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Graham Parker - Album Reviews | |
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Howlin' Wind
The cursive scrawl on the cover of Graham Parker's 1976 debut makes it look like it's called Howlin' Wino, which is kind of appropriate; after all, this is rambunctious British pub rock at its finest. Though lumped in with the punk and new-wave movements owing to his connections with Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and Stiff Records honcho Dave Robinson, Parker comes off here more like an angry soul man. "Back to Schooldays" and "Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions" are searing indictments of the world around him; and though Parker's rage softens noticeably on the rakish "Silly Thing" and the achingly romantic "Gypsy Blood," it fuels even the positive musings of "Soul Shoes" (one of the greatest party songs of all time) and "Nothing's Gonna Pull Us Apart." And to think he was just warming up...
12 Haunted Episodes
12 Haunted Episodes is yet another good album for Graham Parker, full of some of the best rock-singing this side of Van Morrison, and full of songwriting that never tires of wrestling with contradictions. The paradox that obsesses Parker this time out: How can he be an angry iconoclast and a happily married husband at the same time? On 12 Haunted Episodes, he integrates the two themes into songs which explore the interface between public discontent and private solace. On "Partner for Life," for example, he pledges fidelity to his wife with a raspy ferocity as if battling off all the distractions and temptations of the world at large. "Next Phase" is a lovely soul ballad that describes how a spouse's love can help one through the trials of the workday. Other songs, such as "Force of Nature," "Loverman," and "Pollinate," introduce a rock & roll lust into the context of marriage. Another song, "Disney's America," turns the recent battle over a theme park in Manassas into a fable of lost innocence. Parker is a marvelous singer and songwriter, but he's not the world's best producer. His unimaginative pub-rock arrangements and his bland, dull sound don't do his songs and performances justice.
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Graham Parker @ CanEHdian | |
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Acid Bubblegum
"I don't appeal to the masses," Graham Parker sings on "Sharpening Axes" from his new album, Acid Bubblegum, "and they don't appeal to me." This album's very title suggests his deep mistrust of mass success and popular taste in a world where poisons are marketed via cartoon camels, their praises sung by gold-chained gangstas and their dangerous lure lamented by big-haired news anchors. Popular acceptance has barely touched Parker in his 20-year career, but the one-time London pub-rocker remains one of pop music's most cantankerous, most insightful misanthropes--and one of its best singers as well.
Passion Is No Ordinary Word
This double-disc retrospective is perfectly suited to an artist of Graham Parker's nature. The prototypical 1970s Angry Young Bloke, Parker bridged the decade's pub-rock and punk-rock phases, which made him pivotal artistically, but commercially marginal. After an initial out-of-the-gate flurry that culminated with the near-faultless Squeezing Out Sparks, Parker flailed; his crack backup band the Rumor was gone by the early '80s and his material began to feel forced. Parker never released an album that was totally without merit, however. The beauty of Passion Is No Ordinary Word is that it thoroughly chronicles Parker's peak and knowingly cherry picks his more problematic later releases. Indeed, in this setting, the latter-day likes of "You Can't Take Love for Granted" and "Strong Winds" sound almost as appealing as such early high points as "Discovering Japan" and "Fool's Gold."
Reviews Copyright Amazon.com, 2000
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