Creativity truly sparks greatness…. Today, (March 7th) Travels With Brindle releases a fully licensed covers EP of Sparks‘ 1979 Giorgio Moroder, produced disco album, dubbed No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle. 

You can listen to “No.1 in Heaven” Starring Travels With Brindle “ on Bandcamp Here, Spotify Here and Apple Music Here

To celebrate the EP, Chelsea Spear’s lo-fi ukulele power-pop project performs live at The Dance Complex in Cambridge with Balter Dance group on March 14, and then Spear performs at SOLOCOM ‘25 on April 11 at The Pit in New York City 

No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle, made possible by a successful 2024 Kickstarter project, recorded at the Boston Public Library, and endorsed by WBUR, Boston’s NPR as one of the most anticipated Boston records of Winter 2025, is both faithful and unfaithful to the original.

It features all six beautiful tracks – including lead single “Tryouts For The Human Race,” released last fall, and the title cut, “The Number One Song In Heaven,” which hit the streams on February 7 ahead of the release of the music video, filmed at Bellforge Arts Center, on February 13. (which is absolutely stunning and you can watch below)

  “A lot of the covers of Sparks tend to stay close to the original versions of the songs,” Spear notes. “I think they’d appreciate the originality! Beyond that, I think Ron — who favors rap and heavy metal — would be disappointed that it’s not aggressive enough”

Spear says she was drawn to the enduring legacy of these tracks, and allowing some room for reinvention falls well in line with the Sparks ethos. No. 1 In Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle – her second covers record after 2018’s I Love You Like A Cover, where she took on Alex Lahey’s debut album – showcases more than just ukulele; it draws in the creative world around her. 

Across these six tracks, Spear performs ukulele, vocals, finger snaps, shaker, and torn-paper snare drum, as heard on the George Formby-inspired “Tryouts For the Human Race,” the September single that was arranged by Sage Harrington of Ukulele Swing School. Circe Red performs a tap dance, engineered by William Hall Esq., on the propulsive “Academy Award Performance”; and Tyler Hauer delivers the trumpet on “La Dolce Vita,” giving it a new sense of buoyancy. Vocals on the record were engineered by Joel Edinberg, it was mastered by Joshua Cohen, and Spear mixed the album and engineered the ukulele.

We found ourselves positively enchanted with the absolutely divine musical work of art that is NO.1 in Heaven Staring Travels With Brindle . Every song is an artistic triumph honoring not only Sparks, but it also honors the brilliant creative vision that Chelsea Spear has artfully brought to life.

Our favorite track on the album, is “Academy Award Performance “ there is an abundance of artistic goodness to love on this track . We loved the tap dance performed by Circe Red , and the vocals were flawlessly spectacular.

The world is most definitely a better because of the artistic and musical wonderment of “No. 1 In Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle”