It gets one star, not for the music but for the remastering. The CD has been remastered from a vinyl LP and not the original studio master tapes Sony has in their vaults. What's really unfortunate are the two outtakes that were also included in the Sony vaults, which are said to be titled 'Kidnapped' and 'Keep Me', remain unheard in their studio form. It should be noted that a demo version of 'Kidnap' (sic?) was included on one of the briefly available Japanese reissues from a couple of years ago, but that Japanese SHM-CD was the same lame vinyl transfer of the original album, complete with flaws and glitches. So what's the point?

Introducing Sparks often gets a bad wrap for being a bad album, but it's not. It's just not up to the standards of the famous Island records trilogy. Sparks were running low on ideas by this point, but some of the songs do work well, but just barely.
'Occupation' is a nagging little song that lists a multitude of occupations one can achieve, even ending the song with an A-Z list. The "La, la, an occupation for you hoo..." chorus borders on the highly catchy to insanely annoying. There is also a music video for this song, and it was just what I hoped it would be; Russell portraying many of the occupations he is singing about. It's 70's cheese at its finest...
'Ladies' was a song that escaped me for years as nothing more than a cornball novelty. Now I view it as essential listening..., as a cornball novelty.
'Over the Summer' is the failed single, but it shouldn't have been. It's very catchy in a sort of Beach Boys manner, and is one of the strongest songs in the set.
'Goofing Off' is another that borders the stupid/catchy bridge, but the catchy side wins out.

Some songs do not succeed though. 'Girls On The Brain' stays clearly on the stupid side, while 'Those Mysteries' is just an overblown snore. 'Forever Young' is very dated in that 70's AOR rock style.

Introducing Sparks is far from a bad album, but the long-awaited CD reissue is a total let down. I don't care how nicely you reproduced the cover art, I wanted a crystal clear transfer of the studio master tapes, not someone's homemade vinyl cleanup job. Obtain the master tapes, bake at 130 degrees for five hours, let cool in oven another five hours, put the reel on the spindle and start transferring. No more excuses...

That this album has been out of print and unavailable on CD until now is certainly one of "Those Mysteries" (title of last song on this album). It's certainly up to par on a Sparks-level, and is their last really good album for those who prefer 70's Sparks.

This fits perfectly with the Kimono My House - Big Beat era Sparks, with a similar style. "A Big Surprise" has a very common 70's sound, yet uniquely Sparks. "Occupation" sounds like it could have been on Kimono My House. "Ladies" sounds like it could have come from Propaganda. "I'm Not" could have come from Big Beat. "Forever Young is an uptempo fun song with a great message. "Goofing Off" has a different feel (sort of Greek minor opera or something), but is fun and uniquely Sparks. "Girls on the Brain" carries on the Big Beat `women' subject matter (i.e. I Like Girls and White Women) and is a nice bluesy rocker. "Over the Summer" is something different; kind of Beach Boys-ish, but still works well. "Those Mysteries" is a slightly quieter, more reflective song, that is perfect for the final song.

The end of a great chapter in the Sparks music catalog. If only they could have continued with these types of great songs and not stayed off into other musical styles...

My only complaint is that it doesn't sound remastered. It could have been spiffed up a bit with more treble/clarity. Still, that doesn't necessarily detract when you have great original music.

Buy this

Sparks is the greatest band ever. My humble opinion and I'm entitled to it after listening to their music for some 30 years. The failed "Americanization" of (American) Sparks began with the prior album, "Big Beat" and continued with "Introducing". "Introducing" is the band's lowpoint but still leagues ahead of most of the stuff coming out at the time. Clearly Columbia was tampering with the Maels' best instincts and trying to make them into a bland version of themselves. Ron's wit and quirky songwriting was dumbed down and Russell's vocals had, at times, a forced "kookiness". Nonetheless, there are Beach Boys inflected high points in gems such as "Ladies", "Over The Summer" and "Goofing Off". This creative valley in their career was blown to smithereens with the achingly brilliant, genre-defining "Number One In Heaven", which followed the next year. Sparks, meet Giorgio Moroder. Giorgio, meet Ron and Russell Mael. Out of bad comes good, it's true.

I never understand why this album has always had such a bad rap.
Songs like 'Occupation' have much the same musical quality as anything on Kimono My House or Indiscreet while wistful pieces like Those Mysteries have a child's eye view rather like 'Under the table with her'.

I suspect that the original bad reputation of the album came simply from the fact that Sparks weren't feeling original by 1977. Ironically had they put it out in 2007 the world would have celebrated it as a superb return to form. Just a question of timing.

Do listen to the album rather than reading reviews. If you loved the mid 70's Sparks classics this is an essential part of your collection.

Yes. This is the one with the Beach Boys influenced "Over The Summer". The good news is, "Over The Summer" is one of the weaker songs. Full of lyrical word plays typical of Sparks apparent in such gems as "Big Surprise", "Goofing Off", and "Occupation", its a tongue in cheek classic. I am very pleased to see it has FINALLY been released to CD.

Not understand why INTRODUCING SPARKS always condemn for being bad. In actual for reality, album has PLENTY GOOD song for hummable and enjoyment for entertaining. RON & RUSSELL MAEL may have put on plenty super polish in studio, but result in several song VERY GOOD THING INDEED. For instance and proving, referencing "Over the Summer" and "Those Mysteries." Possible to not be strongest album of career, but INTRODUCING still provide plenty top entertaining for genuine fan of SPARKS.