“You Can’t Be Too Strong” is a tougher problem. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2019, Parker’s best album. Just like in travel brochures In 1978, after three excellent but commercially underperforming albums for the Mercury label, British rocker Graham Parker was fed up with being “the best kept secret in the west,” as the lyrics to his acerbic “fuck you” song “Mercury Poisoning” had it. Record companies have been so shameless about reissues since the 1990s that I'm pretty skeptical about buying new editions of albums I already own. -- Robert Christgau --Christgau's Record Guide. So strong, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2014. Parker's anger about all sorts of things never gets in the way of his knack of finding a great new wave melody, though. I knew this reissue was out there and what was on it, but for whatever reasons I didn't feel the need to buy it. Unable to add item to List. Graham Parker & The Rumour - Squeezing Out Sparks Lyrics and Tracklist | Genius. Editors’ Notes There are good reasons why Squeezing Out Sparks is widely considered Graham Parker's finest hour. & it's on blue vinyl, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2021. cool town: how athens, georgia changed american culture. ( Log Out / We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Zen Cart! -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine --AllMusicSqueezing Out Sparks, produced by former Phil Spector arranger Jack (Lonely Surfer); Nitzsche, lets you hear what Parker was after on Stick to Me, for it's made in the same vein, though this time the music is full of presence: turn the record up and it gets more exciting, not more shrill. Squeezing Out Sparks + Live Sparks, an Album by Graham Parker. Preview, buy, and download songs from the album Squeezing out Sparks, including "Discovering Japan," "Local Girls," "Nobody Hurts You," and many more. Released in October 1996 on Arista (catalog no. The legendary Graham Parker has been signed to 100% Records since 2018. Featured peformers: Graham Parker (vocals, rhythm guitar, writer), Brinsley Schwarz (guitar, backing vocals), Martin Belmont (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Bob Andrews (keyboards, … Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Quake Records is proud to present a new edition of Graham Parker’s classic album Squeezing Out Sparks. When Parker leaps out of the chaos he’s created, with a glimmer of displaced, fragmented insight: But lovers turn to posers Change ), Graham Parker, ‘Squeezing Out Sparks’ (05/17/79), Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture (02/83), Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island, Under the Red White and Blue (Great Gatsby), Former President George W. Bush Dead at 72 (10/05/18), GM Playlist #6: 'The Manchurian Candidate', GM Playlist #3: "Treasure Island" (Stranded), Legendary Masters: Bobby Vee (1973 liner notes). This song is struggle. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. But no one ever said conservatives made poor rock & rollers, and Parker's ruminations over a lost past give him the anger that fuels Squeezing Out Sparks, one of the great rock records of the post-punk era. “Discovering Japan,” the first cut on Squeezing Out Sparks and the number that best speaks for the album, rams home Parker’s music-as-way-of-life by reducing it to a demand for meaning, for the fleeting revelations through which one makes sense of the world. Discovering Japan! The album is full of infectious hooks. Squeezing Out Sparks, produced by former Phil Spector arranger Jack “Lonely Surfer” Nitzsche, lets you hear what Parker was after on Stick to Me, for it’s made in the same vein, though this time the music is full of presence: turn the record up and it gets more exciting, not more shrill. Listen free to Graham Parker & The Rumour - Squeezing Out Sparks – Squeezing Out Sparks. you believe every line, your back against the wall. Guitar, drums, vocals, lyrics, and hooks (and more hooks) mesh into ten songs so compelling that you're grateful to the relative lightweights for giving you a chance to relax. Love this album, play in first thing Monday morning on the way to work and your week will be off to a flying start! If you like it, then you need to find a copy of "Live--Alone in America" to hear the most stripped down, soulful version of someone who completely "gets it" even if his talent is not singing, but interpreting. Didn’t need a remix. But the received, moralistic qualities of the performance—Parker’s choice of folkish tone and music no less than his words—call the strength of his vision into question. While the actual cover, labels, and matrix (AB 4223 SA/AB 4223 SB) seem identical to the record listed under Arista – AB 4223 , there is a small, white, wrap-around white sticker applied to the top left of the front cover (continuing around the spine to the back) with plain black, all-caps, type: This newly remastered edition features a new cover design, as well as never before released bonus tracks recorded live at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in 1979. The thing is, see, this girl he got pregnant just wasn’t strong enough to have the baby; the doctor wasn’t strong enough to refuse to perform the operation. No one’s going to Fury comic books, you don’t stop to think. You have only the pace of the song to carry you along, but with guitar from Schwarz on the order of the budda-budda-buddas that used to punctuate Sgt. This is an album that came close to changing my life! Quake Records, in association with Graham Parker, is proud to present a new edition of Graham Parker's classic album Squeezing Out Sparks. Stick to Me, out in late 1977, featured a narrow, grating sound that made it almost impossible to listen to; determined to get out of his U.S. contract with Mercury, Parker followed with a bad live LP. Genres: Pub Rock. