguous piece of airline promotion, while references to Eisenstein continue the Mael brothers’ fascination with cinema.Originally released as the B-side to “More Than a Sex Machine,” “Aeroflot” became a lively concert number—including a particularly appropriate performance in Moscow—and offers a comic contrast to the far more enthusiastic celebration of travel later on “Bullet Train.”