Squeezing out Parker

From the gritty pub-rock scene, alongside contemporaries like Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, Graham Parker (and his Rumour) went on to become a leading luminary of the new wave set - where at one stage he was considered a better bet for longevity than Elvis Costello. Around about the release time of Heat Treatment and Squeezing Out Sparks he was even called an "English Springsteen" (back when Springsteen was good - anything before Born In The USA, basically) but it all just slipped away for Parker and now he's on the retro circuit, blasting out the hits while still desperately trying to interest people in his new material.

The ex-professional tomato picker was discovered by Stiff boss Dave Robinson, and picked up the members of the Rumour from personnel in Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks DeLuxe. Some early gigs in the now-legendary Hope and Anchor pub in Islington led to a deal with Phonogram Records. Our own Phil Lynott was a big fan of Parker's souped-up R'n'B (with a smidgin of punk sensibilities thrown in to appease the zeitgeist) and Thin Lizzy gave the band their first break by bringing them out on a major tour. The first album, Howlin' Wind, which included the stillgreat single Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions, got the typical critical acclaim, commercial indifference response and it took a cover version, Hold Back The Night, before he charted in Britain and America.

Albums like Stick To Me (1977) - which featured I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down (later covered by the clueless Paul Young) alongside The New York Shuffle and the live Parkerilla (1978) considerably upped his ante in the songwriting stakes but he didn't get any real chart action until his solo (as in, without The Rumour) album Squeezing Out Sparks went Top 20 in most every "territory". It remains a mini-classic - check out Passion Is No Ordinary Word. Despite major gains in the US, he did a sort of Bob Geldof on the American music industry "suits" by recording a cleverly-titled song called Mercury Poisoning (at the time Parker was signed to the Mercury label in the US) and dedicated it to his new label boss, Arista's Clive Davies. Coincidentally or not, it all went downhill from there . . .

With the re-release of his total back catalogue, there's something of a revival in his fortunes this year, although Parker is having none of it. "To my knowledge, seven pieces of Parker product will be released this year," he says. "A three-CD set on Demon Records, a best of GP and The Rumour on Polygram, GP and The Episodes Live In New York, NY on Rock The House/Classic Records, BBC Live In Concert on Windsong, a tribute album by various artists called Piss And Vinegar: The Songs Of Graham Parker, a remastered Squeezing Out Sparks, a Live Sparks (on one CD) and finally my new studio album, Acid Bubblegum."

Graham is not particularly happy with this Parker-fest of new releases. As he relates: "You should completely ignore six of the above Parker items and buy merely one: Acid Bubblegum. There it is, plain and simple, for even the most knuckle-headed, Goldmine reading, vinyl-browsing, obscure B-side hunting, proud (and extremely boring) Pink Parker-owning (get a life, why don't you) audiophile, single-limbed, uni-oculared record collector. OK, maybe you should get the tribute album as well - it may cheer you up (it certainly made me laugh) - but ignore the rest, especially the Demon set. OK, it's three for the price of two, but we're talking 1988 to 1991; a 'best of?' Hello? The remastered Squeezing Out Sparks you may be tempted to buy, but consider this: on my last royalty statement from Arista, I owed them eight hundred thousand dollars - so you won't be doing me a favour by buying it.

"Better to move into the future with Acid Bubblegum; it contains all the familiar Parker elements of extreme hostility, gardening tips, flippancy disguised as extreme hostility, completely impenetrable lyrics and extreme hostility towards most of the musicians I've ever worked with." There you have it.

Acid Bubblegum is available on the Castle label. The incomparable Graham Parker (sans The Rumour) plays Whelan's, Dublin tonight at 9 p.m.

The column's E-mail address is Sleevenotes@irishtimes.ie