THE OFFICIAL ART VANDELAY TAPES, Lemon/Cherry Red CD LEM 2, 8/25/2003, UK
i EVERYTHING GOES (7" Edit)
ii THAT THING IS ROCKIN' (B-Side of i)
iii SUBSTITUTE (Out-take from Burning Questions)
iv CLASS ACT (Out-take from Burning Questions)
v WOMEN IN CHARGE (B-Side of Stupefaction)
vi MUSEUM PIECE (From UK version of Struck By Lightning)
vii ORDINARY GIRL (Out-take from Mona Lisa's Sister)
viii TOO MUCH TIME TO THINK (B-Side of Break Them Down)
ix MUSEUM OF STUPIDITY (From UK version of Struck By Lightning)
x GHOST IN MY HOUSE (Previously Unreleased)
xi WHEREVER YOU ARE (From Internet-only album Loose Monkeys)
xii BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP (Unplugged recording with The Smithereens)
xiii I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD (From UK version of Struck By Lightning)
xiv YOU HIT THE SPOT (Rare 12" Remix)
xv BREAK THEM DOWN (Rare 12" Remix)
xvi HABIT WORTH FORMING (Cassette-only track from Another Grey Area)
vii BRICKS AND MORTAR (Limited Edition extra track off Bring Them Down)
xviii THE BLEEP (Rare B-side of New York Shuffle)
All Tracks written by Graham Parker except: 3. Pete Townshend
10. Holland/Dozier/Holland/Taylor 12. Patrick Di Nizio
13. Goffin & King
All tracks published by Ellisclan Ltd./Admin. by Bug except:
3. Fabulous Music Ltd. 10. Jobete Music Co. Inc. 12. Lehsem Music LLC
13. EMI Music Publishing Ltd. 18. Warner/Chappell
Mastered by Alan Wilson at Western Star Studio www.westernstar-studio.co.uk
Licensed from Graham Parker www.grahamparker.net
"Even I'm not sure what some of this stuff is," admits Graham Parker. "So somebody knew what
they were doing when they compiled this album"
Indeed they did. The Art Vandelay Tapes is a very special collection ol hard to-find rarities,
out-takes, b-sides and unreleased tracks that taken together presents a fascinating and candid
snapshot of Graham Parker's muse over the last two decades.
The first stage of an extensive re-release programme covering the whole of Graham's career
recently saw the repackaging of his 1970s back catalogue, augmented with much previously
unavailable material. The collection takes the story on with a further 18 tracks, all but one
drawn from the 1980s and 1990s, and serves as an introduction to the second phase of the reissue
project.
The Art Vandelay Tapes first appered as a bootleg in 2000 and now gets its first official release.
"It was obviously very well put together," Graham says. "But I never managed to get hold of a
copy. So when we decided to put it out, I was fascinated to hear the material again. I don't
know who did it, but they've definitely come up with all the really cool stuff."
Several tracks are so rare that they had Graham scratching his head to remember where they came
from. "But I really like the songs. They're tracks that were left off albums not because they
weren't good enough, but because for one reason or another they didn't fit whatever record I
was making at the time. So it's great to have them all collected together. Somebody knows their
Graham Parker frighteningly well. They even named it after my favourite TV programe."
Art Vandelay, for those who don't know, is a fictitious character who is the subject running gag
in the cult TV series, Seinfeld. "I'm addicted to the programme," Graham explains. "And so the
title is perfect. Art Vandelay doesn't exist. And in a sense neither did these songs. Except,
of course, that they now do."
But first, a brief history lesson for those who arrived late. Graham Parker came roaring out of
the Surrey suburbs in the mid-1970s with a potent brand of white-hot, blue-collar r&b
tinged rock'n'roll sung with a grit and passion that found him compared to the likes of Van
Morrison and Bruce Springsteen.
Together with his band The Rumour, an aggregation of former members of Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks
Deluxe and other pub-rock survivors, he made a series of memorable 70s albums such as HOWLIN'
WIND, HEAT TREATMENT and STICK TO ME which recalled the anger of early Dylan and rivalled the
sharp-tongued lyrical directness of Elvis Costello.
Songs such as HOLD BACK THE NIGHT and HEY LORD DON'T ASK ME QUESTIONS gave him hit singles and
helped to make him one of the most respected British performers of the late 70s, with an appeal
both to a traditional singer-songwriter market and to the punk/new wave audience.
But after 1980's THE UP ESCALATOR, his final release with The Rumour, he relocated to America.
There he continued to make fine albums full of drive, purpose and exemplary songcraft. lt is
this period which the Art Vandelay Tapes principally chronicle.
