Parker, Graham - Songs of No Consequence (Bloodshot)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/11/05
Singer/songwriter of catchy pop tunes with sardonic lyrics. 30 years and 30 albums on, Parker's still churning out 4-chord rockers with the same bite of the angry young man of the mid-70's. Pretty much everything here is mid-tempo with jangly guitars and a driving beat, and there'd really be no reason to single them out after all these hundreds of songs, except that each of them is damned clever. "There's Nothing on the Radio" is almost too obviously geared to be an indy radio darling, but it's great as a dare to make us prove him wrong. There are a couple of possible FCCs - track 7 is clearly about being on tour and may well allude to groupies and what the title says, but it's very well disguised. Likewise, track 11 has a line about "working in beejams for a decent screw", but very much in passing.
I LOVE track 12 - play it loud and often! 8 is well worth playing, and 11 rocks.
1. 2:46 *rocker, good lyrics and a spot of piano
2. 4:45 *another rocker
3. 2:54 slower and more angst-ridden than the others - she's swallowing your lies, not what you think, you naughty person.
4. 5:15 midtempo, but darker sounding
5. 3:03 **somewhat bluesy, with some nice menacing instrumentation
6. 3:59 more than a tinge of Dylan here
7. 4:58 what does it all mean?
8. 3:30 **catchy, with little digs at all the right things
9. 4:11 quite a pretty song, for one that rips someone up so nicely
10. 3:43 blues rocker with nice slide and harp
11. 3:01 **upbeat, great energy, terrific lyrics
12. 3:27 ****this one goes out to all the former Angry Young Men who decided that the system wasn't so bad, once they got their slices of itŠ Yeah!