Graham Parker - Your Country
(Bloodshot)
Ah, Graham Parker! Another record...another record label. Actually it's his 21st effort for only his eighth (US) imprint, it just seems like everyone has released a Parker record over his 25 year career, including almost all the majors: Mercury, Arista, RCA, Capitol, and Elektra. Possibly due to all his label affiliations, there seems to be a steady stream of Parker product these days (over a dozen releases since 2000), and the shelves are full of endless repackagings with the customary bonus tracks lifted from his numerous one-off projects. His famously vitriolic diatribes against the backstabbing bottom feeders and bean-counters getting rich off his life's work will no doubt continue to be the musical equivalent of shooting himself in the economic foot, but it is still a cause for celebration to finally hear something new following a three-year absence since the brilliant Deepcut To Nowhere.
Parker has been a lot of things in his career, from the original "angry young man" to a pub/punk rocker to a romantic old family man, but he's managed to keep his country/rock hat firmly entrenched in mothballs...until now. I guess it was inevitable that Parker might succumb to its economic charms. After all, alt.country, or whatever they're calling it this week does seem to have the record-buying public under its spell. However, his longtime legion of staunchly loyal fans should be intrigued by this collection of country-flavored tunes, opening with "Anything for a Laugh," wherein Parker rips off the melody from his own "Christmas Is For Mugs" to good effect, illustrating that the concept is not that far-fetched after all. In fact, Parker's own 12 Haunted Episodes actually has more of a country air about it than this release and ultimately, these swaying, savvy singalongs aren't real "country" at all, or are only "country" in the sense that Neil Young's After The Gold Rush or John Prine's debut were "country" albums.
Nomenclatures aside, Parker has always been a master at setting his poignant lyrics to a great melody, and Your Country is no exception, so don't let the title fool you into thinking Parker has joined his contemporary friends, drinking buddies, and leave-of-their-senses takers, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds and entered the country fray. That's not to suggest that "Cruel Lips" doesn't have the potential to be a classic, sobbing-in-your-suds soaper, or that Dave Edmunds shouldn't learn "Queen of Compromise" post haste and add it to his next album and setlist. However, I will admit that the twangy, hick impersonation on "Things I've Never Said" leaves a bit to be desired.
Other highlights include the soft "sho[e]p doo wah" shuffle of "Tornado Alley," which again borrows liberally from "Mugs," and the Dylan-esque "Fairground," (with its clever lyrical reference to Struck By Lightning's "They Murdered The Clown" and which I'd love to hear Van Morrison take a crack at). [In fact, my wife suggests that Parker's vocals emulate Dylan throughout, and his shadow certainly hovers over the "Revisited" version of "Crawling from the Wreckage," rearranged to sound like "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," and the only real weak track in the lot—I'd have preferred he left well enough alone.]
But that's a minor quibble (and it's placement at the end suggests it may have been more of an afterthought than an intention). Bottom line: while Dave and Nick and Elvis continue to garner all the praise and attention, Mr. Parker has quietly and consistently released albums that are the best of the lot. To quote a line from Jerry Garcia's "Sugaree," competently covered here, "You thought you were the cool fool, that you could do anything." With Your Country, Parker proves he's right on both accounts. Don't pass up this opportunity to hear a master songwriter at the peak of his powers on one of the year's finest releases.
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