Squeezing Out Sparks

{{quote box|quote=Squeezing Out Sparks transcends the medium. I don't think there's anything as good as that by anybody anywhere. And I don't even take credit for it. I don't know what happened. I blacked out.|source= – Graham Parker{{cite web |url=https://homepages.uni-regensburg.de/~dej09534/gparker/articles/tempes99.htm |title=Interview with Graham Parker |website=Tempest Magazine |date=12 May 1999 |access-date=16 May 2019 |last=Hudson |first=Scott}}|width=24%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

Whereas Parker's previous albums were notable for their strong soul influences, with many prominent tracks and singles including a horn section, on Squeezing Out Sparks producer Jack Nitzsche favoured a rawer sound. Coincidentally, popular punk band the Clash were undergoing a reverse process, trying to expand their musical arrangements. Therefore, the Rumour's rhythm and blues session players went on to record all the horn parts in the Clash's third and praised record London Calling.

Parker explained the recording process in an interview, saying:

{{blockquote|The album took eleven days to record. It took two days to get the studio [Lansdowne Studios in London] working because it had only been used by Acker Bilk and things like that. The third day we managed to play a song, and Jack said, 'Come and listen to this.' There was just this big mess coming out. So Jack and I went up to his hotel room and I told him we wanted to get back to fundamentals but we didn't know how to. I said, 'Jack, you gotta say what you think.' He was a bit paranoid about criticizing the band. I said to him, 'Jack, we're English. We sneer, we're cynical, we're miserable. But we really don’t mean it.' So the next day we came in, and anything he said, I said, 'Yeah, come on. Carry on. Wot? Wot? Come on, say it. Here, have another beer.' And eventually we got it out.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/graham-parker-rumour-becomes-fact-96519/ |title=Graham Parker: Rumour Becomes Fact |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=294 |date=28 June 1979 |access-date=31 January 2019 |last=Henke |first=James}}}}

The album was originally written to follow a greater concept about growing up in suburbia. Parker explained, "I was kind of attempting a concept album about the suburbs of England, or at least trying to capture a vague approximation of suburban life. ... I guess I drifted off the mark there for the rest of the record because the concept turned out to be a little confining for a whole album."{{cite web |url=https://www.grahamparker.net/thoughts/gp-answers13.shtml |title=GP Answers Your Questions: Part 13 |website=grahamparker.net |date=16 September 1999 |access-date=31 January 2019 |last=Parker |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Parker}} This is reflected in the lyrics to songs such as "Local Girls" and "Saturday Nite Is Dead".

Music videos were made for "Local Girls" and "Protection", and the tracks "Discovering Japan" and "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" received radio airplay. In addition, "You Can't Be Too Strong", an uncharacteristic somber acoustic guitar ballad, met with controversy over its subject matter and narrative: a man's reflections on his girlfriend's abortion. Summing up the album, Parker stated, "Squeezing Out Sparks didn't have as much roots or swing, and there was no horn section on it. The songs were just great."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nodepression.com/graham-parker-woodstock-calling/3/ |title=Woodstock calling |magazine=No Depression |issue=58 |date=July–August 2005 |access-date=1 May 2020 |last=McLeese |first=Don}}

Studio versions of "I Want You Back" (a Jackson 5 cover) and "Mercury Poisoning" were originally issued on a 45 rpm 7" single which was included with early copies of the album.

In 1996, Arista Records issued Squeezing Out Sparks + Live Sparks with the original ten tracks followed by live versions of the same songs, in the same order, plus live versions of the two bonus tracks, "I Want You Back (Alive)" and "Mercury Poisoning". Live Sparks had originally been released only as a limited edition, promotional picture disc LP.

Squeezing Out Sparks was reissued in the United Kingdom in 2001 by Mercury Records and Vertigo Records, with the two bonus studio tracks.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/squeezing-out-sparks-mw0000191224 |title=Squeezing Out Sparks – Graham Parker & the Rumour / Graham Parker |website=AllMusic |access-date=12 October 2015 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

| rev2score = A{{cite book |chapter=Graham Parker and the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks |chapter-url=http://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1429 |access-date=2 March 2006 |title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |publisher=Ticknor and Fields |year=1981 |isbn=0-89919-026-X |page=291}}

| rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Parker, Graham |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Larkin |publisher=Omnibus Press |edition=concise 5th |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork

| rev4score = 8.8/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/graham-parker-squeezing-out-sparks/ |title=Graham Parker: Squeezing Out Sparks |website=Pitchfork |date=21 August 2022 |access-date=21 August 2022 |last=Nelson |first=Elizabeth}}

