Product Description

On 2007's DON'T TELL COLUMBUS, his third album for the Bloodshot label, Graham Parker continues the remarkable streak of records that he began on '04's YOUR COUNTRY. Although COLUMBUS lacks the punch of the preceding SONGS OF NO CONSEQUENCE, it finds the beloved British pub-rock icon comfortably situated in Dylanesque singer-songwriter mode. (In fact, the buoyant, biting "Stick to the Plan" sounds like it could be an outtake from Dylan's MODERN TIMES). While many of the tunes on COLUMBUS have a catchy, upbeat feel, they are often lined with fierce or melancholy lyrics, proving that, three decades into his career, Parker proudly and assuredly maintainshis signature caustic style.

Track Listing

1. I Discovered America
2. England's Latest Clown
3. Ambiguous
4. Other Side Of The Reservoir
5. Suspension Bridge
6. Love Or Delusion
7. Total Eclipse Of The Moon
8. Stick To The Plan
9. Somebody Saved Me
10. Hard Side Of The Rain
11. Bullet Of Redemption
12. All Being Well

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33951 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .16 pounds

Customer Reviews

Tell Everybody
If this was a debut album from some hip, young gunslinger it would be hailed as one of the greatest debuts of all time and would probably sit in the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic for the best part of a year. If it was Dylan's last outing critics would be salivating that this was the greatest thing they had heard since "Blood on the Tracks". If, in the 70s or early 80s you thought Graham Parker's first four albums were some of the greatest music you had ever heard then BUY THIS ALBUM.
As a seventeen year old in England in the late 70s listening to "heat treatment" and "howlin wind" was like hearing music from someone who had slowly imbided the greatest rock n roll from the 50s and soul from the 60s and was spitting it out with a passion that only the Clash and Springsteen could match.
Like a lot of us Graham Parker seemed to lose his way in the 80s, but
with "Dont Tell Columbus" Graham Parker has not only recaptured that original magic but has infused it with his own profound feel from American roots and bluegrass which gives it a mellower feel to his early music but with all the passion of that early soul still raging.
If, like me, you loved Parker's early music when you were younger and have mellowed a bit over the years but still have that passion burning then this album is simply stunning. A must have.

Great new hope from one on the ropes
Not only a great musician, but a great poet too, with a wonderfully ideosyncratic mixture of cynical political commentary ('Ambiguous' and 'Stick to the Plan'), poignant memories of a past that can't be recaptured ('Suspension Bridge') and searing exposes of the human condition ('Somebody Saved Me' and 'Hard side of the Rain').
One of the few album's that I can play straight through with no skips. The slow burn build that starts with track 4 'The other side of the reservoir' and culminates in the crescendo of Track 10 'Hard side of the rain' before falling away through 'Bullet of Redemption' and the bittersweet 'All being well' is compelling listening.
If Graham Parker can still fire himself up on stage as he used to do to with the Rumour to perform this new material, then it will be a concert date for the diary, because this is my album of the year.

What a line
Great CD and the line "and the meek will inherit the earth from their frends the scum" in Ambiguous is classic Parker.