GRAHAM PARKER: Discovering Élan

LONDON—Graham Parker’s now 28, he’s barely begun his career in rock (less than four years ago, he was serving in a gas station), and he’s already been called “one of the decade’s great white R&B artists.” In recent months, nevertheless, much has been made of the fact that Parker has still not achieved the kind of record sales critics expect of a man of his caliber/reputation; much has also been made of Parker’s return on Squeezing Out Sparks to the horn-less simplicity of Howlin' Wind.