Neither. A fine folk/pub rocker who made some incredibly great albums (Squeezing Out Sparks) and some not so good ones.

I saw him a few times in some pretty good sized venues back int he day. Now he plays something called "living room concerts" where you can hire him to play at your house. I was invited to one but couldn't go.

Played Great w/ The Figgs and also saw him solo in some small bar. Good times!

Given the quality of his recent albums, and the price of his concert tickets, these days Elvis Costello is the Rich Man's Poor Man's Elvis Costello.

Joe Jackson is the poor man's Elvis Costello. Discuss.

A rich man's Doug and the Slugs? Early Nerdrock: blazing a trail for the Barenaked Ladies, et al, of today. Thanks a lot, jerk.

/I don't actually hate him; pretty good songwriter

Ebenator: Joe Jackson is the poor man's Elvis Costello. Discuss.

The gay man's Elvis Costello, but an awesome songwriter.

/not gay
//really

When I heard this song for the first time at an ice cream shop, I immediately had to run over to the record store and buy the album, I liked it so much. Yes, I'm old.

I think the comparisons with Elvis Costello (and Joe Jackson, for that matter) aren't really that accurate, especially if you've followed their respective output over the years.

Ebenator:

Re: "Joe Jackson is the poor man's Elvis Costello."

Both have a lot in common, but are still stylistically very different. Joe has a lot more jazz in his work than Elvis, for starters. And his arrangements are typically more complex.

I'm a big fan of both, though. Both are tremendous talents. Graham Parker's cool, too.

I heard he had a bad case of mercury poisoning.

/still have a copy of The Pink Parker EP.

Couple of great albums, but the catalog taken as a whole isn't up to Costello's or Jackson's. Early on, his band could pull off some damned good R&B and really were a precursor to Jackson's early successes. For me, Parker's best works are not quite as timeless as the best of Costello or Jackson.

Still, always liked GP's cover of "I Want You Back" better than the original.

Not sure why but I often think of Warren Zevon when I hear about Graham Parker. But yeah, I love them and Costello (el Rey del America) and Jackson.

Actually, he started out as the poor man's Van Morrison. Then he became the poor man's Elvis Costello. He only seems like a poor man's Warren Zevon in the eyewear department.

Mercury Poisoning and I Want You Back were awesome. As was the whole Squeezing Out Sparks album.

I saw Graham Parker and The Rumour the back in 1979 at the Motreal Fourum.
I also owned a copy of Squeezing Out Sparks. Listened to it often.
Radio in Montreal was/is terrible. Too much progressive rock.