The 500 - #334 - Squeezing Out Sparks - Graham Parker

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 334

Album Title: Squeezing Out The Sparks

Artist: Graham Parker

Genre: New Wave

Recorded: Landsdowne Studios, London, UK

Released: March, 1979

My age at release: 13

How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? No

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Nobody Hurts You selected by my good friend Billy Gudgeon -- who managed a band that played that song.

Sometimes I'll share high-school advice with my Grade 7 or 8 students. I don't hector them with, "You'll never pass in high school if..." statements.

Sadly, I used to.

In my defence, it was all I knew. It was, after all, the method my Grade 8 teacher had employed to introduce post-elementary education to me. According to Mr. Durocher, high school was going to be a cold, hard and unforgiving place where "nobody could help you, but yourself."

I suppose I should have been terrified, but I had the focus and attention span of a 12-year-old, resigning myself to thinking I would struggle and then figure things out. After all, it was a strategy that had worked so far.

Now that I am a middle-school educator, I no longer choose this foreboding supposition with my young charges. Instead, I try to inspire excitement, wonder and joy. I tell them they will "find their tribe" and that they will "meet expert teachers who will help prepare them for the next chapter in their lives" -- be it post-secondary education, an apprenticeship, the broad-spectrum work force, or even travelling.

I also encourage them to get involved as much as they can in endeavours that capture their interests. It is not like there is a shortage of volunteer opportunities in a typical high school.

"Push past the hesitation and fear."

"Try out for school teams, even if you don't make them."

I tried out for every school team in Grade 9, making the cross-country and wrestling teams because...well...they didn't cut anyone who kept showing up. Made the Grade 9 basketball team as the coach's 14th option. Only during the fourth quarter when the game was clearly out of reach for one of the teams -- usually us -- would I be allowed to step on the court.

If asked what position I played in high school basketball -- I'd say bench.

I also tell my young charges  to investigate the many different clubs and social groups available at their new academic home.

"Joining a club is a great way to meet new people and, often, engage with teachers outside the academic environment. "Often, club involvement will become an important bullet point on your resume."

In the first weeks of my Grade 9 year there was an open invitation for wannabe writers and artists to join the school newspaper. A few days later, I had my first assignment -- write a music review. 

The launch pad for a wandering mind

At the time, 1979, the New Wave genre was finding its way into the collective teen conscience...even in the sleepy, farming/fishing town I called home. So, I decided to write about that.

New Wave is a "catch-all" term to describe the music that came out of the punk movement of the late 70s. It was, like punk, created with a "Do It Yourself" (DIY) philosophy. But, unlike punk, it was more accessible to mainstream audiences, borrowing a little from the pop sensibilities of the 60s.

I was out of my element writing the piece I submitted. There was no access to Google, let alone research at the local or school library -- which were void of my subject matter. Wanting to appear knowledgeable and hip, I cobbled together a few ideas from things I had heard on local radio and about the artists I had seen perform on television -- mainly Saturday Night Live.

The original Saturday Night Live players

I knew a few songs from four bands which fell under the big umbrella of "New Wave" -- The Police, The Cars, Devo and Blondie. So, I talked about them and used inspirational words such as, "groundbreaking", "revolutionary", and "the future of music". It turns out, I wasn't far off. All four bands have records on The 500 - The Police have four. However, listening to Graham Parker's record in preparation for this post, I was transported to the New Wave sounds I would hear as the seventies became the eighties. They were reminiscent of Elvis Costello (four records on The 500) and Joe Jackson -- whose second album, I'm The Man, should be on The 500. If only life were fair.

Four 1978 records that influenced my taste for New Wave

Graham Parker, often paired with his supporting band, The Rumour, was an artist I had heard of, but did not know very well. Although, I was familiar with Heat Treatment from his second record of the same name, it was better described as rock or blue-eyed soul. Parker wouldn't make the move to the New Wave sound until Squeezing Out Sparks.

Parker was born in Hackney, East London, in 1950. Like many of his generation, he grew up a fan of The Beatles, soul music, Motown and the emerging genre of British ska, a reggae influenced sound imported to the U.K. from Caribbean immigrants. While learning the guitar in his late-teens, he worked at a rubber glove factory and later, raised animals for research into foot and mouth disease, a devastating affliction for cloven foot beasts.

He spent a year living in Gibraltar, unloading ships by day and practising guitar at night. When he returned to live with his parents in 1972, he was determined to pursue music full-time. He placed an ad in Melody Maker magazine, looking for like-minded musicians.

Melody Maker Magazine (1872)

Voila! Parker attracted the attention of guitarist Brinsley Shwarz,  a veteran U.K. pub performer. Shwarz brought with him his bandmates Bob Andrews (keyboards), Martin Belmont (guitar), Andrew Bodnar (bass) and Stephen Goulding (drums). They called themselves The Rumour and performed as Parker's supporting band while also touring and recording on their own.

Parker (foreground) with The Rumour (l-r) Bodnar, Shwarz,
Andrews, Goulding & Belmont 

Squeezing Out Sparks, the band's fourth record, was a departure from their work on the first three albums. Parker spurned the horns, he had used on previous releases, and drew upon the punk rock sound that was exploding in both London and New York. The record was planned to follow an over-arching concept about growing up in suburbia, but that idea was discarded. Regardless, many of those themes are evident in songs such as Local Girls, You Can't Be Too Strong, and Saturday Night Is Dead.

Squeezing Out Sparks - album back cover

Squeezing Out Sparks was voted Album Of The Year for 1979 in the year-end poll by Village Voice Magazine, as well as being lauded by Rolling Stone Magazine and the New Music Express. It was launched back into the spotlight in 2012 when Parker and his music were featured as an important plot point in the Judd Apatow comedy film, This Is 40. Parker played a slightly-fictionalized version of himself and performed several songs in the film and for the soundtrack.

A 40th anniversary edition of the record was released in 2019 as a solo-acoustic recording by a (Rumour-less) Parker. He followed it with a (Covid-delayed) U.S, tour in 2021 and also performed solo in small venues. He remains on good terms with The Rumour, who have also recorded and performed without him. There is a possibility of a reunion tour.

When I return to my Grade 7 class in two weeks following foot surgery, I may share the story of Parker with them: A non-musician who took a chance and picked up a guitar at 18 to pursue a dream that became a nearly 50-year career. Of course, I'll remind them of the expert teachers in high school who will help them on their journey.