Graham Parker
Wikimp3 information about the music of Graham Parker. On our website we have 70 albums and 37 collections of artist Graham Parker. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Graham Parker represents Rock genres.
Biography
[Edit]Stereotyped early in his career as the quintessential angry young man, Graham Parker was one of the most successful singer/songwriters to emerge from England's pub rock scene of the early '70s. Drawing heavily from Van Morrison and the Rolling Stones, Parker developed a sinewy fusion of driving rock & roll and confessional folk-rock, highlighted by his indignant passion, biting sarcasm, and bristling anger. At the outset of his career, his albums crackled with pub rock energy, snide witticisms, and gentle insights, earning him a devoted following of fans and critics, who lavished praise on his debut, Howlin' Wind. Despite all of the positive word of mouth, Parker never managed to become a star, and he was soon overshadowed by the emergence of Elvis Costello, a singer/songwriter who shared similar roots. After delivering Squeezing Out Sparks in 1979, Parker attempted to make a few crossover albums before settling into a cult following in the late '80s, continuing to garner critical acclaim.
After spending much of his early adulthood working odd jobs, ranging from breeding mice and guinea pigs to working at a gas station, Parker began seriously pursuing a musical career in 1975. Until that time, he had played in a number of obscure pub rock groups, including a cover band that had spent time playing in Morocco and Gibraltar. But it wasn't until 1975 that he began shopping his demos. That year, Dave Robinson, one of the co-founders of the new independent label Stiff, heard one of Parker's demo tapes and encouraged the songwriter, helping him assemble a backing band called the Rumour. Robinson rounded up several stars of the pub rock scene — guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and keyboardist Bob Andrews, both formerly of the leading pub rockers Brinsley Schwarz, former Ducks Deluxe guitarist Martin Belmont, former Bontemps Roulez drummer Steve Goulding, and bassist Andrew Bodnar — to form the Rumour, and the band was soon supporting Parker on the dying pub rock scene. With the assistance of DJ Charlie Gillett, the group landed a record contract with Mercury by the end of 1975.
Graham Parker & the Rumour headed into the studio to cut their debut album with producer Nick Lowe, who gave the resulting record, Howlin' Wind, an appealingly ragged edge. Howlin' Wind was greeted with enthusiastic reviews upon its summer release, as was the similar Heat Treatment, which followed in the fall. Despite the positive press, Parker was growing frustrated with Mercury, believing that the company was not properly promoting and distributing his records. His third album, Stick to Me, had to be re-recorded quickly after the original tapes were discovered to be defective prior to its scheduled release. As a result, Stick to Me received mixed reviews upon its fall 1977 release, which derailed Parker's momentum slightly. Furthermore, Elvis Costello, a fellow pub rock survivor who possessed not only a more pop-oriented style of songwriting, but also a more dangerous persona, soon eclipsed Parker in popularity. Frustrated by his career hitting a standstill, Parker released the live-double album The Parkerilla in the summer of 1978 in order to get out of his contract. Following a short but intense bidding war, he quickly signed to Arista Records, where he released "Mercury Poisoning" — a blistering attack on his former record label — as the B-side of a promotional single as his first record for the label.
Squeezing Out Sparks, Parker's first album for Arista, put a halt to that decline. Sporting a slicker, new wave-oriented production — it was the first of his records not to have any involvement from Nick Lowe — the album was greeted with terrific reviews and, on the strengths of radio hits like "Local Girls," it became his most successful album, reaching number 40 on the American charts and selling over 200,000 copies. Parker was poised for a major breakthrough, but that didn't happen. He followed Squeezing Out Sparks in 1980 with the Jimmy Iovine-produced The Up Escalator, which was considerably slicker than its predecessor. The Up Escalator didn't sell, and Parker decided to ditch the Rumour, who had already begun a solo career. For 1982's Another Grey Area, he hired producer Jack Douglas and a team of session musicians, resulting in a radio-ready production that received mixed reviews, yet managed to peak at number 51. The Real Macaw, which followed in 1983, suffered a similar fate. For 1985's Steady Nerves, Parker moved to Elektra Records and formed a backing band called the Shot with guitarist Brinsley Schwarz, who helped him deliver his most radio-ready collection. This time, the pop move paid off. "Wake Up (Next to You)" became his only Top 40 hit, and the album stayed on the charts for nearly as long as Squeezing Out Sparks.
Despite his moderate commercial success with Steady Nerves, the album wasn't widely praised, and he also ran into trouble with Elektra, leaving the label after just one record. He briefly moved to Atlantic, which dropped him without releasing a single record. Consequently, Parker wasn't able to deliver another album until 1988, when he signed with RCA and released The Mona Lisa's Sister in the spring. Hailed as a comeback by several critics upon its release, the album generated a college radio hit with "Get Started (Start a Fire)" and spent 19 weeks on the charts. Instead of being the beginning of a comeback, the album turned out to be a last gasp: it was the last time Parker was able to crack the Top 100. Live! Alone in America (1989) received positive reviews but was ignored, and 1990's mild worldbeat experiment Human Soul received mixed reviews and peaked at number 165 on the charts. Parker's final album for RCA — and his last album to chart — was the stripped-down Struck by Lightning (1991), and while it was critically praised, it didn't find an audience outside of his cult. The following year, he switched to Capitol and released Burning Questions, which was ignored.
