Graham Parker
was a latter-day figure on the British pub rock scene of the 1970s whose career got a boost when his raw, passionate vocals and often volatile, sometimes darkly witty lyrics dovetailed with the rise of the New Wave scene. His energetic attack and back-to-basics sound connected with punk-adjacent fans on albums like 1976's
Howlin' Wind
and 1977's
Stick to Me
. As his career went along,
Parker
was happy to play up his acerbic side for his new fan base (especially on 1979's brilliant
Squeezing Out Sparks
) before moving into more pop-oriented but still eagerly cynical singer/songwriter territory in the '80s.
has been finding his way back to the rootsy pub rock sound that informed his earliest work since he reunited with his old backing band
the Rumour
for two albums in the 2010s, and 2023's
Last Chance to Learn the Twist
, his second album with his combo
the Goldtops
, sometimes sounds like a more relaxed and introspective variation on his approach to
. The biggest difference between
in 1976 and
in 2023 is that his anger is mostly a thing of the past -- he sometimes sounds irked by the stupidity of the world around him, but just as often he's laughing at the madness of the 21st century, and he sounds faintly nostalgic on bittersweet numbers like "Sun Valley" and "Shorthand," while "The Music of the Devil" fondly recalls the Good Old Days when Rock & Roll was supposed to be sending us to Hell, a quaint notion now.
knows how to tell a good story when one occurs to him, and his observations on the fate of
Pablo Escobar
's pet hippos and the bugs who refuse to let you alone all summer are witty and literate. Though
's vocal attack is more subtle at the age of 72, the nuance of his phrasing is as strong and effective as one could hope, and
(including former
Rumour
guitarist
Martin Belmont
and frequent
Nick Lowe
collaborator
Geraint Watkins
on keyboards) give the performances a warm naturalism and subtle, effective punch that suits
's melodies better than most of his albums of the 2000s. Frankly,
sounds older and wiser on
than he did in his salad days, but he never sounds tired or worn-out -- he's a vital and tremendously gifted artist who still has the touch and makes it work in the studio. ~ Mark Deming