One of these days I’ll get around to compiling a list of Ten Artists Who Should Be More Famous. It may be hard to keep it to ten. Nowdays, there are so many great artists who barely get heard, if they get known at all. And yet so many pop tarts, crap rappers, boy bands, and sludge rockers seem to be around for way too long. But just imagine a different world, a world where new wavy edgy folk-rockers write great, intelligent songs with clever lyrics and biting and slightly sarcastic vocals. Yeah, Elvis Costello lives there some of time and Joe Jackson rented there for a while.
But in that different world, a once-almost-famous British guy named Graham Parker (learn more, web site) has lived there for over thirty years now, churning out loads of albums over the years. Granted, not every song is perfect but there are so many great ones. His album Squeezing Out Sparks is a classic that every modern rock fan should own, along with five or eight of his other albums too. Ask me for suggestions if you want. And he keeps plugging away. Another new album is underway and due in 2010. Today’s Terrific Tune is a killer track from that Squeezing Out Sparks album but performed live a decade or more later on the David Letterman show. It’s the closer for side one (yeah, it was a record!), called “Passion Is No Ordinary Word”. Reminds me a little of when we saw him not long ago at The Palms. But that’s another post, lol. For now, watch this video. This is what the singer-songwriter genre should be!
Graham Parker “Passion Is No Ordinary Word” on Letterman.
See past Terrific Tunes For Tuesday
Clicks And Pops talks about Squeezing Out Sparks
View/buy music by Graham Parker
Leave me a comment below. Squeeze out some sparks!
I by and large don’t leave comments!!! Believe me! On the other hand I enjoyed your web site…especially this post! Would you mind terribly if I threw up a backlink from my blog site to your web site?
Greetings! I want to say thanks for an interesting entry about a something I have had an interest in for a long time now. I have been lurking and reading the entries frequently and just wanted to thank you for providing me with some very good posts. I look forward to reading more, and taking a more active role in the conversations on this site.