Graham Parker Live 4/30 in NYC

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Graham Parker Live 4/30 in NYC

Postby TonyNYC » Sat May 01, 2010 8:49 am

Backed by the Figgs (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards) and following their fun set of quick, fast paced songs powered by their own pop songs, a cover of a Gene Clark cut and Happy Jack and one silly lame tune sung acapella by the drummer, Graham Parker took the stage and rocked for a good 100 minutes at The Winery last night.

Okay, Graham is not one of your happy uplifting song writing types- although he did do Life Gets Better and seemed to mean the ooh ahhs in its chorus-and he took a shot at Morrisey and complained that the show was starting at 10:00, his usual bed time, he seemed to be happy to be there in his own way and was full of energy.

I've seen him 5-6 times before and for good or bad I've only heard 3 of his songs more than once live and last night was no different. He played a whole lot of cuts from his new album, Imaginary Television, which I liked enough to now go out and buy. I didn't recognize so many of the songs that it's difficult to say much about most of them except that they were mostly really good and filled with his usual wordy acerbic lines, catchy and hooky choruses with the Figg guys adding the necessary slashing guitar, thumping bass and drums and an ever present under riding organ. And man, the guy can still sing it strong.

Highlights were this song, Hole In The World, that didn't make his first album though I sure can't imagine why with it's infectious melody and great chorus except that it already had 40 minutes of great music already. He did a crunchy reggae cover of a Johnny Nash song (that guy who did that annoying I Can See Clearly Now but was a real reggae guy and sort of big in England) after letting us know Nash wrote the classic Stir It Up and teasing us with half a verse of it before dismissing it as way too obvious a choice. He did an only OK, kind of draggy, Blue Highways from Mona Lisa's Sister, a still bitter and driven Mercury Poisoning and my favorite of the night, one of his classic Motowny cuts that Smokey wouldn't have been too proud to write, Human Soul, where he sang it almost as good as Sam Cooke, a reeling and a rocking Local Girls right after a hillbillyish more recent one called Local Boys, a stripped down White Honey (man what a hook and how was that not a huge radio hit and I was so happy to hear it for my third time live) and he closed the night guitarless, showing off his Soul Shoes which was humming in my head for the 45 minute subway ride home.

I know, I know Elvis Costello became the big star and they both have those wordy and quirky lines and are pretty soulful fellows especially being English and all, but Graham is the one that got to me first and still gets to me just a bit more and he is the one I still play a lot, especially those first two masterpiece albums...I mean, he's a bit like Poco without the oranges and sunshine while Elvis is the Eagles and if you don't know him, maybe you should check him out, especially Howling Wind and Heat Treatment if you go for Southside, The Rascals or Van Morrison doing Domino and if you're more for slashy guitars try Squeezing Out The Sparks or Mona Lisa's Sister.
TonyNYC
 
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