Graham Parker Albums (29)
'Live Alone: The Bastard of Belgium'
Release Date 6/22/2009
Tracks 15
Label Upyours
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Carp Fishing on Valium: The Songs'
Release Date 5/5/2009
Tracks 11
Label Upyours
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Don't Tell Columbus'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 12
Label Bloodshot
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Depending on which album you get from Graham Parker these days, he's either set on reminding us that he's still capable of serving up the sort of lean and feisty rock & roll that made him a cult hero years ago, or demonstrating that he's matured into a pithy and very gifted singer/songwriter with the passage of time. 2007's Don't Tell Columbus falls into the latter category (and follows his 2005 studio set Songs of No Consequence, which happened to fit into the former scenario), and while there are several examples of his acerbic side on display (most notably "England's Latest Clown," which concerns someone quite a bit like Pete Doherty, and "Stick to the Plan," a witty but poison-penned meditation on George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina), Parker's more gentle side dominates Don't Tell Columbus, and it serves him well on these tunes. The title cut is a cautious celebration of his adopted home in the guise of a road story, "The Other Side of the Reservoir" and "Suspension Bridge" are richly detailed slice-of-life stories, "Love of Delusion" is an intelligent but uncompromising story of a relationship gone sour, and "Somebody Saved Me" is an equally honest story from the other side of the coin. While Parker doesn't rock especially hard here, the arrangements are taut, concise and full-bodied even when the electric guitars fade into the backdrop, and Parker handles the lion's share of the guitar work himself with an easy confidence, while Mike Gent shines on drums and Ryan Barnum adds some well-placed keyboard textures that give the tunes welcome color and balance. If Don't Tell Columbus doesn't sound like it's markedly superior to such recent Graham Parker efforts as Your Country and Songs of No Consequence, those were both strong albums and so is this, and what impresses most at this stage of Parker's career is his consistency -- he's writing first-rate songs and putting them on record with heart, soul and conviction, and he hasn't sounded this reliably inspired since the mid-'80s. It's a fine thing he's still around. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Graham Parker's third volume in his ongoing series of "Art Vandelay Tapes" releases (which preserve rare and collectable material from his archives) devotes itself to a concert Parker played in Chicago on July 4, 1988, as he was touring the United States in support of the album The Mona Lisa's Sister. The show was recorded on multi-track and mixed for later broadcast on radio, so these takes are decidedly higher in fidelity than much of the material on the second "Art Vandelay Tapes" release, which primarily focused on live recordings (though the version of "Durban Poison" that appears on that disc originated from this show, so completists will end up owning it twice). Parker is in solid form on this show, which has previously circulated in bootleg form; longtime GP sidemen Brinsley Schwarz and Andrew Bodnar share the stage with him here, and the set list offers a compelling mix of (then) current tunes and established favorites. However, as good as this is, The Live Vandelay doesn't have the sharp, fiery snap of Parker's best live recordings, possibly due to the fact Parker was one of a handful of acts on an all-day bill and it sounds as if he's playing for an audience who largely isn't that familiar with him. It also doesn't help that Parker's smart, witty rage, always one of his greatest assets, seems to have been turned down a few points for this gig. Graham Parker loyalists will find this enjoyable listening, but The Live Vandelay isn't ever going to replace Live Sparks or Live! Alone in America in the Parker pantheon. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Songs of No Consequence'
Release Date 5/30/2005
Tracks 12
Label Evangeline
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
One man's stellar legacy is another man's millstone, and until the day he dies Graham Parker will doubtless find his latest music compared (usually unfavorably) to the four superb albums he cut in the 1970s: Howlin' Wind, Heat Treatment, Stick to Me, and Squeezing Out Sparks. To hear some folks talk about his body of work, you'd think Parker's muse had turned tail and fled as soon as Squeezing Out Sparks was completed, but the truth is, despite a lot of poor choices made by record labels and producers over the years, Parker has been writing fine songs and making solid records on a regular basis for close to 30 years now, and Songs of No Consequence makes it clear he has no intention of stopping anytime soon. While Parker's 2004 set, Your Country, found him dipping his toes into country and blues-accented roots rock, Songs of No Consequence is a straightforward rock & roll session (something of a rarity for Bloodshot Records), with Parker backed by frequent touring partners the Figgs, who add a healthy level of spunk to the proceedings. Parker isn't as young as he once was, and he certainly knows it, as cuts like "Bad Chardonnay," "There's Nothing on the Radio," and "Did Everybody Just Get Old?" make abundantly clear, but don't get the silly idea that he's mellowing. Parker's smart, pithy wordplay and bemused annoyance with the world around him informs most of the cuts on this set, and not unlike 1996's Acid Bubblegum, his latter-day rage makes for some darkly humorous and well-pointed observations about the media, contemporary culture, and numerous manifestations of human frailty. In short, Graham Parker still has the sharp edges that made him memorable in the first place, and if you wonder when he's going to make another record like he did in his glory days, a quick spin of Songs of No Consequence might convince you that's a matter of common misconception about his music rather than any real career slump. