Sparks' albums in order run from Halfnelson in 1971 to MAD! in 2025, and my Sparks discography map plots 26 studio album releases across those 54 years as stations, with every credited musician running as a named line. Of course, Ron and Russell Mael are on all of the releases. Nobody else is on more than a handful.
Two lines that never stop
Russell Mael on vocals and Ron Mael on keyboards are the only two lines that run the full width of the sheet. Everything else around them changes, and it changes more often and more completely than on almost any other map I have drawn.
On the first two records, Halfnelson (1971) and A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing (1973), the supporting cast consists of exactly three people: Earle Mankey on guitar, Jim Mankey on bass, and Harley Feinstein on drums. All three lines start together, and all three stop together. That pattern, a whole band arriving and leaving as a unit, repeats several times across the catalogue.
The album with 16 session players
The strangest station on the Sparks map is Introducing Sparks in 1977. Sixteen credited musicians appear on it, and not one of them appears anywhere else on the sheet.
They include David Foster, David Paich, Lee Ritenour and Mike Porcaro, that is, the brothers walked into a Los Angeles studio and hired the city's session establishment for one record. On the map, it looks like nothing else in the catalogue: 16 branch lines converging on a single station and terminating there.
Sparks albums in order, and the line-ups that carried them
Between 1974 and 1976, the map runs on a British band. Adrian Fisher and Norman "Dinky" Diamond come in for Kimono My House, with Trevor White and Ian Hampton joining across Propaganda and Indiscreet, and the whole group is gone by 1977.
In 1979, the entire structure changed again. No. 1 in Heaven brings in Giorgio Moroder, credited on the map for synthesiser and vocoder as well as production, with Keith Forsey on drums. That pairing runs into Terminal Jive in 1980 and then stops.
The longest stable unit is the one that follows. Bob Haag on guitar, Leslie Bohem on bass and David Kendrick on drums run together across five consecutive records from Whomp That Sucker in 1981 to Music That You Can Dance To in 1986. Three lines, five stations, no gaps. It is the closest thing to a conventional band period on the whole map.
The returns and the one-offs
Tony Visconti is on the map twice, 22 years apart: orchestral arrangements on Indiscreet in 1975, and then arranging and conducting again on Plagiarism in 1997. Two stations, one line, an enormous gap between them.
Dean Menta's guitar line is the longest of the later ones, appearing first on Plagiarism and reappearing repeatedly through to A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip in 2020. Tammy Glover held the drum chair from Balls in 2000 to Exotic Creatures of the Deep in 2008.
Then there are the single-station branch lines, which Sparks generate more of than most: Mike Piggott's fiddle on "It Ain't 1918", Jane Wiedlin's guest vocal on "Cool Places", and Leos Carax singing and playing accordion on "When You're a French Director".
The most recent station
Mad! arrived on 23 May 2025 through Transgressive Records, produced by Ron and Russell themselves, and it became their highest-charting record, entering the UK album chart at number two more than fifty years after they started. Adding a new album to a map is a small job with a satisfying shape to it: work through the credits, place the station at the end of the line, and see which lines carry through and which begin.
How the print is made
Each map is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper with a textured matte finish, archival and acid-free. I work through official credits, liner notes and session archives, and where sources disagree, I keep digging rather than guessing. No AI is used at any stage.
The Sparks map is landscape, in A2 at 594 x 420 mm (23 x 16 in) and A1 at 841 x 594 mm (33 x 23 in), with 24 x 18 in and 36 x 24 in equivalents for buyers in the USA. Unframed from £42, or ready to hang in a black wood frame. Full details are on the print specifications page.
Frequently asked questions
Who are Sparks?
The American brothers Ron Mael, on keyboards and songwriting, and Russell Mael, on vocals. They have been recording since 1971.
How many Sparks albums are on the map?
Twenty-six, from Halfnelson in 1971 to MAD! in 2025.
What is the newest Sparks album?
MAD!, released on 23 May 2025 through Transgressive Records and produced by the brothers. It reached number two in the UK.
What is not on the map?
Usually, compilations, singles collections and remix records are off my map (as is anything released after the artwork was drawn). Producers are only given a line where they are also credited for playing something, which is why Giorgio Moroder is on it once, but worked on more than one album.
Related music maps
The wider music map collection covers around 70 artists. If you are buying for someone and are not sure which band is theirs, there is an art print gift card.
