It has to be something more than coincidence that brought Graham Parker and Bruce Springsteen together to perform the former's "Endless Night" at the end of the second side. Their concerns are so closely related, their positions in their respective countries as guardians of the guttering flame of truly spiritual rock and roll music so assured, that you're tempted to believe that the presiding deity of the art, resolving to serve notice that this music will not be worn out nor its emotional currency devalued, had chosen them as the only fit messengers.

The instant that Springsteen drops in behind Parker to wail "If it's blindness-outstare it!" should stand on end the body hair of anyone who ever suspected that rock and roll can have more soul than Soul.

Parker is no longer the unsure disciple who struggled with "Stick To Me"; his vocals have shed any taint of shrill petulance and, against the lean and furious pertinence of The Rumour, every last one of his punches is made to count, even, as is the case with "Stupefaction" and again with "Paralysed", when he is overselling an essentially dull tune.

But the best tracks, "Empty Lives", "Devils Sidewalk" and "Love Without Greed", are perfectly weighted (Jimmy Iovine's production provides a tough sheen), fighting to rediscover a sense of proportion, in perspectives that have gone askew, doggedly separating the things you need from the things you want.

He seems to take it for granted that rock and roll can stand up and address itself to "adult" issues without conceding an ounce of its sense of danger or seeking shelter in vapid sloganising. "The Beating Of Another Heart" and "Love Without Greed", to name but two, come directly from where he lives to hit you in the same place, without any self piteous baggage or special pleading, and, if you don't recognise your own life in Parker's, then maybe music has nothing for you.

This album is too diverse and knowing to rest on a central track, but "The Beating Of Another Heart" offers one of those seemingly throwaway touches of which only the best are capable.

"They say that people get too clever for love," he sings; then, as Brinsley Schwarz hauls his solo into view, Parker can be heard yelling "But I know..." This is a man without anything left to prove. Happily, it's unlikely to stop him trying.

DAVID HEPWORTH 

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