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Graham Parker |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA616 |access-date=8 January 2012 |last=Abowitz |first=Richard |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/616 616–617]}}

| rev6 = Smash Hits

| rev6score = 8/10{{cite magazine |title=Albums |magazine=Smash Hits |volume=1 |issue=10 |date=19 April – 2 May 1979 |last=Starr |first=Red |page=25}}

| rev7 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev7score = 7/10{{cite book |chapter=Graham Parker |last=Arnold |first=Gina |author-link=Gina Arnold |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=286–287}}

| rev8 = Uncut

| rev8score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Graham Parker: Squeezing Out Sparks |magazine=Uncut |issue=52 |date=September 2001 |last=Martin |first=Gavin |page=102}}

}}

Squeezing Out Sparks was well received by contemporary critics. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called it "[a]n amazing record" in a "A+"-rated review for The Village Voice, adding that "Parker's mood, which has narrowed into existential rage with a circumstantial root, makes for perfect, untamable rock and roll."{{cite news |url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv4b-79.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=30 April 1979 |access-date=5 January 2012 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}} In Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus wrote that the album "is no landmark", but nonetheless praised it as an ambitious work that depicted "true fear and drama."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/squeezing-out-sparks-97745/ |title=Squeezing Out Sparks |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=291 |date=17 May 1979 |access-date=14 May 2006 |last=Marcus |first=Greil |author-link=Greil Marcus}} Squeezing Out Sparks was ranked among the top ten albums of the year for 1979 by NME, with "Protection" ranked among the year's top 50 tracks.{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/features/1979-2-1045405 |title=NME{{'}}s best albums and tracks of 1979 |website=NME |date=10 October 2016 |access-date=9 November 2016}} Critical reception for the album was capped by its being voted the best album of the year in the 1979 Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll.{{cite news |url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres79.php |title=The 1979 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=28 January 1980 |access-date=29 November 2010}}

The album's critical reputation has grown since its release. Trouser Press called it "his toughest, leanest and most lyrically sophisticated LP",{{cite web |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/graham-parker-and-the-rumour/ |title=Graham Parker (and the Rumour) |website=Trouser Press |access-date=2 March 2005 |last1=Young |first1=Jon |last2=Robbins |first2=Ira}} while AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited it as Parker's "finest album", "a masterful fusion of pub rock classicism, new wave pop, and pure vitriol". In 2003, Rolling Stone placed Squeezing Out Sparks at number 335 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time;{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/squeezing-out-sparks-graham-parker-19691231 |title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Squeezing Out Sparks – Graham Parker |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=937 |date=11 December 2003 |access-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220142835/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/squeezing-out-sparks-graham-parker-19691231 |archive-date=20 December 2010 |url-status=dead}} the list's 2012 edition ranked the album 334th.{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/graham-parker-squeezing-out-sparks-38737/ |title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time |website=Rolling Stone |date=31 May 2012 |access-date=9 September 2019}}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Graham Parker, except where noted

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Discovering Japan

| length1 = 3:32

| title2 = Local Girls

| length2 = 3:44

| title3 = Nobody Hurts You

| length3 = 3:42

| title4 = You Can't Be Too Strong

| length4 = 3:21

| title5 = Passion Is No Ordinary Word

| length5 = 4:26

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title1 = Saturday Nite Is Dead

| length1 = 3:18

| title2 = Love Gets You Twisted

| length2 = 3:02

| title3 = Protection

| length3 = 3:54

| title4 = Waiting for the UFO's

| length4 = 3:08

| title5 = Don't Get Excited

| length5 = 3:04

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Bonus tracks (2001 reissue)

| title1 = Mercury Poisoning

| length1 = 3:09

| title2 = I Want You Back (Alive)

| writer2 = The Corporation

| length2 = 3:26

}}

• Graham Parker – lead vocals, rhythm guitar

;The Rumour

• Brinsley Schwarz – guitar, backing vocals
• Martin Belmont – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Bob Andrews – keyboards, backing vocals
• Steve Goulding – drums, backing vocals
• Andrew Bodnar – bass

{{reflist|2}}

{{Graham Parker & The Rumour}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Graham Parker albums

Category:1979 albums

Category:Albums produced by Jack Nitzsche

Category:Arista Records albums

Category:Vertigo Records albums