Preston Howley III Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Recently I burned a box set anthology by this artist. I wasn't all that familiar with 85% of it, but figured if half of it was as good as what I had heard, it was worth the investment of a few blank CD's. I must say, this is a great, overlooked artist. I used to think Graham was just a poor man's Elvis Costello, but after listening to the bulk of his catolog, I think the opposite is true. EC is alot like Bruce Springsteen; he wrote about a dozen GREAT songs, but most of his stuff is self indulgent, unlistenable crap (Mighty like a Rose? Horrible). In the case of Bruce, take the Born to Run album/CD away, and whats left? Nebraska? On his other CD's, like The River, there's maybe 3 or 4 decent tunes but the rest of it is overly simplistic dreck. I'm a Rocker? Crush on you? Fade Away? Did he write those songs in ten minutes? His biggest seller, Born in the USA, is actually his worst effort. The title track isn't even a song, really. It's just a repetitious drone with no discernable chorus or verse, and the melody (if you can call it that) is something I could have come up with by accident, playing a Mattel toy xylophone. There are exactly 3 redeemable songs off BITUSA- Bobby Jean, Cover me, and I'm going down. That's it. Dancing in the dark is ok for a single, I guess, but who's idea was it to saturate it with that cheesy cassio keyboard hook? It just ruins it. I'm on Fire would have been better done by a C & W artist (in fact, most of Bruce's best songs were written for other artists). Anyway, back to Graham Parker. This guy for whatever reason, maybe his company sat on him while simultaneously over hyping another, comparable act (Huey Lewis and the News, maybe?), never reached any commercial or critical success. But the songs are great, the musicianship is quality, and the production is good, but not over done. Anybody looking to trade CD's (of this artist or any artist), let me know. I've got tons of Iggy Pop, Grateful Dead live, and Stones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Mac Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Got any Bobby Goldsboro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peach Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Everyday I wake next to an angel. And I thank the Lord JESUS that I do. Get it, because that is a graham parker lyric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preston Howley III Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 Everyday I wake next to an angel. And I thank the Lord JESUS that I do. Get it, because that is a graham parker lyric. I think you're onto something there, Peach. The reason why I think Graham was blackballed by the music industry was because he wrote an anti-abortion song back in the day. Speaking of abortion, how's Nicolai? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preston Howley III Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 Got any Bobby Goldsboro? Watching Scotty Grow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preston Howley III Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 OK I'm listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town and this album kicks *ss. Serious *ss. I can see why two contemporaries, Ian Hunter and Dire Straits, borrowed members of the E Street Band for their records that came out shortly thereafter. F U Peach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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