Most people will say this...so I won't. Other GP records to check out include... 12 Haunted Episodes The Mona Lisa's Sister Acid Bubblegum Another Grey Area The Real Macaw The Up Escalator ...for starters.
His first studio albums are essential. His debut and even the much maligned second album are pretty terrific as well.
The earliest albums are Graham at his most fiery, pub rock, angry young man - the Rhino comp is a very good overview in that if you like bulk of the first disc, you can't go wrong picking up the first handful of albums. Moreover, each of the albums has very good to great deep cuts. For instance, maybe my favorite ballad of Graham's is "between you and me" off his first album. It's a kiss off song but it's bittersweet and wistful which is not a well he mined too often. For mid-period Graham, the big winners are Mona Lisa's Sister and 12 Haunted Episodes. These two are no brainers I would think especially if you love Struck By Lightning. Alive! Alone in America is a good solo acoustic outing and there are a couple tracks on that that are not available elsewhere -
Wow. Not sure how I missed this thread. I really like GP. Wonderful songwriting and performing...and easy to collect. Most of his records are easy to find (especially promos), and are cheap. I was initially attracted by the similarity to Joe Jackson, but moved beyond that in a hurry. Great artist.
Which one is the maligned second album? Because Heat Treatment seems to be held in fairly high regard, at least here on this board.
Sorry--it is the much maligned third album (I got my albums mixed up) which had to be re-recorded because, after the album was completed, the master and multi-tracks began shedding oxide like crazy making it unusable. A pity. Parker had to go back with the band and quickly re-record it with Nick Lowe. The second album is one that Parker doesn't care for all that much because of Robert "Mutt" Lange's approach to recording the album--it was overdub city something that Parker felt robbed the material of much of its power so a different situation entirely but Parker didn't like the working process with Mutt and disliked the re-recording (compared to the original recordings) of the third although, lately, he has taken to the third album because he feels the grungy production compliments the material but that opinion didn't occur until the last decade or so.
I actually love the songs on Stick to Me that are on the Rhino compilation, so maybe I'll get that one next. Maligned or not I actually seem to like them better than those that came before, but my music tastes all come out of punk/new wave (again, I highly regard Squeezing Out Sparks) so that's probably why. I've never been a fan of Mutt Lange or anything he touches. And in fact with thousands of albums in my collection, I own nothing that he's produced, believe it or not. But the songs I've heard from Heat Treatment sound okay to me. Slickness in the mid-70s doesn't bother me as much as it does in the 80s and beyond.
heat treatment is my personal fave, which is why I recommended you listen to that next.. but howlin wind is a must have as it is a great debut.. I also love struck by lightning as you mentioned, you may also like the mona lisa's sister which I think is a very cool record and a different sound for GP. I'm also a fan of his live album, Live! Alone in America, 1989 I got back into vinyl this year and am enjoying collecting a lot of GP I was missing on record, he can be found for a reasonable cost and he is terrific ... happy listening!
Saw them in Chicago in 1977 at uptown theater opening for thin lizzy. Both bands were great and very loud. The horns played on thin lizzy song "dancing in the moonlight ". A fan ever since.
Both HOWLIN' WIND and HEAT TREATMENT received five-star reviews in the first (red) Rolling Stone Record Guide. That's how I first took notice of Parker. The somewhat lesser reputation of HEAT TREATMENT seems to spring from Parker himself, who disliked Mutt Lange's perfectionist building block recording technique. As an odd aside, I believe Parker admitted the high harmonies on HEAT TREATMENT must have been sung by Lange after hours, because no one in the band could have performed them!
If you like Struck By Lightning, you might want to go forward rather than backward in his catalog. I’d recommend Deep Cut To Nowhere and Don’t Tell Columbus as latter day highlights.
Stick To Me is actually my favorite of the first three (a minority opinion for sure), so I’d say go right ahead
His 70s work was pretty awesome, love Howlin Wind, Heat Treatment, and Squeezing Out Sparks. Any fan of early Bruce or Van should check 'em out.
Squeezing Out Sparks is his masterpiece, but Stick to Me was the 1st album of his that I bought.....came with a sheet of stickers as well! So that one holds a special place for me. Saw them open up for Cheap Trick when Sparks was released (1979) and they were a smoking live band.
Squeezing Out Sparks is GP's masterpiece, the culmination of his great early album run. If it wasn't for London Calling it would probably be my favorite record from 1979. These early albums were well recorded too and sound excellent on vinyl (e.g. Howlin' Wind mastered by Gilbert Kong, Stick to Me mastered by Bob Ludwig). Find 'em in the $4.99 bins!
The first track from their first studio album Howlin Wind: "White Honey" - Graham Parker & The Rumour, 1976.
Finally an artist who managed to have pretty poor cover design for all the work he produced in his career succeeds. In completely ruining one of them that wasn't so bad.
