Lil' Beethoven

Sparks had written a follow-up to Balls in the same vein, then abandoned it after that album's poor reception and pursued a new direction. They wrote no songs beforehand for this record. They made it with no drum loops or samples, using a Yamaha S80 for the orchestral arrangements and up to 75 tracks of vocals and orchestration on a single song. It did not chart in the UK, Germany or the US on release, though a 2022 remaster reached number eight on the UK Independent Albums chart. Mojo called it an audacious melange of crafty lyrics and beguilingly repetitive orchestral melodies, and Record Collector thought it possibly the most exciting release from such a long established act.

A deluxe edition in March 2004 added a video for The Rhythm Thief by Kuntzel+Deygas and an instrumental version of the song. A DVD, Lil' Beethoven: Live in Stockholm, was filmed at Sodra Teatern that month. Pitchfork's Stuart Berman described the album's lyrics as brutally minimalist, often little more than the song title repeated, and singled out Your Call's Very Important to Us. Please Hold. as an operator exchange rendered as tragic opera.