Sparks: The Bearsville/Halfnelson Years Part 2 with Harley Feinstein

In Part 2 of this special edition of Retrosonic Podcast we are very pleased to welcome back Harley Feinstein, the original drummer with Sparks. Harley appeared on the band's first two Bearsville Records albums "Halfnelson/Sparks" and "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing", and their very first visit to the UK back in the early Seventies. In the previous Episode Harley told us about how he first met Ron and Russell Mael and joined the band. Now in Part 2, Harley talks about the band's first experiences in a studio with Todd Rundgren and James Lowe of The Electric Prunes and how a notorious bunch of Groupies contributed to them getting signed to Bob Dylan's manager's record label. This introduces the band to the nefarious world of the music business with it's aggressive managers and pressure to "make it". There's the enforced name change from Halfnelson to Sparks and we discover some of the hilarious, and slightly worrying, alternate names that the band might have been lumbered with. We follow the band to England and their first TV appearance on Old Grey Whistle Test and sold-out gig at the Marquee and residency at The Pheasantry and the taste of what can be achieved on record company expenses. We then find out how an ill-fated trip to Zermatt in Switzerland became the final nail in the coffin for the band at that time. Soundtracked by early Sparks songs including material from their original demo album, this is a fascinating tale of Sparks' formative years. For more information on Harley's new project Crash 74 and their gig in London, including exclusive Paul Slattery photographs, please visit www.retromanblog.com