Squeezing Out Sparks

Didn't vibe with this, honestly.

Favorite Track: Local Girls

Is this better than Elvis Costello? Perhaps, certainly better than some of the less interesting Elvis Costello albums. Is this something I'd want to listen to again? No, not really, though I remember liking this artist when I was a kid, I checked out some vinyl from my local library in the mid 1970s.

I wanted to hate this more on spec, but (before seeing the other reviews) I just got into the Elvis Costello vibe. Not as good as the best Costello, but still slightly better than most Costello.

It seems that this is how it works around here… “I’ve never heard of Graham Parker but I’ve heard of Elvis Costello. This sounds like Elvis Costello so Graham Parker must be an Elvis Costello rip off.” Dear God, it really doesn’t take much effort to fact check these days! Anyway, this is GP’s finest 35 minutes. He’s in lean, mean form and The Rumour were never tighter. Discovering Japan is a storming opener and You Can’t Be Too Strong is a provocative, non-judgemental take on an emotive subject. An easy 5/5. I mean, even Robert Christgau loved it for goodness’ sake!

I always heard that his music is cool. Now I know for sure that it is!

A forgettable album with one catchy song.

Obviously it wasn't just me who immediately heard Elvis Costello. In fact, the resemblence is so strong that I had to check that it wasn't a side project under a different name. If this was a Costello album, it would be one of the better ones at least. Interesting to see that this is where the rhythm and blues session players for The Clash went next.

As others have said, sounds a bit like Elvis Costello, with a perhaps less divisive voice (though I don't mind Costello's voice). Anyway, this was enjoyable; a solid high three.

Catching up on a few I missed is ’you had like 5-7 Elvis Costello and you still wanted someone who sounds just the same from the same era’ No real stand outs but inoffensive

This album was named the Village Voice Pazz and Jop’s #1 album for 1979 over London Calling, Fear of Music, and The B-52s debut album? It’s good, don’t get me wrong, and I won’t judge it too harshly in comparison to those legendary albums….but it’s not legendary. If I closed my eyes, I would think that I was listening to Elvis Costello after he had his tonsils taken out.

Weren't there enough Elvis Costello records on the list?

A little Springsteen mixed with Elvis Costello

He reminds me of costello and we know Costellos reputation at this point/ maybe if all the 100 costello albums (bar my aim is true and maybe one of the others) weren’t on the list this could be an okay pick songs are good tho between a 3/4

1.7 Jesus, didn't we get enough of Elvis Costello on the main list. Now we get the Poundland version. Wank.

A fairly solid 3. I could certainly hear Elvis Costello in this album. Discovering Japan just confused me really, then Local Girls played and I wasn't sure where this was going. Saturday Nite is Dead, and Waiting for the UFOs (literally for how he says "Ufos") were the stand-out tracks.

Extremely Elvis Costello-coded - I had a quick check to see how many Costello albums had been released before this got made. (3) Still, I do rather enjoy Elvis Costello, so I rather enjoyed this! Fave tracks - "Nobody Hurts You" was the stand out, and yeah, I enjoyed "Waiting For the UFOs" for the "you-foe" pronunciation! 🛸

Am I on a reality show where Elvis Costello pops up in my life under different pseudonyms and it's some practical joke that I hear him everywhere?? I enjoy new wave, and I enjoyed the new wave on this album. I'm not sure I heard anything different that I didn't get from the five kajillion Costello albums, but hey, it is a point in Squeezing Out Sparks' favor that this does not include Costello.

"Squeezing Out Sparks" definitely straddles a couple of lines. First, it is new wave-ish, but doesn't quite go all the way there. And second, I agree with the many review assessments that this sounds very Elvis Costello meets Tom Petty. I didn't really care for all the Costello albums on the original list, so I was worried about this album. Overall, it wasn't the worst, but it wasn't really something I loved, either. The Petty-isms were fine, it was the Costello-isms that grated on me, per usual. Probably about a 2.5 for me, but not something I'd round up.

