Songs of No Consequence

Graham Parker - Songs of No Consequence

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CD Details

Artist: Graham Parker
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Music Label: Bloodshot Records
Soundtracks:

Vanity Press
Bad Chardonnay
She Swallows It
Chloroform
Evil
Dislocated Life
Suck 'N' Blow
There's Nothing On The Radio
Ambivalent
Go Little Jimmy
Local Boys
Did Everybody Just Get Old?

Music reviews of Songs of No Consequence

Music Review: One of 2005's best rock records
Rating: 5 Stars

Originally written September 2005: British rock singer/songwriter Graham Parker (born November 18, 1950 in London) has just had another comeback. How many comebacks does that make since he emerged with two neoclassic rock 'n' roll records in 1976, Howlin Wind' and Heat Treatment, both inspired by the intensity and urgency of the music of Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen? Not many to a hardcore fan like me, but its true that most fans have not stayed around for the ride, and his largest following in the late '70s has all but disappeared. Their loss. Before Parker hooked up with The Rumour he was the vocalist of the Black Rockers and Deep Cut Three early in his career, and to the best of my knowledge there exists no recorded music from these bands. No matter, with the Rumour Parker built a reputation as an incendiary live performer, with his passionate vocals and class-conscious lyrics that called for a renewal of rock music just as punk began to blossom in Great Britain.

Squeezing Out Sparks, released in 1979 and considered by most fans and critics alike as Parker's masterpiece, is one of the best records in the history of rock music. It was Springsteen who said at that time that the only band he'd pay to see were Graham Parker and The Rumour. Indeed, Springsteen later sang background vocals on a track on Parkers next release, The Up Escalator.

But after a remarkable six-record run (including the live Parkerilla), with one of rock's best backing bands, The Rumour, Parker split from the group; he's since released 13 records on proper labels, including the live The Last Rock And Roll Tour with the Figgs in 1997, as well as more than a dozen others including at least two other stellar live records, Live Alone Discovering Japan (1993) and !Live Alone: The Bastard Of Belgium (2005), the latter on his own Up Yours Records.

Despite all the various label-jumping -- and the '80s, which were Parkers most commercially successful years with well-financed recordings, videos, and radio play, plus the more recent release of one of his finest records, Deepcut To Nowhere (Razor And Tie, 2001), it appears that he's finally found a home now with Chicago's Bloodshot Records. Both Deepcut and Bloodshot's second Parker release, Songs Of No Consequence, harken back to the days of the hard-hitting backing vibe and punch of the Rumour, and Songs Of No Consequence represents the first studio recording with The Figgs, a terrific power pop-rock band, followed by a tour this summer that included a date at Chicago's Double Door.

Parker first became aware of Bloodshot when Jon Langford had him sing backing vocals on The Waco Brothers' "See Willy Fly By" for Bloodshots fifth anniversary compilation record. Last year Parker released Your Country, a spirited alternative country record that gave no clue as to what was to come. With Songs Of No Consequence, Parker recorded the record with the Figgs, sending the material to Bloodshot before they'd heard a single song. Good thing for Parker that Bloodshot knows a great record when they hear one.

It was the Figgs' Mike Gent who first impressed Parker with his knowledge and love of Parker's music, followed thereafter by a Figgs' cover of "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" on a tribute record, Piss And Vinegar: The Songs Of Graham Parker. At the time the Figgs were signed to Capitol Records, and Parker needed a backing band for his "Last Rock And Roll Tour" in 1996. After contacting Gent, the Figgs decided to pack their bags and follow Parker, and were subsequently dropped by Capitol as a result. Incidentally, when that tour rolled into Chicago's Park West I witnessed one of the tightest and hottest live shows that Parker had ever performed. It was extremely exciting, too, as the Figgs played in earnest but with smiles on their faces throughout, as if still in disbelief that they were playing with one of their heroes and hitting every beat and chord as well as the Rumour ever had.

In Parker's free time he's managed to publish a set of short stories, Carp Fishing on Valium, in June 2000 and a novel, The Other Life of Brian that was released in September 2003. He now lives near Woodstock, New York.

At the Double Door in Chicago I was fortunate to not only formally meet Parker, but to talk to him about the current tour, briefly about his family (I'd mentioned a photo of Parker that appeared in Rolling Stone in the '80s with him holding up his first born toward the sky. He immediately recalled that and said it was in the Caribbean, that his daughter hates that photo, but best of all his response was met with a precious smile), and his relationship with the Figgs, whom he met in the early-'90s when both shared a dressing room at an Atlanta club. I was also there to witness what became one of the best, hardest hitting, energizing and exhausting live rock and roll shows that I have ever seen. As for Songs Of No Consequence, it'll certainly be one of the best records I'll hear all year.

Fast forward to September 2006: Songs Of No Consequence was indeed one of the finest rock records of 2005, and one of the best of Parker's career. Get it...get it good!

Dave

More Songs of No Consequence free music reviews:
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Description of Songs of No Consequence

Over the past 30 years, few have been better at crafting truly irresistible hooks than Graham Parker. "Songs Of No Consequence" continues his run as one of rock 'n' roll's legendary figures. His pen is as sharp as ever, as is his effortless coupling of punk's energy, American r&b, and soul's swagger. The Figgs join him this time around (they last recorded with him on the live LP "The Last Rock And Roll Tour") and bring a solid eight-ball-in-the-hip-pocket bar room strut to Parker's consummate song craft.

Nearly 30 years after his debut LP Howlin' Wind piggybacked Van Morrison's white man's soul with Mick Jagger's blue-eyed snarl, Graham Parker continues to churn out records from a thinking-man's songwriting stoop at the corner of Sarcastic and Wry. His unyielding pub rock stature once ran in critical circles with the likes of fellow Brits Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, and the fifty-something has aged with the same lyrical elegance and literate style, chronicled in the Farfisa-led life reflection "Did Everybody Just Get Old" and "There's Nothing on the Radio," still another doubting Thomas diatribe about the FM dial. Parker's nasally vocal delivery and lip-smacking pop hooks recall Marah on the album's two catchiest efforts: "Dislocated Life," which pokes fun at a day that's anything but routine, and "Bad Chardonnay," where he unfurls the secrets to a three-decade rock ?n' roll life. That's cigarettes and bad Chardonnay. And a songwriting dexterity that, unlike that Chardonnay, gets better with age. --Scott Holter

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