The tracks on Loose Monkeys span the period from Parker's 1983 album The Real Macaw up through 1996's Acid Bubblegum, although most of them are rooted in the mid-'80s. "These are all songs that could have been on my albums, but were superseded by new songs," Parker tells ICE. "Plenty of these are good enough for any of the albums; it's really strong material."

The disc's first three tracks were done in 1986 with Rumour stalwarts Brinsley Schwarz and Andrew Bodnar on guitar and bass, respectively, along with Jimmy Copley, a drummer who's played with Jeff Beck. The first of these is "There's a Ghost in My House," a cover of an R. Dean Taylor number written by Taylor and the songwriting powerhouse of Holland/Dozier/Holland, which Parker describes as "an amazing song, like punk Motown." This is followed by "Burnin' On A Higher Flame" and "Durban Poison."

About the forth track, "Tortured Soul" (from 1993) Parker recalls, "I was in the Carribean and met some crazy Rasta guys who took me to their studio and asked me if I wanted to record anything new. I did it with drummer and keyboard player, whoever they were, brought it back home and added guitar and bass. It's a Dylanesque kind of thing; I thought I should send it to Dylan, but then I figured he'd never hear it, so why bother?"

"Wherever You Are" is the track recorded at The Real Macaw sessions and is labeled by the artist as "the fireside Graham Parker; it's about the softest thing I've ever done. I thought it would be a great ballad for Michael Jackson but again, once I'd done it, I thought, 'Who cares?' It's another oddity I just forgot about."

The bulk of the album, tracks 6-16, are solo demos from the mid-'80s. "They're me with overdubs," Parker states simply. Eight of them date from December 1985: "Dead to the World," "Hormone of Love," "Everything Goes," "I'm in Love with You," "Natalie," "I Just Can't Capture Her Imagination (Version 1), " "Corporate Rock" and "Love in the Air."

The next three tracks are from September '86: "Waiting for the Next World," "I Just Can't Capture Her Imagination (Version 2)" and "She's Been Working."

The final four songs on Loose Monkeys are from the '90s: "Still Got My Face" and "Don't Kid Yourself" (both circa '92), "The Invisible Woman" (from '91 and "very different," Parker says), and an outtake from the Acid Bubblegum sessions, "Guillotine of Guadeloupe," a reggae-flavored song Parker has performed at solo shows.

Parker has written extensive liner notes for the project, but they'll appear on his web site rather than on the disc. The CD itself comes housed in a digipak, a format he favors: "I wanted to package Acid Bubblegum that way, but I was told the stores don't like them. They don't like my records anyway, so put it in some packaging they don't like and you're totally finished!"

For the foreseeable future, Loose Monkeys will remain an Internet-only item. (Consumers can also get information through the Razor & Tie web site.) Parker first became aware of the Internet a few years back when someone told him about the www.punkhart.com/gparker web site. "I decided that I should be involved with it," Parker says, seeing the Net as a way to clear up rumors and gossip surrounding his activities. "I got involved with answering questions [on-line] and one of the questions was 'Where's the aborted Atlantic album?' I signed with Atlantic in the '80s and never released anything. People seemed to think I had this whole album somewhere that was meant to go out on Atlantic, but I didn't record a whole album for them."

Like everyone, Parker started to realize the Internet's potential as a useful sales tool. "I don't particularly want a record like this in stores," he says." I thought it would be nice to make it just a fan-oriented thing, as opposed to an official release. I was in England over the summer and went up to my attic and found a bag of cassettes with tons of songs on them that I demo'd but never recorded. Quite a lot of them were songs I submitted to Atlantic and were rejected. They were rejecting everything, even the songs that became The Mona Lisa's Sister! So I said to them, 'This isn't going anywhere, boys,' got out of the deal and signed with RCA who let me do what I wanted, sight unseen."

As for Parker's current recording activities, he concludes, "I've got enough songs for two albums at the moment, more than I've written for years." But he's not actively looking for a deal: "I'll demo them, and then get excited and start thinking about the next record.