So just where does all this rare stuff come from? Well as far as anyone remembers - and as
Graham admits he's at best hazy about some of the details - it goes something like this.
EVERYTHING GOES originally appeared on the 1989 album HUMAN SOUL, where the song contained only
two verses and clocked in at a brisk two and a half minutes. The version included here has an
extra third verse, written for the song's release as a single the following year.
THAT THING IS ROCKIN' appeared on the flip side of EVERYTHING GOES. The song also later cropped
up on an American-only compilation album.
SUBSTITUTE, a cover of The Who's 1966 hit, strikingly slowed down here by Graham to an emotive
ballad, was recorded for 1992's BURNING QUESTIONS, but left off the album.
CLASS ACT with its cool country groove was also inexplicably omitted from BURNING QUESTIONS.
WOMEN IN CHARGE was recorded for 1980's THE UP ESCALATOR (an album, by the way, that famously
included a duet with Bruce Springsteen.) The song was issued as a b-side to Stupefaction, a
single that appeared in two versions with different b-sides, adding to the track's rarity.
MUSEUM PIECE and MUSEUM OF STUPIDITY were both recorded for 1991's STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. The
album predominantly dealt with affairs of the heart and neither song quite conformed to the
theme. "Museum Piece was a savage indictment of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame," Graham recalls.
"Museum of Stupidity was a savage indictrnent of just about everybody and everything. I really
like them both. But you can see why they didn't fit."
ORDINARY GlRL was an out-take from 1988's MONA LISA'S SISTER, although quite why it was left off
the album is a mystery that even Graham is at a loss to explain. Sure, Mona Lisa's Sister was one
of his finest records of the '80s. But the inclusion of Ordinary Girl - perhaps in place of his
cover of Sam Cooke's CUPID - would surely have made for an even stronger album.
T00 MUCH TIME TO THINK was recorded for 1985's STEADY NERVES, an album that found Graham back
with his old friend Brinsley Schwarz, now fronting a band called The Shot. This driving track
appeared as one of several b-sides on a double seven inch single of BREAK THEM DOWN.
GHOST IN MY HOUSE is a cover of a 1967 hit for R Dean Taylor, the most successful white artist
in Motown's history. Graham recorded this version in 1986. It again features Brinsley Schwarz,
but was never released.
WHEREVER YOU ARE, the most recent track here, first appeared on the 1999 Internet-only album,
Loose Monkeys, released on the splendidly-titled Up Yours Records.
BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP, with its knowing '60s references, is a Smithereens number, recorded
with the legendary New Jersey band for an early MTV Unplugged series.
I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD, an improbable but affectionate cover of the Gerry Goffin and Carole King
song that gave Herman's Hermits their first number one, was recorded for 1991's STRUCK BY
LIGHTNING. It has only previously been available on a collector's limited edition vinyl album
YOU HIT THE SPOT originally appeared on 1982's ANOTHER GREY AREA, produced by Jack Douglas. The
version included here is a highly collectable extended 12 inch remix.
BREAK THEM DOWN, the opening track from 1985's STEADY NERVES, was also a single, but is featured
here in another rare 12 inch remix.
HABIT WORTH FORMING was recorded in 1982 for ANOTHER GREY AREA, but only ever appeared on the
long-deleted American cassette version of the album. "No idea why," says Graham.
BRICKS AND MORTAR was left unfinished after being considered for inclusion on 1983's THE REAL
MACAW. It sneaked out some time later as an extra track on the limited edition single BRING
THEM DOWN. "It's very 80s. It should have been recorded by Flock Of Seagulls or someone Graham
observes.
THE BLEEP is an alternate version of THE RAID which closed the 1977 album STICK TO ME. On its
release as the b-side to NEW YORK SHUFFLE, Graham renamed the song and bleeped out not only the
drug references, but also jokily censored perfectly innocent words selected at random. The
oldest song on this compilation, it remains one of the more interesting curios in his catalogue.
"Somebody's done a great job because even hardcore fans won't have a lot of this stuff,"
Graham says. "And it's as comprehensive as it gets. I don't think there's anything else in the
vaults. It looks to me like they've found the lot."
Then he cracks into a smile. "Actually, there is one that got away. There's a version of NO
MORE EXCUSES that we re-recorded for a b-side as a reggae instrumental with a banjo. Now that
was really fun."
So congratulations to anybody out there who has a copy. This otherwise comprehensive collection
means you are now the proud owner of what is officially the rarest Graham Parker track in the
world. As for the rest of us, we'll simply have to wait for the Art Vandelay Tapes Volume Two.
NIGEL WILLIAMSON July 2003
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