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. ), to boot. This has been true of the music of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin—all people who have, at considerable risk, exposed themselves and allowed others to understand how little they were holding back, and thus allowed others to respond in kind. Squeezing Out Sparks: 1: Discovering Japan: 3:33: 2: Local Girls: 3:43: 3: Nobody Hurts You: 3:41: 4: You Can't Be Too Strong: 3:21: 5: Passion Is No Ordinary Word: 4:26: 6: Saturday Nite Is Dead: 3:17: 7: Love Gets You Twisted: 3:02: 8: Protection: 3:54: 9: Waiting For The UFO's: 3:08: 10: Don't Get Excited: 3:09: Live Sparks: 11: Discovering Japan: 3:36: 12: Local Girls: 3:41: 13: Nobody Hurts You: 3:51: 14 45, while Howlin' Wind came in at No. Ah, to have a touchstone like this in your career: an album that clearly defines you as an artist, and is a critical or financial success (or both! Songs start at $0.99. andy shernoff tells all. The proof of the band’s depth is that this approach is most successful at its most extreme. Order information HERE. Squeezing Out Sparks, produced by former Phil Spector arranger Jack “Lonely Surfer” Nitzsche, lets you hear what Parker was after on Stick to Me, for it’s made in the same vein, though this time the music is full of presence: turn the record up and it gets more exciting, not more shrill. But Parker’s vision is worth questioning; that of most performers is not. Well, when it comes to right-to-life rock, I prefer the “FUCKING BLOODY MESS!” of the Sex Pistols’ “Bodies”: Graham Parker’s response to the same sexual and political fact is to sentimentalize his one-man-against-the-world stance, almost to prettify it. My favourites were the first two albums Howlin' Wind and Heat Treatment. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2019, Been after this since record store day ! From his great album Squeezing Out Sparks :) About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features © 2021 Google LLC But Parker's new pop inclinations are tempered by his anger, which seethes throughout the hard rockers and even his quieter numbers. It’s as explosive a piece of rock & roll as we are likely to hear this year. Generally regarded as Graham Parker's finest album, Squeezing Out Sparks is a masterful fusion of pub rock classicism, new wave pop, and pure vitriol that makes even his most conventional singer/songwriter numbers bristle with energy. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Squeezing Out Sparks. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. History may have chosen differently, but this is an album that can still bring a tingle to your spine! Released in March 1979 on Arista (catalog no. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Squeezing Out Sparks, an Album by Graham Parker. Illuminate you Parker's mood, which has narrowed into existential rage with a circumstantial root, makes for perfect, untamable rock and roll. The proof of the band's depth is that this approach is most successful at its most extreme. In 1977, Graham Parker and the Rumour were reaching for the harshest edge in their music, and that’s what … Just your opinion. And while I appreciate “Anonymous” for being a fellow Parker partisan, I think he or she might want to take another look at Marcus’s review, as while he quibbles about a few “flaws” in the album, he repeatedly praises many of the songs and other creative aspects throughout his evaluation. If you have not heard it, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. ( Log Out / Squeezing Out Sparks, produced by former Phil Spector arranger Jack “Lonely Surfer” Nitzsche, lets you hear what Parker was after on Stick to Me, for it’s made in the same vein, though this time the music is full of presence: turn the record up and it gets more exciting, not more shrill. In 1978 I first heard this while browsing for vinyl at the local college record store. My areas of expertise include: curriculum development, quality assurance, observations of teaching & learning, literacy and numeracy, digital literacy, resource development, personal … Please try again. 335 on its List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 1977, Graham Parker and the Rumour were reaching for the harshest edge in their music, and that’s what they offer here. Things did not work out. Whatever the flaws of Squeezing Out Sparks, this remains true of Graham Parker. Squeezing Out Sparks Solo Acoustic 40th Anniversary, Graham Parker and the Rumour / Stick to Me, Live At Trent Poly Sports Hall: Nottingham 1977. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2019. march 8, 2021. the dictators back together! The authority in Parker’s voice—the way he commands your attention—and the momentum in Brinsley Schwarz’ guitar playing can take your breath away. It's only now that I know firsthand what's on it that I appreciate the mistake I made and what I've been missing. Voted Album of the Year by the Village Voice 1979. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Squeezing Out Sparks, an Album by Graham Parker. In reality, Parker has had a career of % sustained excellence that exceeds In spades those you mention as having “jumped him.” Springsteen or Costello haven’t had a memorable release in decades…Parker has been spitting them out consistently since the late 80s. Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2007. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, No Import Fees Deposit & $7.98 Shipping to Italy. English punk—which Parker had anticipated with his working-class fury, if not his style—appeared, and made him seem irrelevant, or, worse, tame. You can’t tell if the song was written around Schwarz’ riff—a searing, muscular attack that carries Parker past himself again and again—or if Schwarz pulled the riff out of something Parker showed him, be it melody or Parker’s attack, but that riff is so strong and distinctive the band finally steps back and simply lets Schwarz take the song. 9102 030; Vinyl LP). Glad to see this rerun of Greil Marcus’s May 1979 Rolling Stone review of Graham Parker and the Rumour’s “Squeezing Out Sparks” album, as I seem to have missed it when it was on this site in 2014. About Blog Projects Home Contact Re-ignite your creativity and un-lease your natural creative talents. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Parker takes off on a jet for the land of cherry blossoms and Hiroshima, and when he confronts the time change—“My watch says 8:02 /But that’s midnight to you”—he somehow makes that tiny fact seem as threatening and dangerous as the sudden memory of a murder he committed in his sleep. Featuring never before released bonus tracks recorded live at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in 1979. Genres: Pub Rock. For one thing, it was the leanest, meanest moment on record by Parker and The Rumour. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. tina bell's hidden legacy: the black woman who created the sound of grunge. The woman in this song is less the bearer of a child than the bearer of an issue; she’s merely weak, not someone given enough life to be a real challenge to Parker’s vision, and thus give it life. As it happens, I did Creem’s review of “Squeezing Out Sparks” (June 1979 issue), and while I gave it a rave, I think Marcus may have discerned even more strengths in the album than I did then. Generally regarded as Graham Parker 's finest album, Squeezing Out Sparks is a masterful fusion of pub rock classicism, new wave pop, and pure vitriol that makes even his most conventional singer/songwriter numbers bristle with energy. “The company is crippling me/The worst trying to ruin the best/Their promotion’s so lame/They could… Discover more music, concerts, videos, and pictures with the largest catalogue online at Last.fm. Trouser Press used to debate whether Elvis Costello or Graham Parker was the best band of this new era of rock and roll, giving the edge to Parker because of the back-up band! This newly remastered edition features a new cover design, as well as never before released bonus tracks recorded live at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in 1979. He even concludes the review by placing Parker among musical giants like Dylan and Hendrix, as artists “who have, at considerable risk, exposed themselves and allowed others to understand how little they were holding back.” That’s not cheap praise from Greil Marcus. Squeezing Out Sparks [CD-SOS] - Quake Records is proud to present a new edition of Graham Parker’s classic album Squeezing Out Sparks. But Parker has never tried to apply that vision to a subject as difficult as that in question here. Released in March 1979 on Arista (catalog no. Such work allows us to understand our own successes and failures. In an early 1987 Rolling Stone list of their top 100 albums from 1967 to 1987, Squeezing Out Sparks was ranked at No. One of these items ships sooner than the other. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Only Petty can claim such a long term career of “never a dud” like Parker….IMO. The album, rather, is one chapter in the story Graham Parker and the Rumour are telling—a tale sometimes subverted by weaknesses of nerve, imagination or craft, a tale of true fear and drama. As with the other cuts mentioned, it means to define the vision Parker is offering, a vision that might be more compelling on Squeezing Out Sparks than on earlier records: the belief that, as F. Scott Fitzgerald put it, “life is essentially a cheat”; that penetrating to the source of one’s emotions is necessary to a decent life but not a guarantee of it (nothing is); that struggle, not happiness, is what life is all about. I've liked Graham Parker and The Rumour for years - since the 1970s. Kimono My House (1972) The instantly recognizable image featuring two geishas was shot by Karl Stoecker, who photographed many of the infamous, glossy, hyperreal Roxy Music album covers of the ’70s (Stranded, For Your Pleasure, the self titled debut…) Sparks had no intention of doing a Roxy, however… Parker just strings together situations he must get out of, and when he at last puts his finger on the truth and the whole band crashes down on: LOOK! And so, out of weakness, they surrender to murder, or anyway a cheapening of life—and cheapening of life is indeed what Parker fights against. Squeezing Out Sparks is the high water mark of Parker's career for a variety of reasons: first, the Rumour had solidified into one of the best rock bands of the seventies, as comfortable playing reggae riffs as well as traditional rock and, of course, that spare, lean, "new wave" sound. 07822-18939-2; CD). Rated #51 in the best albums of 1979, and #3217 of all-time album.. 