No. 1 in Heaven

Eternal eclecticists who never let a good laugh get in the way of a good hook (or vice-versa), Sparks capped off an ever-shifting Seventies by enlisting Eurodisco maestro Giorgio Moroder to produce an archly giddy album that sounded like nothing else on the radio. Manic hyperspeed tempos, rat-racing lyrics, and Russell Mael’s multi-dubbed, self-harmonized falsetto make each song come across like an unusually fun panic attack.

Sparks were already almost a decade into their formal career when, on top of everything else they’d already done, they collaborated with Giorgio Moroder and almost single-handedly invented synth-pop. With disco’s drive, electronics galore and Russell Mael’s angelic delivery of his brother Ron’s wryly funny observations on life, love and lust — not to mention God’s chart-topping single — it’s an explosive, shimmering delight.