Graham Parker
Album:
Songs of No Consequence
What do you get when you pair one of England’s most grizzled veterans of punk glory with, arguably, America’s finest record label? In this case, the party record of the year (so far). Graham Parker achieved immortality 26 years ago with the thunderous album Squeezing Out Sparks. This is his second record with Bloodshot. The result is a sound reserved for a sweaty Saturday night in a jam-packed living room where the only cold thing in the room is the beer.
Parker and his drum-tight band the Figgs catch a groove at the top of the song list and ride it all the way through to the end, with nary a weak moment (or even a ballad). The album sizzles with ska, rockabilly, one blues tune (which won’t necessarily blow blues aficionados away) and a heavy dose of punk. It’s dance music with bite, and the songs flow together so smoothly that the entire album sounds like one varied piece. You hear nostalgic echoes of Parker’s fellow countrymen – early Elvis Costello, early Dire Straits – in the music, which recalls Parker’s own 15 minutes of fame. Parker’s singing is pinched, and his lyrical content (an amusingly heavy torrent of words) adds up to “no consequence,” just as advertised. But none of this matters against the Figgs’ hook-laden jams.
In a just world, songs like “Chloroform” and “Dislocated Life” are the radio hits of the summer. But whatever the commercial fate of Graham Parker’s latest disc, it deserves to be bought, then played proud and loud.
Graham Parker and the Figgs hold their CD release party at Chicago’s Double Door on June 24.
John Hughes is a spiritual sojourner with a penchant for hoary old tunes from before the birth of rock and roll. A single father of two, he's lived in Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Calcutta, India, in search of elusive bliss.
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