Classic & Current Contemporary Non-Schlock-Rock Metropolitan Music

Squeezing Out Sparks (Mar. 1979) - Graham Parker and the Rumour

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This is my favorite Graham Parker record. I was going to point out some favorite songs until I realized I love them all. I suppose I'm partial to "Protection," which opens blasting "So all of you be damned..." and includes the visually clever "Your love letters are confetti. I ripped them up my hands were sweaty." Most of the songs are timeless crankin' rock and roll. The exception is the pretty acoustic "You Can't Be Too Strong," which is an account of an experience with abortion.

At the same time we got Squeezing Out Sparks at WFDD, we also got a live version of the album called Live Sparks (which I still have). The song order is exactly the same as the studio album except that at the end of Side 1 is a live cover of the Jackson Five song "I Want You Back" and the last song on Side 2 is a live version of "Mercury Poison." Those extra songs also came on a 12-inch promotional single.

"Mercury Poisoning" is a song Parker wrote to vent his anger at Mercury Records, his record label prior to the release of Squeezing Out Sparks on Arista Records. Parker felt the record company wasn't promoting his music enough. Obviously, Parker and Mercury Records did not part on good terms. (I'm on Graham's side here. I still can't believe Mercury won't release the albums by The Brains. But that's another story for another page.)

A one-sided 12-inch studio version of "Mercury Poison" made its way to the radio station around that time. Looking around the Internet today I saw quite a few of these for sale pretty cheap. Most of the ones I saw were on gray vinyl. Mine is black.

This vinyl record might be the best way to get the studio version. A remastered version of Squeezing Out Sparks has been released that bundles Live Sparks with it, but all the versions I've seen only have the live version of "Mercury Poisoning." Perhaps the studio version will turn up on a future repackaging of Squeezing Out Sparks.

-- Originally posted 2005
-- Updated December 22, 2010 (DDT)

Squeezing Out Sparks Tracks

1. Discovering Japan
2. Local Girls
3. Nobody Hurts You
4. You Can't Be Too Strong
5. Passion Is No Ordinary Word
6. Saturday Nite Is Dead
7. Love Gets You Twisted
8. Protection
9. Waiting for the UFOs
10. Don't Get Excited

More Graham Parker and the Rumour at Deaconlight.com

• Graham Parker - Howlin' Wind (1976)
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• Graham Parker - The Up Escalator (1981)
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