POURIN' IT ALL OUT: THE MERCURY YEARS, Mercury 826 097, 1985, USA


Produced by Nick Lowe except "Heat Treatment," "Pourin' It All Out," "Fool's Gold," "Hold Back The Night" and "Sweet On You" Produced by Robert John Lange

Compilation by T.C. Rogers and Bill Levenson
Design: George Wever
Reissue Engineer - Mark Wilder, PolyGram Studios
Mastered by Tom Coyne at Frankford/Wayne, NY
Executive Producer T.C. Rogers
All selections previously released.



Graham Parker came along just when we needed him most. In the doldrums of the mid-'70s, glitter had blown a fuse and before punk really slashed things up, Graham Parker came on like a gust of howlin' wind. His first two albums, both released in 1976, anticipated the flat-out honesty and even some of the pissed-off anger of the punks. Of course, at the time it seemed Parker's closest antecedents were Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen, though Parker never shared Van's sensual mysticism and his working class roots were planted some 3,000 miles away from Bruce's.

Parker's first major musical association was with the survivors of the British pub-rock movement, a down-to-earth gang who some seven years before punk got fed up with the hot air of artier rock 'n' roll. Their more direct music drew some attention, but lacked the focus and frustration of the later safety-pin crew. Around the time the pub-rockers were first starting up, Parker was enduring a succession of colorfully unpleasant jobs, including working as a breeder of mice and guinea pigs for a British scientific institute. He's also spent time slogging it out in cover bands In Gibraltar and Morocco in the late '60s. His musical career finally got into gear when a demo of his wound up in the hands of one Dave Robinson, head of London's then-fledging indie label, Stiff. Robinson immediately liked what he heard and put Parker in front of a post-pub-rock "all-star" band, dubbed the Rumour. This gang of buddies included guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and keyboardist Bob Andrews from the group Brinsley Schwarz, guitarist Martin Belmont from Ducks Deluxe, plus bassist Andrew Bonnar and drummer Steve Goulding from Bontemps Roulez.

The new band quickly cut a demo. One song, the ballad "Between You And Me," got played on Charlie Gillet's London radio show, "Honky Tonk." This break led directly to a recording contract with Mercury in July, 1975, and by early the next year, Graham Parker and The Rumour's first LP Howlin' Wind, was in the shops. It was one of the first production jobs by ex-Brinsley Schwarz member Nick Lowe. Critics worldwide instantly went ga-ga, not only for Parker's passionate R&B-tinged vocals but also for The Rumor's soulful backup. They impressed many as a British version of The Band, especially with guitarist Brinsley Schwarz' stylistic resemblance to Robbie Robertson. On the first album, Parker's voice was revealed as a challenging mixture of anger and vulnerability. His tough, raspy style gave even his most joyous numbers a threatening edge. And on the flip side, his earnestness prevented the angrier tunes from ever seeming cynical.

The tracks taken from the first album for this special "Best of" collection, ably display all those sides of Parker. "White Honey," with its Motown-like bass hook and Memphis soul organ, may be exuberant, but Parker's tense delivery reminds us that joy doesn't come out of nowhere. Parker's integration of happiness and pain always gives each emotion a realistic context. The other two tracks included here from the first LP stress the darker side. "Howlin' Wind" features one of The Rumour's most unusual arrangements, with a jazz-soul organ playing off a reggae rhythm guitar - plus some of Parker's chilliest lyrics. The most celebrated track from the first LP, though, must be "Don't Ask Me Questions." Here Parker shakes his fist at the sky and implores the supreme-being-of-your-choice to stop tormenting him about "the meaning of it all." It's certainly ambitious, but Parker carries it off, goaded on by the mocking lead guitar and nagging reggae rhythm.

The cuts from Parker's follow-up, Heat Treatment, also straddle the line between joy and pain. The title track, with its radiant horn section and John Earl's ecstatic sax break, stresses triumph over its darker undertones. And "Pourin' lt All Out" is one big pleasure/pain gestalt, highlighted by Brinsley Schwarz' brilliant guitar break. Most impressive, though, is the side-closer, "Fool's Gold." Parker's voice here carries no bitterness as he describes his search for "fool's gold," as if the commitment he's made to the search transforms "fool's gold" into something very real. Pretty mature stuff for a so-called angry young man.

Graham Parker's third LP, Stick To Me, released in 1977, might not have earned as many critical hosannas as the first two, but it still had many highlights. Side Two of this "Best Of" boasts several of Stick To Me's standouts (especially the highly wound title track), plus two songs from a 7-Inch EP released between the second and third LPs, "Sweet On You" and "Hold Back the Night," one of Parker's most directly romantic numbers.

Taken together, these early songs undoubtedly represent many of Graham Parker's finest performances to date. Certainly they're his rawest and, with The Rumour, his most band-oriented. Parker came out swinging on these early numbers, but he also maintained a sense of maturity. He could sing about the howlin' wind without begin swept away by it. And that's ultimately what will make these tracks endure.

Jim Farber

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