Convinced beyond a doubt, after four or so listens to a dollar copy, that Heat Treatment (Xgau "A", Rolling Stone Record Guide 5-stars, Pazz & Jop #2 in 1976) is the least memorable/most mediocre of G.P.'s '70s LPs. Completely stumped that critics seemed unanimous at the time in considering Stick To Me a big step down from it. Best thing you could say is that it has a consistently pleasurable if mostly subtle lilt ("groove" is too strong a word) -- vaguely Staxish/reggae-ish most of the time, especially on side two I guess. Title track is the punchiest cut; most notable song overall is probably "Hotel Chambermaid," with its roller-rink keyboard push out of some early Bob Seger single and possible hidden clues to the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case. (Though it's still not nearly as good as Pink Fairies' "Chambermaid.") I get the idea "Fool's Gold" was considered another key track, but damned if I can hear why. Record's nice enough; I'll keep it. But I don't at all understand what about it people found exciting. You could maybe forgive critics just for craving something to be excited about in the supposed pre-punk doldrums of the bicentennial, but I could name scores of 1976 rock albums that leave this in the dust. So maybe critics were just lazy.
― xhuxk, Saturday, 28 May 2011 23:06 (thirteen years ago) link
I like "Sparks," and "Stick to Me" more, but I think Heat Treatment's "Fool's Gold" is kinda catchy and I think I recall nice harmonies on a version of it. Here's a live rendition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhP6YGw6h8Q
― curmudgeon, Monday, 30 May 2011 00:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I finally got Howlin' Wind a few weeks ago. Agree with xhuxk about the rote blooze stuff, but, damn, if the title track and "Don't Ask Me Questions" aren't killers.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 31 May 2011 01:43 (thirteen years ago) link
I have fond memories of seeing Graham do "Don't Ask Me Questions" live.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 31 May 2011 04:42 (thirteen years ago) link
After more than three decades, Graham Parker and The Rumour have reunited and will tour the U.S. this November and December. Upcoming dates will support their first album together in 31 years, 'Three Chords Good,' out November 20
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link
He's also got a starring role in the upcoming Apatow flick.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 16:33 (twelve years ago) link
Reunion is neat news, but frankly I was more excited about the Joe Jackson reunion a few years back (and I didn't see that, either).
To each his own, but I'll take Parker over Joe Jackson.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
Me too! But I like those first three - two? - Joe Jackson discs more than most Graham Parker discs.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:56 (twelve years ago) link
Tickets for this went on sale on Friday. Thinking hard about going.
― You Can't Be Too RONG (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 September 2012 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
Knockout cold going round the Redd household but I have managed to pick myself up off the canvas and plan to crawl from the wreckage to the show this evening. To any NYC ilxors interested in attending, I may have an extra ticket.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:10 (eleven years ago) link
There's a huge feature on him in today's NY Times
― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:12 (eleven years ago) link
.. and a big feature in this months mojo ...
― mark e, Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:15 (eleven years ago) link
I guess you mean this nyt feature http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/arts/music/graham-parker-and-the-rumour-reunite.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Haven't read MOJO in a while, maybe it is time to start up again.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:28 (eleven years ago) link
Hm, I've met the guy that wrote that Times article.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 00:04 (eleven years ago) link
The DC area shows sold out too quick. Grrr
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 2 December 2012 04:09 (eleven years ago) link
That was fun. Now if only someone could get Rockpile to reform.
Too bad, curmudgeon, you could have taken the Acela up and sat in my extra seat
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 04:43 (eleven years ago) link
So yeah, they are all over this new Judd Apatow movie so no doubt a few random googlers will catch the Mercury Vapors and show up here.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 04:55 (eleven years ago) link
The reunion album is really rather good - I'm especially fond of the final track, 'The Last Bookstore In Town'. It could just be argued as the second-best GP & the Rumour album (after 'Sparks', natch). Having seen the reunion tour setlists, I really hope he brings the show to the UK. Haven't seen him since Blackbushe in '78.
― Canfan, Sunday, 2 December 2012 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
I saw a guy on the subway after the show who had a GP shirt on and he told me he had flown in from England that day just for the show and was going back in the morning. New stuff was surprisingly good.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
the show last night killed. GP and the R were all "on" and the new stuff WAS surprisingly fine but closing 4-5 Sparks songs and "stupefaction" was well stupefyingly great. got tix at the last minute, mostly because my wife wanted to go, and have to say I wasn't expecting much and got blown away, this is about as good as grey haired rock reunions get. fwiw I saw Neil Young & Crazy Horse last week too and GP and co >>>>>
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Sunday, 2 December 2012 15:57 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, when he started doing all the Sparks stuff I started getting chills, which might have been just a symptom of my illness but I don't think so.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 16:04 (eleven years ago) link
Choice stage patter:
"The movie opens on December 21, which is the day the world ends, so you should try to go to a matinee"
"This is a single. Now I don't know what a single really means anymore, I suppose it means that you can steal it individually"
Also some business about: "We were trying to remember where we played the last time we were in New York, was it The Ritz or **didn't catch the other venue's name**?" Man hands him a piece of paper, he looks at it"The Bottom Line? That was 1976!"Man stands there. "What, you want it back?"