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Available at gigs and at www.grahamparker.net, Yer Cowboy Boot is part of Graham Parker's limited-edition series of "official bootleg" releases of live recordings from his own Up Yours Records label. In this case, Parker is heard at a show that occurred in May 2004 when he was promoting his Your Country studio album. Accompanied by the trio of multi-instrumentalists Tom Freund and Drew Glackin and drummer Konrad Meissner (whom he has dubbed the Twang Three), Parker, in addition to performing many of the songs from Your Country, also takes the opportunity of the group's versatility to try out a number of songs from his extensive record catalog that he has rarely if ever performed live. These include such album tracks as "I Don't Know," "You've Got to Be Kidding," and "Crying for Attention," plus "Three Martini Lunch," a song first introduced on Live! Alone in America, but never performed in a band arrangement before. With such instruments as lap steel and mandolin in the mix, there is occasionally a country feel to the music, but the Twang Three are equally adept at making a sound that approximates a smaller version of Parker's old five-piece backup band the Rumour. The remarkable consistency of the singer's writing talent means that he could pick virtually any 19 songs from his repertoire and make a good live album out of them, and that is demonstrated in this set, which eschews most of his better-known material and hits a peak with the recently composed "Nation of Shopkeepers." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While he had a switchblade voice and a lyrical style whose bitterness rivaled that of Elvis Costello or his more abrasive contemporaries, Graham Parker was never really a punk rocker, or even a new wave guy -- like his buddies Nick Lowe and Brinsley Schwarz, Parker was at heart an unreconstructed pub rock man, and like his fellow pub rockers, he had a soft spot for country-rock in the manner of the Band, even if he didn't air that enthusiasm very often. (Just cue up "Between You and Me" or "Back to Schooldays" for proof.) So it should be no great surprise that Parker has recorded a twang-friendly roots rock album for Chicago's "insurgent country" label Bloodshot; what might surprise a few is that it's a strong, intelligent, and compelling piece of work that shows Parker mellowing just a bit with age, but still maintaining the sharp eye that's always been the hallmark of his songwriting. Parker's tales of a second-rate comedian on the road ("Anything for a Laugh") and an Englishman adjusting to life in the States ("Nation of Shopkeepers") are first-class character studies that show compassion for their protagonists without disguising their failings, "Things I've Never Said" and "The Rest Is History" prove he can write well about a semifunctional relationship when he's of a mind, and "Queen of Compromise" and "Fairground" reveal Parker's still in touch with his snarky side, and still knows how to use it well. As for the music, Parker doesn't bend over backward to make these tunes sound "country," and that suits both him and the songs just fine -- the occasional washes of lap steel and blues-flavored shuffle give these songs a well-applied rootsy touch without condescending to a genre that (by his own admission) he doesn't know remarkably well. In an accompanying essay, Parker says the Rolling Stones "have showed me that country music is just the blues," and Your Country suggests Parker and his partners have learned well from that lesson -- like the best blues and the best country, this is an album of simple but well-crafted songs about real people's lives, full of home truth and some well-applied piss and vinegar. Added value items: a duet with Lucinda Williams on "Cruel Lips," and a snappy new version of "Crawling From the Wreckage." ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'From the Front Row Live'
Release Date 10/21/2003
Tracks 15
Label Silverline
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Graham Parker's appearance at Grant Park in Chicago on the Fourth of July, 1988, sees release on disc nearly 15 years after the fact with Blue Highway, a British CD. The packaging by the Alchemy Entertainment label leaves a great deal to be desired, starting with the album title. "Blue Highways" with an "s" was the name of one of the songs on Parker's then-current studio record, The Mona Lisa's Sister, and it adds insult to injury to not only get the song title wrong, but then to use that mistaken title for the name of the album itself! Keyboard player James Hallawell also has his name misspelled, while the obscure Knight Brothers song "Sinking Low," the disc's only tune not to have appeared on any other Parker album, is rendered as "Sinkin' Low," which is almost right. The liner notes by remastering engineer Ross Landau tell readers more about the first Parker gig he attended, back in 1976, than about the show heard on the album. Also included as liner notes, though hard to read due to the graphics, is a reprint of Stephen Thomas Erlewine's All Music Guide biography of Parker. All of that is the bad news. The good news is that, as Landau quotes Parker reacting, "The tapes...sound amazing!" This is a good recording of a hot show. Parker, backed by a four-piece band including former Rumour members Brinsley Schwarz and Andrew Bodnar, may be intent on promoting The Mona Lisa's Sister (with five tracks out of 12 devoted to it), but he chooses the album's best songs and also includes some of his evergreens, such as "Local Girls" and "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" from Squeezing Out Sparks and "Howlin' Wind" and "White Honey" from Howlin' Wind. Also included, and the album's other rarity for fans, is a full-band version of "Durban Poison," which would not turn up on disc until the following year as a solo performance on Live! Alone in America. Add it all up and, despite the typos, this is a good purchase for Parker aficionados. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Deepcut to Nowhere'
Release Date 8/21/2001
Tracks 12
Label Razor & Tie
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Ever since 1990's Struck By Lightning, Graham Parker has been retreating into domesticity -- and, along with that, his audience became more selective. There were the occasional forays into rock & roll, on Acid Bubblegum and on tours where he was accompanied by the Figgs, but he turned into a genuine singer/songwriter by essaying miniature songs about daily travails, current events, and thoughts that have crossed Parker's mind. That's pretty much the case here, but there's a bit of a difference -- these are "dark days" as he says on the opening salvo, and there are a number of dark undercurrents running throughout the record. By the end, when he's concluding with "It Takes a Village Idiot" and "Last Stop Is Nowhere," there are strong suggestions that things are not well on the domestic front, stating obliquely but clearly the themes that have been running through much of the uneasy songs on the album. That gives it a different thematic spin than a lot of his '90s records, but the sound is essentially the same and the music, if anything, is more insular than before (appropriate for the inward, pained songs). This means that this is a record that's just for the converted -- the ones who will spin the record several times to unlock the meanings of the record, not minding that the songs aren't immediate (or that memorable outside of the lyrics) and that the record sounds very similar to every record he's made in the past ten years. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
