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On this week’s episode, we take on an “angry young man” and dive headfirst into what many consider Graham Parker’s finest artistic statement, 1979’s Squeezing Out Sparks.

By 1979, Parker, backed by a fantastic group of former pub rock musicians known as the Rumour,  had recorded three albums of horn-infused soulful rock and roll, when he decided he needed to take a different direction. Having changed to a more supportive label in the US, he enlisted the production talents of Jack Nietzsche, a man known for his arrangements for the girl groups produced by Phil Spector. Perhaps surprisingly, this album is stripped down, focusing on the talents of his backing band, with guitar hooks galore and music you can dance to, but with an added urgency due to Parker’s lyrics, which were remarkably biting, acerbic, and witty.

Overlooked by the music-buying public to a certain extent, but not by critics, Squeezing Out Sparks is a remarkable album by a musician at the height of his creative talent. 

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