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
The are co-headlining with Ian Hunter on Long Island this weekend. Here is some Ian Hunter stage patter for comparison: free summer shows of NYC 2009
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
I believe IH and GP did a double billearlier at a benefit for the great Graham Maby, bass player for Joe Jackson and many others, including Marshall Crenshaw, who was left with a large medical bill after his wife's losing battle with cancer
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 17:21 (eleven years ago) link
stage patter was priceless
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:09 (eleven years ago) link
society for ethical culture was an interesting choice of venue though the sound was good - vey clear and we sat in the next-to last row all the way up in the rafters. seats resembled pews but cushions made em comfortable. i know about the ethical culture school etc but the auditorium had a pseudo-church vibe that's hard to explain, the statues seemed *vaguely* biblical, depicting guys who almost kinda sorta looked like jesus or some prophet w/o being too specific. like unitarian but more secular, maybe?
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:17 (eleven years ago) link
How were The Figgs?
― kwhitehead, Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:33 (eleven years ago) link
(xp) I was way up there too, but in the second row from the rail. I hope you didn't mind my loudness during The Figgs sing-a-long to "Victoria."
I loved the way he held the audience off. Somebody requested the material we were all waiting to hear early on and he said "We'll get to that." Then there was that moment when there was a little pause he said "all right, there is an album we did back in 1979 and now we are going to side one track one off that album." Then there was still a heart-stopping moment of hesitation before they started up. Then he did a little bow and had all these choreographed dance moves he did during that part of the show. Actually I think there was a tiny hole in the mix during "Discovering Japan" because he wasn't playing guitar anymore but I think they probably boosted Brinsley after that so it wasn't a problem.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:39 (eleven years ago) link
DIdn't really know from The Figgs before this, I had only seen GP solo before, but they won me over.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:41 (eleven years ago) link
The Sparks part of the show was like when Andy Kaufman made a few minor adjustments to his wardrobe and all of a sudden turned into Elvis.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
There was another story he told about fighting hard not to have a Phil Collins gated drum sound on his 80s recordings. Nonetheless when he sent around the MP3 of one of the songs to prepare for this tour the guys who hadn't played on it said "That was recorded during the 80s, wasn't it?" Today I read somewhere that he had fought with Ahmet Ertegun over this issue who proceeded to drop him from Atlantic Records! Hadn't even known he was on that label.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 December 2012 01:53 (eleven years ago) link
Besides the stuff off of the new album and off SoS, they began with "Fool's Gold," a little while later did "Nothin's Gonna Pull Us Apart," thereby dispatching with the first two albums. Somewhere along the line he also played the, um, title track off of Mona Lisa's Sister, "Get Started. Start A Fire" and a song off of Deepcut to Nowhere called, "I'll Never Play Jacksonsville Again." I thought at first he was talking about a "deep cut," but, as some of you must already know, it refers to the town in England that he is from. The first encore was mostly more from SoS. For the second encore, he walked out to the edge of the stage and looked dismissively at an audience member who had shouted a request , sneering "New York Shuffle?" and flapping his hand in a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me way, but that is what the band immediately started to play. The last song was "I Want You Back." Mark "Lovebug Starski" Coleman already mentioned "Stupefaction" off The Up Escalator, he can fill in the gaps or correct my errors.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 December 2012 03:25 (eleven years ago) link
Think I forgot "Watch The Moon Come Down."
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 December 2012 03:58 (eleven years ago) link
Graham Parker sounds more like Elvis Costello than Elvis Costello. FTW.
― Tyler Burns (burns46824@yahoo.com), Tuesday, 4 December 2012 08:01 (eleven years ago) link
It's fatal and it don't get better
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 December 2012 10:42 (eleven years ago) link
Also: googler, please. This the Squeezing Out Sparks thread, not the Jumping The Shark thread.
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 December 2012 18:34 (eleven years ago) link
Original videos for Local Girls and Protection.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-9A2O6CwW4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ETAZSFWWs
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 December 2012 01:43 (eleven years ago) link
I really like Live Alone in America, probably the first solo-electric-guitar album I'd ever heard when I was 18.
― blues bras (Eazy), Thursday, 6 December 2012 01:45 (eleven years ago) link
Don't know why the https, which seemed to mess up the embed. Try againhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ETAZSFWWshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C2SkcC3TXc
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 December 2012 01:50 (eleven years ago) link
RockPalast version of Stick To Me From 1978https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAW6-_SsCOI
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 December 2012 01:53 (eleven years ago) link
One more for now: New York Shuffle, 1978http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=ipgtPCrd1O0&feature=endscreen
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 December 2012 02:09 (eleven years ago) link
Take off the endscreen and see if the embed works:http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=ipgtPCrd1O0
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 December 2012 02:10 (eleven years ago) link
Nope.
Am I the only fule who didn't know "Hold Back The Night" was a cover?
― Roadside Prisunic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 7 December 2012 18:13 (eleven years ago) link
A little jealous of the crowd that got to see this show, now with more Rumour-era material: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/graham-parker-draws-sold-crowd-402050
― TS: shambala vs. sha la la, man (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
Seeing him tonight, psyched.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:12 (eleven years ago) link
My friend in Chicago was dying to go but I think he has to go to the office Xmas party instead.
― TS: shambala vs. sha la la, man (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:25 (eleven years ago) link
Didn't even know he was in town. Good for Bloodshot Records to be benefitting from the Apatow goodwill.
― your damn bass clarinet (Eazy), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:27 (eleven years ago) link
Ha, pretty sure it's not on Bloodshot. For sure there is a third-party publicist.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:20 (eleven years ago) link
On a label called Primary Wave.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tcIGEcikL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:21 (eleven years ago) link