Best Song: Nobody Hurts You. The most palatable of the songs on the album, but even this one was rough. Worst Song: Saturday Nite is Dead. Really quite remarkable that they could repeat such an inane phrase so many times in such a short song. It made it feel like an eternity. Overall: Absolutely not for me. This sounded like the bargain version of artists that I already don't like. An Elvis Costello impersonator. Diametrically opposite of my musical preferences. No thank you.

Sounds like a rushed Elvis Costello, but the best songs aren't as good and the worst songs aren't as bad. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Favourite songs: Protection, Local Girls, Nobody Hurts You, Saturday Nite is Dead, Don't Get Excited, Passion is No Ordinary Word Least favourite songs: You Can't Be Too Strong 4/5

You don't need Elvis Costello. We've got Elvis Costello at home. This is trying to be Costello so much it hurts. However, they forget that Costello has tunes and exceptional lyrics. This... not so much. Best Tracks: Local Girls; You Can't Be Too Strong; Protection

A darling of the 70s proto-punk / new wave movement. I found it to be mostly forgettable.

Pretty average rock album, it’s alright

Yllättävän hyvä new wave-levy. tai yllättävän paljon tykkäsin itse, en ole varma objektiivisesta laadusta.

You can tell the sound is very much from its time. Having said that if I was more of it’s time I think I would have worshipped this record. As is I still enjoyed the listen.

It's got that fun new wave late 70's sound. Hard to take mush issue with it but also not getting overly excited either.

It was fine. Had a real 80s feel to it.

I liked this. Felt like early Elvis Costello and we all know we need more music like that on the list.

Decent late-70's rock from a proper trooper.

Nothing special here, just radio filler.

Oh, so this is what Costello was going for? Well, Graham Parker wins that race, for sure.

i like this dad rock stuff

Solid album choice. +1 for sounding like Elvis Costello. -1 for sounding like Elvis Costello.

Dull eighties stuff. A bit like Elvis Costello.

8/10 I had fun, nothing extraordinary, but certainly very enjoyable

I'm sorry to the person who shared this but I found it just kind of meh.

yea whatever. but cool to know that there were session players on London Calling. Its like a less talented Elvis Costello.

Sin muchas canciones disponibles para opinar, un estilo mezcla de Lou Reed y de Iggy Pop. Rock con voz enérgica, sin muchas estridencias, a camino entre el ser compositor y cantautor. Un tanto de la época.

This one really surprised me. This is everything I had wanted Elvis Costello to be over the (seemingly) countless albums on the original list. This was fun, catchy and engaging. 4.5/5

The lyrics in the songs got very repetitive, which grated on me after a while. It was just not as memorable as I expected it to be. It felt a lot like an Elvis Costello thing, but the lyrics weren't as deep. NEXT.

Sounded like Elvis Costello but not quite as good. Apparently it made the Rolling Stone's greatest 500 album's list. Meh. Perhaps it's pioneering new wave work? Standard fare here.

Slightly less annoying Elvis Costello.

Generic and boring.

Better than Costello but too close to him for an enjoyable listen. I hear a little Joe Jackson as well.

As others have pointed out - reminded me of Costello. This is a decent album, will listen again and to some other albums. Nice one for a Friday afternoon.

Just great, not a foot (or note) put wrong and a fully, worthy winner of the '79 Pazz and Jop poll (no mean feat that, topping Elvis Costello, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Van Morrison and many more). Just about the Platonic ideal of pub-rock/gritty early new wave – tight and crisp, acerbic and wity, and packing major punch in just 35 minutes (take note, 90s bands who did nothing but bloat out their records). Sadly and somewhat unfathomably, GP lost out in the market to (the very similar) Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. Great choice, recommender, serving as a conscience here, reminding us of acts that matter. It's a no-brainer to get this on list proper, please -- replacing Numan, Germs, Slits or Damned (just from 1979) would be big improvement

This dude just seems like a poor man's Elvis Costello, which is definitely not a good thing.