06 -===- C:\Music\Rutracker\Graham Parker - 2019 - Squeezing Out Sparks (40th Anniversary) Acoustic Version [Flac]\06 - Saturday Nite is Dead (Acoustic).flac Extracted successfully Conclusion: this track is CDDA with probability 100% Tempfile successfully deleted. More obsessed, savvy and marketable than Parker, Costello absorbed the few fans Parker had won and leaped right over him. -- Greil Marcus --Rolling StoneAn amazing record. All the odds are This was the case of the reissue of Squeezing Out Sparks. If you’re looking for an LP with the coherence and weight of Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, you may be disappointed. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. 54. 1979. Throughout Squeezing Out Sparks, Graham spits out a litany of offenses that make him feel like an outsider, but he's not a liberal, he's a conservative. Squeezing Out Sparks is the high water mark of Parker's career for a variety of reasons: first, the Rumour had solidified into one of the best rock bands of the seventies, as comfortable playing reggae riffs as well as traditional rock and, of course, that spare, lean, "new wave" sound. SIGN UP BELOW. In the words of Graham Parker: As Squeezing Out Sparks. Parker and the Rumour were playing, introducing me to what we called "new wave" at the time. Subscribe to our mailing list * indicates required. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Sung with force and accompanied acoustically, it’s a (perhaps too obviously) stark, personal statement. “Nobody Hurts You” (harder than yourself, says the chorus) hits first, and does not wear out. They’ve put aside the grandeur and the richness—horns, keyboards and the romantic pessimism—of the first two albums in favor of fuzz tone, fast tempos, hard drumming and desperate, even paranoid singing. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Show up in film exposures Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! This is still a bit of a cult album, a masterpiece of new wave energy, sneer, melody and cynical vitriol. In the words of Graham Parker: It’s often been said that the work of those artists we most care about becomes part of our own autobiographies. “You Can’t Be Too Strong” is about an abortion. Discover more music, concerts, videos, and … Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2002. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Graham Parker was an old hand by early 1979, part of the new wave he had been inspiring since 1975, infuriatingly unable to out-sell artists upon whom his influence was clear in Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. Rated #55 in the best albums of 1979, and #2568 of all-time album.. Images of American occupation and Tokyo street life clash and seem to go nowhere. Listen free to Graham Parker – Squeezing Out Sparks (Discovering Japan, Local Girls and more). Details: I recently bought a second-hand copy of Squeezing Out Sparks by Graham Parker And The Rumour. In any case, it’s remained my favorite Graham Parker album to this day; pick to (forever) click: “Passion Is No Ordinary Word”. Buy the album for $9.99. Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013. This performance needs no time to grow on a listener; others may. The record's two centerpieces -- "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" and the anti-abortion "You Can't Be Too Strong" -- indicate that his traditionalist musical tendencies are symptomatic of a larger conservative trend. Cheers!!! Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. As with so many of Parker’s best tunes, the lyric is about refusal: refusal to be pinned down, trapped, ambushed, humiliated, obscured. The sense of final adversity, of the need for emotional release and for some kind of clarity, hits with more power than anywhere else on the record. Genres: Pub Rock. Squeezing Out Sparks is the high water mark of Parker's career for a variety of reasons: first, the Rumour had solidified into one of the best rock bands of the seventies, as comfortable playing reggae riffs as well as traditional rock and, of course, that spare, lean, "new wave" sound. They've put aside the grandeur and the richness horns, keyboards and the romantic pessimism of the first two albums in favor of fuzz tone, fast tempos, hard drumming and desperate, even paranoid singing. “Stick to Me” unlistenable…that’s where you’re review went south and lost credibility. In that time he has released the studio album Cloud Symbols, a special solo acoustic 40th anniversary re-recording of his seminal album Squeezing Out Sparks and a stand-alone single Nixon's Rules.On his 70th birthday he now announces a brand new The strategy worked, but whether Parker would be able to pull himself out of the hole he’d felt forced to dig was another question. Didn't play it much on vinyl when it first came out - my mistake. “Passion Is No Ordinary Word,” “Local Girls,” “Protection” and “Don’t Get Excited” are all good tracks (“Saturday Nite Is Dead” and “Waiting for the UFO’s” are not good at all), but most betray a kind of rhythmic uncertainty, a doubt about where to take the tune that’s too often covered over by mannered cries from Parker that fail to grab hold. AB 4223; Vinyl LP). This newly remastered edition features a new cover design, as well as never before released bonus tracks recorded live at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in 1979. #335 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Not only does Parker deliver his best, most consistent set of songs, but he offers more succinct hooks than before -- "Local Girls" and "Discovering Japan" are powered by quirky hooks that make them new wave classics.
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