''Songs of the Spires'' is the debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American new wave pop group

Gleaming Spires Gleaming Spires was an American new wave pop group in the 1980s. Background Performing as Bates Motel, they were enlisted by brothers Ron and Russell Mael to be a part of the 1981–85 incarnation of their band, Sparks. After completing demos ...

. It features the single "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?" and was produced by

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session k ...

History

Gleaming Spires began as a side project of

Leslie Bohem Leslie "Les" Bohem (born 1951) is an American screenwriter, television writer, and former bassist. He is the son of screenwriter Endre Bohem. Biography Bohem played bass in the 1980s with the pop groups Sparks and Gleaming Spires. Bohem's writi ...

and

David Kendrick David Kendrick (born March 23, 1955) is an American musician who is currently a member of the experimental pop band Xiu Xiu. A former member of Gleaming Spires and Devo, he has recorded and toured with Sparks, Andy Prieboy and Revolushn. He is ba ...

. In 1980, they were enlisted as the bassist and drummer, respectively, for the art pop band

Sparks Sparks may refer to: Places *Sparks, Georgia * Sparks, Kansas *Sparks, Kentucky *Sparks, Maryland * Sparks, Nebraska *Sparks, Nevada *Sparks, Oklahoma *Sparks, Texas * Sparks, Bell County, Texas * Sparks, West Virginia Books * ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...

, consisting of brothers

Ron Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

and

Russell Mael Russell Craig Mael (born October 5, 1948) is an American singer best known as the lead singer for the band Sparks which he formed in 1971 with his elder brother Ron Mael. Mael is known for his wide vocal range, in particular his far-reaching fa ...

. While in Sparks, Bohem and Kendrick convened with producer

to record a series of demos. The demo tape made its way to K-ROQ in Los Angeles, and according to Kendrick, when Posh Boy founder Robbie Fields heard the tape, he decided to release the songs as they were; the ''Songs of the Spires'' album consists of these demos. While the Spires themselves originally did not want it released as a single, "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?" went on to become the band's only hit. A music video was created for the song, featuring Bohem and Kendrick making coffee and baking a lemon meringue pie, as well as for "How to Get Girls Thru Hypnotism," featuring Bohem's head being shaved. For the former, Kendrick observed that "one could easily make the worst contrived, hackneyed, sexist, insulting, exploitative and ridiculous video in the world to 'Sex Girls,' so why not leave sex and girls out altogether Some people got it I hope." "Sex Girls" later saw renewed popularity when it appeared in the 1984 film ''

Revenge of the Nerds ''Revenge of the Nerds'' is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Ted McGinley, and Bernie Casey. The film's plot chronicles a group of nerds at the fictional Adams College trying ...

.'' Unlike the film the accompanying soundtrack album featured the later re-recording of the song. The tongue-in-cheek liner notes were written by the Mael brothers.

praises the album's virtues despite "not personally aving hadthe time to listen to

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

, and

Ron Mael Ronald David Mael (born August 12, 1945) is an American musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is the keyboard player and principal songwriter in the band Sparks which he founded with vocalist, occasional songwriter and younger ...

facetiously calls it "the best Gleaming Spires album ... ever."

Release

''Songs of the Spires'' was originally released on vinyl in 1981 by

Posh Boy Records Posh Boy Records is a Hollywood, California-based record label owned by the American-born, British-educated Robbie "Posh Boy" Fields, a sometime high school substitute teacher and former copy boy at the ''Los Angeles Times'' who took an interes ...

. In 2015, the album was reissued on vinyl by Futurismo, and again in 2021 for CD and streaming by Omnivore Recordings.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adopted from the ''Songs of the Spires'' liner notes. *

- vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizers *

- drums, percussion * S.R. Jade - "vocal harangue" on "How to Get Girls Thru Hypnotism" *

- producer * The Bunker Ent. - graphics * Kevin J. Walker - cover art illustration *

- liner notes

References

{{Reflist 1981 debut albums Gleaming Spires albums Albums produced by Stephen Hague Posh Boy Records albums