Holy shit, those Elvis comparisons were not exaggerated. If someone told me this was his alter ego with even a semi-convincing argument, I’d have no trouble believing them. The album is fine, but it doesn’t “transcend the genre” as Graham is quoted as saying. He would have needed to release the album a good number of years prior to do that. Instrumentation is fine. Production is sloppy. I didn’t not enjoy it, I just don’t think it’s technically great. I enjoyed the songs, they were fun, however, this is not a masterpiece or anything of that nature. 3/5

The interweaving with Elvis Costello is very apparent as others have noted. I have a big soft spot for new wave but this really didn't grab me.

Fun punk rock influenced new wave. Just some good tunes. Nothing fancy but it does what it set out to do.

There is nothing objectively awful about this. My main gripe with it is that it sounds like it could be an Elvis Costello album and, after listening to far too many of those, I’m a bit burnt out from it all. It’s straight up pop rock with maybe a hint of jangle thrown in there, but there isn’t really anything to make my ears prick up. It’s unlikely to be an album I’ll give a second listen to.

Elvis Costello clone? No, Graham Parker was first by a couple of years.

I've never heard about. Nice album, even though a bit repetitive.

Reminded me of elvis Costello

This should have replaced one of the numerous Elvis Costello albums on the original list.

New wave. Ni fu ni fa.

¿New wave? Nada destacable.

Catchy as hell

Voice fits right between Petty and Costello but the song writing isn't there

British pub rock for yer ears. Hard not to draw comparisons to the oft-cited Elvis Costello on the original list. This record aptly displays how punk stylings crept its way into power pop, with the energy and attitude giving Squeezing Out Sparks a nice kick in the ass. Such a straightforward and succinct rock landed itself a spot on the Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all-time list, twice! Truth is that it's a stellar rock album with practically no filler. I could take or leave the one ballad that's there, but the rest is superb. Rarely do we get an album that doesn't waste a minute of runtime like this one. Well done! CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Y'know what, replace one of the Costello albums with this and you've got something going.

This really sounds like an Elvis Costello clone at first blush, and certainly Costello was not the only British musician that had this particular vibe going on in the late 70s. It's a good album that falls somewhere between Costello and Yacht rock. It's very much of its time, but it's a fun listen, and that's what really matters. It's a bit sad that this album marks him moving away from using horns, because a brass section would have slapped on this shit 4/5

It's quite Elvis Costello-ish (though i prefer GPs voice tbh) Its fine but I dint feel ill go back to it.

The late seventies will never cease to amaze me. You may think you know all the major influential artists from that time period, and then some unknown party will inform you still have much to learn. I knew absolutely nothing about Graham Parker, and I'm glad someone corrected that for me. *Squeezing Out Sparks* indeed seems to split the difference between The Clash and Elvis Costello -- actually beating the latter at his own game in terms of verbal and melodic hooks. And the results are just magnificent for me. One track bored me, "Love Gets You Twisted". But everything else is great. What I often like on those witty songs is also how they build up to so many catchy elements in their conclusions -- whether they are guitar arrangements, vocal hooks or a more impressive rhythm sections. I think I understand what pleased the critics so much at the time. And it's a shame this record is kind of forgotten today. Guess it's up to us to fix that, right? 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 27 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 38 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 70 --- Émile, j'ai mis ma dernière réponse sous l'album de The 1975 au dessus...

Started off pretty strong, but quickly devolved into a “we’ve got Elvis Costello at home” situation.

Some songs, especially the slower ones, bored me a little, but the rest was pretty fun. Catchy. I didn't mind this one at all. 3.5, rounded up.

Not my thing really

Another very average late 70s album that sounds just like a less good version of Costello or Petty. I’ve never heard anyone pronounce UFO like Parker does on a track towards the end and I think it’s quite damning that that was my biggest take away from the album

Definitely a very Elvis Costello sounding group. Decent overall.

Two in one week not available in my region.

Yes it's quite New wave and contemporary with Elvis Costello. Although I respect it's integrity it has never appealed to me.

