Customer Reviews

Graham Parker and the Rumour / Stick to Me

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While "Stick to Me" is generally considered weaker than Parker's previous 2 albums, it may be more fun than either. STM finds Parker and the Rumour switching between bar band mode and the intensity of the earlier LPs. As far as songs go, there are enough good ones here for STM to hold its own. The standouts from a songwriter perspective are "Thunder and Rain," "Stick to Me" and "Watch the Moon Come Down." "The Raid" and "New York Shuffle" are great songs, too, but show the band's more playful, Chuck Berry side.

In the late 70s Parker and the Rumour were one of the best white R&B bands going, right up there with the Asbury Jukes, and nearly the equal of the 60s Stones. Parker would later slip a little too far into new wavish keyboards and sensitive singer-songwriter territory, but "Stick to Me" represents the hard R&B that personify GP's early efforts. Highly recommended!

Graham Parker's "Stick to Me" had a troublesome birthing process, with the entire album having to be re-recorded at little expense after the original production fell victim to disintegrating tape stock. Nick Lowe came in at the last moment and produced a quick and dirty version of an album that from all accounts was much more ambitious, arrangement and production-wise.
I always liked this album but it wasn't until seeing half or slightly over half performed live with the Figgs a few years ago that I think I "got it".
"I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" is a perfect cover for Graham, he would have written it eventually had he not been beaten to the punch.
The vinyl originally came with stickers of the cover.

"Stick to me" was not too highly acclaimed when it hit the stores in 1977. Dave Marsh, for instance, reviewed it for Rolling Stone and surely didn't appraise it as much as was the case for Graham Parker's previous work. Nonetheless, there are still some poignant songs here. Parker still possesses a hungry man's voice, a voice of a frustrated Englishman, and more than anything else ruthlessly is seeking love and romance in these songs while backed up by The Rumour. `Stick to me', `Problem Child', 'Watch the moon come down', 'Thunder and rain' are all fine tunes as far as I'm concerned. While not being as strong as Graham Parker's breakthroughs, it's still a pretty good record to take a turn with.

In addition, it's of course a bit of a nostalgia trip for many of us to revisit this period in time when the Brits had so much going for them in music. Graham Parker & The Rumour, Elvis Costello, Sex Pistols, The Clash and what have you. Those years, 1976-1980, were undoubtedly incredible for British music.

`Stick to Me' is a bit of an ironic title in light of the back-story about how the entire album had to be re-recorded after the master tapes were found to have been contaminated with a coating. And, it shows - or rather, can be heard - as the overall sound quality is well below that experienced with GP&R's two earlier albums and the quite remarkable follow-up, `Squeezing Out Sparks.' Parker's voice is pushed back to where, at times, I felt he was fighting to be heard over his ever dependable band. There is also a thinness and boxed-in tone that gives an almost lo-fi DIY aspect to the recording.

That's a shame because while the music may be a shade weaker - maybe less consistent is a better term - than that found on `Howling Wind' or `Heat Treatment,' there are still some sterling pieces of music on it. In particular, `Thunder and Rain' and `Watch the Moon Come Down' find Parker and the band showing their strength to advantage. A weaker track `Heat in Harlem' was a surprise and disappointment, sounding like something the latter day Stones would have done as part of their going-through-the-motions period.

Worth the price of admission, mind you.

This was one of the coolest albums to come out in 1977, but this CD is missing one thing that came with the LP: the EP known as The Pink Parker, which included two live tracks produced by Nick Lowe (as was the album)and two other studio tracks produced by Mutt Lange including the absolutely amazing song "Hold Back the Night", which got some airplay back then up here in the Northeast. If they had included the EP tracks with this CD, it would have made a great album even greater. Still, not a bad effort at all for the title track and the great song "I'm Gonna Tear your Playhouse Down", no disrespect for Paul Young's very successful cover version several years later, but the version included here is, to my ears, the definitive version of that song. If you can hunt down and find the Pink Parker EP, you won't regret it at all...I suggest eBay if you want to look for it.

Graham Parker's first two albums, Heat Treatment and Howling
Wind were masterpeices of the genre, both 5 star LPs and essentials for anyone with a taste for English R&B bar band music of the late 70s. Stick To Me seemed like a notch below those LPs at the time. The production sounded rushed, which it was. It was done under tremendous time and financial constraints because the first version of the LP was scrapped when the tapes were ruined. Nick Lowe produced the rush job, and the sound of this LP did not have the clarity or polish of the first two LPs, which initially put me off of it. Also, I thought that several of the songs were not top-notch. Time has been kinder to this LP than some of his later releases, and now I find it an enjoyable listen. After all, it was still G.P. and the Rumour going full throttle, and when they were right, they were something to hear. The Rumour was the most sympathetic band Parker ever had, and they were with him for only one more LP after this, the highly regarded Squeezing Out Sparks.

Taken for what it is, and with hindsight, this is one of Parker's stronger efforts. It still doesn't hold up to his first 2 LPs, and doesn't have the depth in the songwriting or production that makes Squeezing Out Sparks a classic, but that doesn't mean it isn't a worthy release. If you like Parker and haven't given Stick To Me a serious listen, you're missing out.

Bookended with Squeezing out Sparks, STICK TO ME is the peak of Graham Parker & The Rumour's powers. The Parkerilla (a live album) is stuck between the two of them, but both of these albums smoulder from start to finish. I heard the title track on a live King Biscuit broadcast, and I was so moved by the performance, I had to buy the album. Both GP and The Rumour are SERIOUSLY under-appreciated and under-rated - Graham for his lyrics and snarling delivery, and the Rumour for their incredible talent as a band. STICK TO ME, along with it's successor SQUEEZING OUT SPARKS, are the two GP albums that are indispensable.

This is my favourite GP album. Although it does not have the rock & roll grandeur of "Squeezing Out Sparks", this album clearly ranks as one of the best albums of the 1970's.