Squeezing Out Sparks is a 1979 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Graham Parker

Graham Parker

Graham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...

 and the Rumour

The Rumour

The Rumour were a British rock band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records were credited to Graham Parker & The Rumour...

. It was voted album of the year in the 1979 Village Voice Pazz & Jop

Pazz & Jop

The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...

 Critics Poll and, in 2003, was ranked number 335 on Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...

. Although the Rumour were not credited on the cover, their name was included on the album label.

Squeezing Out Sparks was reissued in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 2001 on Vertigo/Mercury, with two bonus tracks. In addition, in 1996, Arista issued Squeezing Out Sparks + Live Sparks with the original ten tracks followed by live versions of the same songs, in the same order, plus "I Want You Back (Alive)" and "Mercury Poisoning" live. "Live Sparks" had originally been released only as a limited edition, promotional picture disc LP. Studio versions of "I Want You Back" (a Jackson 5 cover) and "Mercury Poisoning" were originally issued on a 45 rpm 7" single which was included with early copies of the album.

Side one

1. "Discovering Japan" – 3:32
2. "Local Girls" – 3:44
3. "Nobody Hurts You" – 3:42
4. "You Can't Be Too Strong" – 3:21
5. "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" – 4:26

Side two

1. "Saturday Nite Is Dead" – 3:18
2. "Love Gets You Twisted" – 3:02
3. "Protection" – 3:54
4. "Waiting for the UFOs" – 3:08
5. "Don't Get Excited" – 3:04

Bonus tracks (2001 reissue)

1. "Mercury Poisoning" – 3:09
2. "I Want You Back
   I Want You Back
   "I Want You Back" was released in 1969 and in early 1970s became a number-one hit single recorded by The Jackson 5 for the Motown label. The song, along with a b-side cover of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Who's Lovin' You", was the only single from the first Jackson 5 album, Diana Ross Presents...
   
   " (The Corporation) – 3:26

Personnel

• Graham Parker
  Graham Parker
  Graham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
  
   – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
  Rhythm guitar
  Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
  
  
• Brinsley Schwarz
  Brinsley Schwarz (musician)
  Brinsley Ernst Pieter Schwarz is an English guitarist and rock musician. He formed a band named Kippington Lodge in 1965, which evolved into the eponymous band Brinsley Schwarz...
  
   – guitar, backing vocals
• Martin Belmont
  Martin Belmont
  Martin Belmont is a rock 'n' roll and country-blues guitarist.After working as a roadie for Brinsley Schwarz, in 1972 he formed Ducks Deluxe, issuing two albums on RCA...
  
   – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Bob Andrews
  Bob Andrews (keyboardist)
  Robert Charles "Bob" Andrews is an English keyboardist and saxophonist. He played with Brinsley Schwarz and Graham Parker's backing band, The Rumour, which he left in 1980.-References:...
  
   – keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , backing vocals
• Steve Goulding
  Steve Goulding
  Steve Goulding is an English drummer, best known for his memberships with Graham Parker and The Rumour, The Associates, Poi Dog Pondering and The Mekons. With the Associates he had a UK #9 hit single with "Party Fears Two"...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , backing vocals
• Andrew Bodnar – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1979	Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Pop Albums	40