Agree that it was very similar to Elvis Costello. Good without being remarkable in any way

This was considerably better on the second listen.

Going into this I was skeptical: A pop album from circa 1980s by an artist I’ve never heard of, not the greatest formula for success. But to my suprise it was a real banger! Full of infectious melodies and energetic playing. Thank you to whoever submitted this!

Was that a song about rape just hidden in there? Definitely about abortion. The only thing going for this album was that it was short. Oh, and I don’t have to listen to it ever again.

It was okay

Getting 2 better band’s names in the album title must be a record

Fucking outrageous, it's like he's doing an Elvis Costello impression for some reason. On the one hand, I guess mission accomplished from the original project that I can pick up on that now. On the other hand, all of Costello's six albums on there sounded identical to each other. The People wanted more of that in the feed?

Squeezing Out Sparks is nice, mix of decent punk-adjacent stylings and some more considered bluesy-type stuff, with those two approaches well paired in the Saturday Nite Is Dead/Love Gets You Twisted run. It's kind of like if Elvis Costello was more interesting than all the stuff we had from him. 3/5 again, these user-submitted things seem solid if unspectacular rather than 70% shit, 30% good.

I didn't love it

Big elvis Costello vibes on this one, this is more like his better albums so I’d happy replace one of his poorer efforts on the list for this.

Groovy

Enjoyable and interesting, but without a stand out track that I loved. A really good album, but from a time, place and style with plenty of representation in the book already. A pleasure to have heard, and an artist I look forward to exploring more (after this list)

Ehhh... it's okay. It's really hard to write something insightful when I heard this album numerous times on the original list. It isn't really doing anything new for me. At least it's short and inoffensive. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Absolutely not. We had a enough mediocre new wave already, don't need more to add to the pile.

This sounded so generic I felt like I’d already listened to it despite never having heard of graham parker. I now realize why it’s so familiar because it sounds exactly like the dozen Elvis Costello albums I was made to listen to on the main list.

"This sounds like Elvis Costello" is the scariest possible sentence to see when you first open the reviews before listening to this. Slightly better than Elvis Costello, but maybe that's only because this one doesn't carry the "Oh god, I still have to listen to 5 more of these" weight that getting an Elvis Costello album album meant on the original list.

I can hear what the Clash loved so much. It's a bit too polished for me, though there are some nice flourishes. Good but not great.

A solid listen from an artist that I had absolutely zero knowledge of prior.

Forgettable 70s

New wave. Ni fu ni fa.

This should definitely be on the list, I'm actually a little surprised it isn't

This is the kind of 80s music that doesn’t excite me much. The cool guy singer songwriter that sings about tales of unique life. To me it’s just an album of blow hard music with more unique instrumentals and rhythms. Nothing too exciting on this one. 5.4/10

Graham Parker is one of those artists that should have deserved some more appriciation from the public. Great songs and fantastic lyrics (You can't be too strong) that up to this day are open to debate.

Ah, this was a nice addition. Graham Parker is one of those artists I was waiting to see on the original list who didn't make it, so I'm glad to see him here. This album has a smart, mildly cantankerous vibe with a strong pop sensibility, and more than a bit of a bite. Love it. Fave Songs: Saturday Nite Is Dead, Love Gets You Twisted, Protection, You Can't Be Too Strong, Local Girls, Passion Is No Ordinary Word

This did not hit me right at all today.

I definitely get Elvis Costello vibes from this, which isn’t great for me since 6 albums of Elvis Costello on the original list didn’t warm me up to the sound. Most of the songs were ok for me although a few started to wear. And I think that apostrophe in “UFO’s” needs to go.

It was adequate. I guess that isn't a very nice thing to say about someone's art. But really, it was fine. Not special, not groundbreaking. Pleasant enough to my earholes but not mind-blowing or revelatory by any stretch.

Doesn't excite me at all

Fourth studio album? Who chooses these albums? Melodic, musical, and rhythmic. Shades of Elvis. Very easy to listen to.