Sparks”Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins” LogicSparks are...

Sparks

“Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins”

Logic

Sparks are flying again.

It’s been nearly a decade since this much fire burned in the music of brothers Ron and Russell Mael. For that matter, it’s been seven years since they were heard from at all, and that was on the utterly forgettable “Interior Design” album.

By happy contrast, this collection is their most inspired since their “Angst in My Pants” and “Sparks in Outer Space” albums in the early ‘80s.

The first hint that this quirky techno pop duo is back on track is in song titles such as “(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing” and “The Ghost of Liberace.” It takes a special kind of nerve to salute jazz great Parker and the King of Kitsch in the same album--with utter sincerity to boot. Singer Russell Mael reasserts his gift for exquisite pop melodies to go with Ron’s direct-from-the-”Twilight Zone” lyrics. In “When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way,’ ” the lovable loser of a narrator waits in vain for his moment in the sun: “When do I get to sing ‘My Way’/When do I get to feel like Sinatra felt?”

The Maels, existing as they have on the pop fringe, have always championed the closet romantic, the impossible dreamer. Like the one in “Let’s Go Surfing” who suggests: “Rain is pouring down/In our landlocked town/Skies are always gray/Let’s go surfing, babe.”

The Beach Boys were never like this. Welcome back, guys.