What I am listening to: Graham Parker

2023 brought Graham Parker back into the light with the Last Chance to Do the Twist album. 

Word of mouth has changed over the years, and much like another legacy artist Blue Oyster Cult, the buzz brought him back. 

In this case, the Americana crowd. I have written about Parker whose Squeezing Out Sparks is a critically acclaimed album and is a favorite, but after a lot of buzz in the early 90s, has generally been ignored since 1996s Acid Bubblegum. 

 But Parker wasn’t quiet and probably weirdest of all had a mainstream moment playing himself in the 2015 movie This is 40. He wasn’t silent- he was surprisingly proficient- but outside of the aforementioned cameo and a 2005 tour backed by the Figgs- the media largely ignore him. 

 At least I had too until the end of 2021, when I jumped back in with 2007s Don’t Tell Columbus And it rocked me. It isn’t often that Parker (or anyone) was firing on all cylinders. I would consider a Mount Rushmore of late 70s angry young British Angry Songwriters- Parker, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Nick Lowe. And for some reason Parker never seems to get as much attention as the others (also possibly connected, he never had that evergreen radio hit the others had). 

 It’s hard to imagine why this album never found a bigger audience, though at that time, I doubt even Springsteen would have been able to get that kind of material on the radio. 

 The almost title track I Discovered America is a first listen hit but the album is surprisingly deep. In fact, I may have been less excited about his 2023 album since I had been listening to this one. There’s humor in Stick to the Plan, ballad in All Being Well and another radio ready single in Total Eclipse of the Moon. 

 I don’t know the band details except they seem to be New York based keyboardist Ryan Barnum and the Figgs Mike Gent on drum with Parker handling all or nearly all guitar and bass work himself and produced by Figgs producer Eric Ratchet. Anyway, it’s hard to get excited about a decade and half old album I know and that’s generally not what I try to review and push, but this one particularly grabbed me, I couldn’t resist!