If, as Graham Parker declared on Squeezing Out Sparks, "passion is no ordinary word,'' then Another Grey Area should by all rights be no ordinary record. Parker's first album in two years and his first without the Rumour as back-up band contains some of the most powerful songs he's winter, as well as his best singing to date. Yet it falls short of being an absolute knockout because the production and mix - by Parker and Jack Douglas - rarely allow the music to match the passion of the singer and his songs.

Those songs center around relationships: man/woman performer/audience and at times a metaphorical combination of the two. The subject matter may be quite personal - Parker's marriage, reportedly the cause of a three-year touring hiatus, could be behind a number of songs here - but the feelings are universal ones. A wide range of feelings are expressed in terms and situations that are not only understandable but totally believable.

Parker makes you feel his anxiety, his disgust and his vulnerability. In "Temporary Beauty" he lectures and accuses ("Love doesn't fall out of a magazine, you shouldn't always believe what you've seen"); in "No More Excuses" he begs forgivess ("In this soul there's a heart that aches to give you my love"); in "You Hit The Spot" he deprecates himself ("You wear the ring, I wear the monkey suit"). "It’s All Worth Nothing Alone" and "Crying for Attention" are marked by utter confusion and pleading; the concluding "Fear Not" reveals a lover’s protectiveness.

It's downright depressing that the music fails to match this stormy emotional scenario. Not that the (mostly) New York senior pros who've stepped into the Rumour's shoes haven't given it their best shot, but their work sounds inappropriately restrained in the mix - perhaps in hopes of creating a clean sound for radio. For all the polyphonic interplay, the band sounds lifeless.

Things loosen up a bit on Another Grey Area`s last four cuts, and the songs are lifted from merely interesting to gripping. Why couldn't the whole album benefit from this intensity? The sonic shenanigans keep a damn good record from being a masterpiece.

- Dave Schulps

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