Following the release of 1993's double-disc anthology Passion Is No Ordinary Word, Parker made the leap to independent labels — he had spent time at all but one of the major labels (Columbia/Sony) with little success. In 1994, he released the Christmas Cracker EP on Dakota Arts, and then he signed with Razor & Tie, where he released 12 Haunted Episodes in the spring. Like The Mona Lisa's Sister and Struck by Lightning before it, 12 Haunted Episodes was hailed as a comeback, and it sold in respectable numbers for an indie release. Parker followed it with two albums in 1996, Live from New York, NY and Acid Bubblegum, which appeared within two months of each other late in the summer. Early in 1997, he released yet another live album, the double-disc The Last Rock N Roll Tour, which was recorded with the power pop quartet the Figgs. Parker continued to issue a steady stream of archive and live releases into the mid-2000s, and moved into singer/songwriter mode for the albums Deepcut to Nowhere and Your Country, the latter a roots rock-influenced affair released by the Chicago-based Bloodshot Records. The Figgs were back for 2005's Songs of No Consequence, an album that Parker declared "rocks like safari park chimp" in pre-release publicity. Unreleased material, rare edits, and remixes were featured on Official Art Vandelay Tapes, Vol. 2, which appeared two weeks after Songs of No Consequence. Don't Tell Columbus arrived in March 2007. The clever Imaginary Television appeared in 2010, along with the DVD Live at the FTC.
Parker unexpectedly reunited his original backing band the Rumour in 2011, recording a new album that became 2012's Three Chords Good. The reunion album appeared in November 2012, around the same time Judd Apatow's This Is Forty — a movie where Graham Parker & the Rumour provide a plot point — hit the theaters, thereby pushing the singer/songwriter into the mainstream spotlight for the first time in years.
Title: Squeezing out Sparks (40th Anniversary Acoustic Version)
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Rock & Roll, Punk Rock, Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: The Official Art Vandelay Tapes, Vol. 2
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: Graham Parker: An Anthology
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: Squeezing Out Sparks: 40th Anniversary Acoustic Version
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Songwriter/Lyricist, Acoustic
Title: The Official Art Vandelay Tapes: Live One
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: Essential Graham Parker
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Rock & Roll, Alternative
Title: I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down - Single
Artist: Graham Parker, Stone Foundation
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Squeezing Out Sparks + Live Sparks (Remastered)
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Rock & Roll, Pop, Alternative
Title: The Official Art Vandelay Tapes
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: The Official Art Vandelay Tapes, Vol. Two
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Alternative
Title: Last Chance To Learn The Twist
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: Live At Trent Poly Sports Hall, Nottingham (Live)
Artist: Graham Parker, The Rumour
Genre: Blues
Title: Don't Tell Columbus
Artist: Graham Parker
Genre: Rock, Songwriter/Lyricist, Contemporary Folk
Collections
Title: Burnzy's Last Call (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Genre: Pop
Title: In Their Own Words, Vol 1
Genre: Pop
Title: The Beautiful Old
Genre: Rock, Country, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: This Is 40 (Original Soundtrack)
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Live from Mountain Stage, Vol. 8
Genre: Rock
Title: Brit Rockin' Tracks!
Genre: Rock, Rock & Roll
Title: Adios Amigo: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander
Genre: Electronica, Pop
Title: Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney
Genre: Rock
Title: Indie Pick N Remix (,Collection)
Genre: Electronica, Alternative
Title: Brit Rock - Back On Track
Genre: Rock
Title: For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records
Genre: Rock, Pop, Alternative
Title: M80 Radio New Wave Classix
Genre: Rock, Alternative Rock, New Wave, Punk, Pop Rock, Synth Pop, Ska
Title: The Stiff Records Box Set (CD1)
Genre: Rock
Title: The Stiff Records Box Set (CD3)
Genre: Rock
Title: Lost Songs Of Lennon & McCartney: From A Window
Genre: Rock
Title: Party Like A Rockstar (CD1)
Genre: Rock
Title: 100 Hits: 70s Pop
Genre: Pop
Title: New Wave Hits Of The 80s Vol. 01
Genre: Rock, New Wave, Synth Pop, Alternative, Indie
Title: Welcome Aboard: Advanced Rock Box (CD3)
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative
Title: Amphetanarchy: Hard Rock Cafe (CD2)
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative
Title: Rock Factory 2020 (CD2)
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, World Music, Alternative, Folk
Title: Not Dead Yet: Modern Rock (CD2)
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative
Title: Monarchs Of Oblivion Rock Collection 2019 (CD4)
Genre: Rock, Punk, Punk Rock, Alternative
Title: Power Pop Essentials 2020 (CD1)
Genre: Dancefloor, Pop, Dance Pop
Title: My Way. The Best Collection. Vol. 40
Genre: Blues, Rock, Blues Rock, Punk Rock, World Music, Country, Folk
Featuring albums
Title: Howlin' Wind
Artist: Graham Parker And The Rumour
Genre: Rock, Rock & Roll, Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: For A Decade Of Sin
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Alternative Country, Indie
Title: The Best of Mountain Stage Live, Vol. 8
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues, Rock, Alternative Rock, New Wave, Post Punk, Punk Rock, Country, Alternative Country, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: The Bottom Line Archive: In Their Own Words, Vol. 1 (Live)
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: ONCE UPON A TIME
Artist: ΠΑΠΑΣΠΥΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ / PAPASPYROPOULOS DEMETRES
Genre: Electronica
Title: Ordinary Joe / I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down - Single
Artist: Stone Foundation
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul