# Two Hands, One Mouth: Live in Europe

Two Hands, One Mouth: Live in Europe is an album by American rock/pop group Sparks, released in March 2013. It is their first live and first double CD album.

## Background and recording

With the release of The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, Sparks had twenty-two studio albums to its name, yet brothers and bandmates Ron and Russell Mael had never performed live as a duo. During the No. 1 in Heaven years, the shift from the presence of a full backing band presented a unique opportunity to tour instead as a two-piece band; however, technological limitations and logistics prevented this from happening. In an interview with Sound on Sound, Ron Mael stated that, at the time, "there was no way to bring a synthesizer the size of a building with you onto the stage." By June 2012, 33 years after the release of No. 1 in Heaven, Sparks performed for the first time without a backing band at Bush Hall in London.
In October 2012, bandmates Ron and Russell Mael fully embarked on the "Two Hands, One Mouth Tour." The tour started in Europe across eighteen cities, visiting Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, finishing at the sold-out Barbican Centre in London. In reviewing a concert at the Caley Picture House in Edinburgh for the Sunday Mail, John Kelly stated that despite the relative simplicity of their performance, when playing their most well-known hits, the songs "exploded into life."
The next leg of the tour took the group to Tokyo and Osaka, Japan in January of the following year. In April 2013, the show, dubbed "The Revenge of Two Hands, One Mouth Tour," went to the United States for a short series of concerts, including two performances at Coachella Festival.
Two Hands, One Mouth: Live In Europe was released in March 2013, containing live recordings gathered from various concerts during the European leg of the tour in October 2012. The album sees the Mael brothers perform various works from their discography, ranging from the 1974's Kimono My House to 2009's The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman; also included is a rendition of "Singing in the Shower," a Sparks-written single originally performed with Les Rita Mitsouko and released as part of their album Marc & Robert in 1988.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Classic Rock | |
| Q | (favourable) |
| Sunday Mail | (favourable) |
| Uncut | 7/10 |
Reviewing for Uncut, Stephen Dalton said that while the "stripped-down" approach "is a little shrill in places", the album is "mostly excellent," in particular the renditions from No. 1 in Heaven on the second disc.

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Ron Mael or by Ron Mael and Russell Mael.

## Personnel

Credits are adapted from Two Hands, One Mouth: Live in Europe CD liner notes.
Sparks
* Ron Mael – keyboards
* Russell Mael – vocals
Production and design
* Jonny Clark – FOH and album mixing
* Paul Birks – lighting
* Robert Garnham – technician
* Richie Mills and James Findlay – crew
* Bill Inglot and Dave Schultz – mastering
* Galen Johnson – cover illustration
* Rachel Gutek – album design
* Emmi Joutsi – cover photography
* Ron and Russell Mael – tour photos