682 Graham Parker - Squeezing Out Sparks (1979)

 682 Graham Parker - Squeezing Out Sparks (1979)

Studio Album - New Wave



About the Act:

Graham Parker is a rock/New Wave singer-songwriter and Frontman from Hackney, London. Before he had a professional music career he had various jobs including picking tomatoes, emptying money from pinball machines, breeding animals for research and working in a rubber glove factory.  Since becoming a musician in 1976 he has had 23 albums, some of which are credited to "Graham Parker and the Rumour" - they being his backing band.

About the Album:

This was his fourth album, and a switch to New Wave from a previous pub group sound.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

One of the problems I have with doing these reviews (and don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this undertaking, it's my own fault, and if I have to dig a bit sometimes, that's not a bad thing) is that it is pretty easy to listen to most of these albums, but for some of them I struggle a bit to have much of an opinion. 

This album is all right.

I can probably do better than that.

It sounds a bit like Elvis Costello, that kind of pop rock with a hint of Punk that came in the wake of punk. It's not punk, it's not thrashy or angry or offensive, but it has the abruptness of punk, and some of the immediacy. On the other hand it has clever lyrics, or at least fairly clever lyrics. The guitar sound, which is a big feature is quite clean and chord-rhythm-playing-like. Actually in that sense it puts me in mind of a less reggae-focused version of The Police. I guess it was the sort of sound that was going down well at the time.

And it's a decent crack at it, not a masterpiece, not a disaster, somewhere in-between.

So if you like this sort of thing a lot, and want to find new stuff in this style, give it a go. I feel like it's a bit under the level of quality set by Elvis Costello and The Boomtown Rats and other New Wave acts.

This album is OK.

6.5/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4I8omVNWbar9OC5SjTkseK

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuCjMclqgmEBZ1IAbNtB9hroRYL0pPtfw

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeezing_Out_Sparks



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