Interior Design (album)

Interior Design
Studio album by Sparks
Released	August 26, 1988
Studio	The Pentagon Studio (Los Angeles)
Genre	Synth-pop
Length	44:25 (LP) 67:44 (CD)
Label	Fine Art Rhino
Producer	Ron Mael Russell Mael
Sparks chronology
Music That You Can Dance To (1986) Interior Design (1988) Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (1994)
Singles from Interior Design
"So Important" Released: July 1988 "Just Got Back from Heaven" Released: August 1989

Interior Design is the fifteenth studio album by the American rock band Sparks, released in August 1988 by Fine Art Records.

Release

Interior Design did little in the way to reverse the commercial fortunes of the group, and did not appear on the album charts in the US or the UK. The singles "So Important" and "Just Got Back from Heaven" did better, both of which reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart at No. 8 and No. 7 respectively. "Just Got Back from Heaven" also appeared on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart at No. 24.

CD versions of the album included a number of bonus tracks including three versions of the album's final track "Madonna", a remix of "So Important" and the short instrumental "The Big Brass Ring".

Re-release

In 2008, Sparks' own record label Lil' Beethoven Records reissued the album in a digipak sleeve retaining the bonus tracks.

Alternate titles

For unknown reasons, Interior Design has been re-released multiple times in various European territories as a budget CD or cassette. The most common retitled version is Just Got Back from Heaven. However, many other versions have been released often utilising images of the mid-seventies Island-era iteration of the band. Other releases marketed the album as if it were a greatest hits album.

Alternate titles for Interior Design

Title	Label(s)
Gold	Gold
Heaven and Beyond	WZ Tonträger Vertriebs GmbH
Just Got Back from Heaven	Soundwings Success Hallmark Music & Entertainment
Madonna: So Important	Victoria
The Magic Collection	ARC
So Important	LaserLight Digital Trend
The World of the Sparks / Madonna	Trace Trading

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic

Craig Jacks of the Summer Trojan, the summer edition of the University of Southern California student newspaper the Daily Trojan, regarded the "subtle, yet very noticable" presence of guitars as a "refreshing change," in contrast to Sparks' previous studio album Music That You Can Dance To.

Tour

Interior Design was the first Sparks album since 1979's Nº 1 in Heaven that wasn't supported by live performances. However, they staged a promotional event called Love-O-Rama at the Tower Records store in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles on September 15, 1988.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Ron Mael and Russell Mael.

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"So Important"	4:33
2.	"Just Got Back from Heaven"	4:09
3.	"Lots of Reasons"	3:47
4.	"You've Got a Hold of My Heart"	4:58
5.	"Love-O-Rama"	4:44

Side two

No.	Title	Length
6.	"The Toughest Girl in Town"	4:16
7.	"Let's Make Love"	4:45
8.	"Stop Me If You've Heard This Before"	3:41
9.	"A Walk Down Memory Lane"	4:53
10.	"Madonna"	4:39
Total length:		44:25

CD bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Madonna" (French Version)	4:39
12.	"Madonna" (German Version)	4:39
13.	"Madonna" (Spanish Version)	4:39
14.	"The Big Brass Ring"	2:20
15.	"So Important" (Extremely Important Remix)	7:02
Total length:		67:44

Personnel

• Russell Mael – vocals; production
• Ron Mael – keyboards; production
• Spencer Sircombe (Shark Island) – guitar
• Pamela Stonebrooke – backing vocals
• John Thomas – keyboards; engineering

Charts

"So Important"

Chart (1988)	Peak position
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)	8

"Just Got Back from Heaven"

Chart (1989)	Peak position
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)	7
US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)	24

External links

• Interior Design at Discogs (list of releases)