Great Graham Parker, Part 1

Always loved the work of Graham Parker from the word go, he's offered up some crappy albums
(notably "The Parkerilla" which we will get to), but for whatever reason, I've continued to occasionally enjoy some of his latter-day work, unlike, say fellow angry young men Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson, who kind of flamed out for me, early on.....not Parker though, always LOVED his work or at least found it interesting, his flaming rock/soul performances, his indescribeable live shows, his amazing songwriting, and, of course, his surprise appeareance in the film "This is Forty" which tied it ALL  for me, and i am WAY over 40!

This will likely take up 2-3 or maybe 4 days, but I've never done a Parker post and I want to do it RIGHT as I have a lot of live shows, and I would love it if just ONE pup would discover the great Geep from this post.......Certainly one of the greatest performers of the late 70's-80's, some REALLY fine stuff here, some just for the "fan" (me, certainly), and lots of fine live shows, Parker's live shows could be brilliant.

Tonight we will begin with some classic Graham Parker and the Rumour material, all of it essential.....the debut was 1976's "Howlin' Wind", a five-star effort all the way, chilling, rocking, bluesy, and wonderful......what's inside? The great cocaine ode "White Honey" ("...no one pays their rent")....the bluesey and amazing "Gypsy Blood".....the rocking "Back to Schooldays" and "Soul Shoes", the haunting title track "A howlin' win runs through here, blowin' every day.....a howlin' wind runs through here, takes my breath away....".......chills me to the bone everytime. This is not even to mention maybe the album's best known song "Don't Ask Me Questions"......simply stated, there is NOT A SINGLE BAD TRACK on this album, totally essential.

The same year he came out with the equally genius (if not BETTER) "Heat Treatment", also a five-
star classic......LOADED with great rock/soul gems: "That's What They All Say", "Pourin It All Out", the reggae-ish "Just Something You're Going Through", "Fool's Gold" and LOTS more, again, as close to a perfect album as one could imagine, totally essential.......great, great album.

In a contract fullfilling move, Parker released "The Parkerilla", a simply awful set (named one of the 50 worst rock albums of all time in the book of that topic), and I agree, lame live performances, TWO MORE versions of "Don't Ask Me Questions", including (yep) a "Disco remix".....I have included it here, as bad as it is, I DO NOT recommend it, however, I DO have one, and if you need the ENTIRE Parker career story, this is unfortunately part of it.

In 1977 after a label change, Parker was back to his angry young self, releasing "Stick To Me",  NOT a classic or 5-star album, but not bad at all, if you are a Parker fan....."Soul On Ice", "Real Clear Head", "Watch the Moon Come Down", and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" scream classic Parker, I give this album 3.5 stars, it fails ONLY in comparison to the early masterpieces.

So, 1979 came along, and Parker released perhaps his best album , at least my favorite, "Squeezing Out Sparks"......simply a BRILLIANT album, I don't give out "more than" five star rating, but if I DID........oh my.....were to begin? Well "Discovering Japan" might be his best song ever (saying a mouthful), "Local Girls" is an incredible self-depricating piece of genius, "You Can't Be To Strong" is a chilling number with an abortion theme, "Protection" might very well be the album's best track ("So Winston Churchill said....I could've smacked his head!")......Also a stab at former label Mercury "Mercury Poisoing"), and a fine cover of the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back"......this is an incedible album, flawless, if you don't like it I would LOVE to try to understand WHY.

The last album for part 1 will be 1980's "The Up Escalator", a good album as well (it's hard for someone to release THREE genius albums, and then have to settle for "good")......"The Devil's Sidewalk" and "Stupefaction" (a minor single, sample lyric: "I asked the neighbor, "why are you so stupid")....yet another version of "Don't Ask Me Questions" appears here, this one live, Geep must REALLY like that song I guess......

More stuff tomorrow, NOT quite of THIS quality, but when the bootlegs starat making thier way to the board you will thank me I am guessing......always been a Parker fan and it was a treat seeing him in "This is Forty"!

NOTE: I have vinyl rips of ALL of these, BUT have opted to use online MP3 or Flac as both contain bonues tracks....anyone SPECIFICALLY wanting a vinyl rip of one of these letme know and we'll work something out.

HOWLIN WIND-01 White Honey/02 Nothing's Gonna Pull Us Apart/03 Silly Thing/04 Gypsy
Blood/05 Between You And Me/06 Back to Schooldays/07 Soul Shoes/08 Lady Doctor/09 You've Got To Be Kidding/10 Howlin Wind/11 Not if It Pleases Me/12 Don't Ask Me Questions/11 I'm Gonna Use It Now

HEAT TREATMENT-01 Heat Treatment/02 That's What They All Say/03 Turned Up Too Late/04 Black Honey/05 Hotel Chambermaid/06 Pourin It All Out/07 Back Door Love/08 Something You're Going Through/09 Help Me Shake It/10 Fool's Gold/11 Hold Back the Night/13 (Let Me Get) Sweet On You

THE PARKERILLA-01 Lady Doctor/02 Fool's Gold/03 I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down/04 Don't Ask Me Questions/05 Heat in Harlem/06 Silly Thing/07 Gypsy Blood/08 Back to Schooldays/09 Heat Treatment/10 Watch the Moon Come down/11 Soul Shoes/12 Don't Ask Me Questions (Disco Remix)

STICK TO ME-01 Stick To Me/02 I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down/03 Problem Child/04 Soul On Ice/05 Clear Head/06 New York SHuffle/07 Watch the Moon Come Down/08 THunder and Rain/09 Heat In Harlem/10 The Raid

SQUEEZING OUT SPARKS-01 Discovering Japan/02 Local Girls/03 Nobody Hurts You/04 You Can't Be To Strong/05 Passion Is No Ordinary Word/06 Saturday Night Is Dead/ 07 Love Gets You Twisted/08 Protection/09 Waiting For the UFO's/10 Don't Get Excited/11 Mercury Poisoning/12 I Want You Back

THE UP ESCALATOR-01 No Holding Back/02 Devils Sidewalk/03 Stupefacation/04 Empty Lives/05 The Beating of Another Heart/06 Endless Night/07 Paralyzed/08 Manoeuvers/09 Jolie Jolie/10 Love Without Greed/11 Women In Charge/12 Don't Ask Me Questions (Live)

OK, I love Graham Parker and always ......lots of good live/rare stuff to come.......please let me know what you think about the work of Geep & the R, one of the greatest bands of all.........I am a FAN of this band and want to do them up RIGHT!