Customer Reviews

Struck By Lightning

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Graham Parker sits prominently amongst our generation's best songwriters. Always critically acclaimed, he consistently cranks out quality material handled with intelligence, dignity, and integrity. So of course mass sales have eluded him. Nonetheless he still carries on, like Bob Dylan's never-ending tour, after some thirty years in the business. Along the way some absolutely amazing gems have resulted from his seemingly endless output. 1991's "Struck By Lightning" is one of these.

At least one of the best songs ever written graces this album: "They Murdered the Clown" mixes heavy rhythms with Parker's mambo-snake venom lyrics. Some of his nastiest lines lie in wait in the second verse. The circus organ and pounding guitar and drums make an amazing combination that combines the extremely danceable with the extremely disturbing. No one could accuse Parker of sugar-coating reality. He tells it like it is, and on this song he hits home with even more than the usual umph. "They Murdered The Clown" justifies this album alone, but of course much more awaits. Parker's ode to lost youth, "The Kid With the Butterfly Net" contains some nice violin riffs and a longing akin to Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". The pleading "Wrapping Paper" could entice any partner to forgiveness: "Speak to me girl, speak to me darling; You're not a princess, I'm not Prince Charming". Many other of the album's songs will provide food for thought for years: "Children and Dogs", "Over The Border (To America)", "Weeping Statues", "When I Was King". Parker's trademark innovative songwriting and orchestration run throughout the entire album. The album's sound is unique; it's crisp and lively; it may be one of his best sounding albums.

For years "Struck By Lightning" languished in the category of "out-of-print". It looks like "Lemon Records" has brought it back. Parker's material, like his career, somehow survives major label indifference. Happily, most of it can still be obtained thanks to various independent labels. Parker shows no signs of slowing (he's probably now in his 50s); many consider his most recent material to be his best. If that is true, it can sit happily next to "Struck By Lightning".

After his celebrated "Angry Young Man" recordings, Graham Parker married, settled down, and had kids. This record reflects his new-found maturity. As he's fond of saying on stage (to great laughter from the audience, who have grown up themselves): "I'm not an angry young man anymore - it was too exhausting."

Though earlier albums had sensitive songs here and there, this one is chock full of them. His meditation about his daughter growing up is the most beautiful and moving song he's ever written ("The Kid With The Butterfly Net"). In "Wrapping Paper", he requests that his wife "pull your skin like wrapping paper around my heart."

But before you think he's completely wimped-out, he hits you with the best rock song he's ever written. That would be "A Brand New Book", which features the lines "The words come out/Not "Twist and Shout"/'Cause that's not what a grown man writes about."

I've been listening to this for years, and every time I hear these 3 songs my jaw drops. I sit and marvel at how powerful and perfect they are, and think all over again "what an amazing songwriter!" In fact, Parker's had that effect on me for a long time. To this day I discover a line or a quick turn of phrase on one of his many recordings that I'd not noticed before - and I'm struck with wonder once again.

This is my favorite album of his, but it's hard to say that it's his best. There's too many contenders for that title that I hold in equal high esteem. If someone were to ask me which ones are "essential", I'd recommend (from his "angry" phase): "Howlin' Wind", "Heat Treatment", "Stick To Me", and "Squeezing Out Sparks". From his on-going more "thoughtful" phase: "The Mona Lisa's Sister", "Struck By Lightning", "Deepcut To Nowhere", and "Don't Tell Columbus." These are his most consistently good albums, although I feel they're all worth checking out. The quality of his output is very rare. Most artists have some bad albums, but Parker does not. Of his immediate peer group, the only other artist I can think of that's sustained such a long winning streak is Elliott Murphy.

Like Lou Reed's wonderful "Growing Up In Public" CD, this was the record on which Parker fully "came of age", addressing adult subject matter with wit, grace, and hope. I'm pretty sure I'll always collect him, and will grow old listening to him.

P.S. - If you ever have a chance to see him perform "live" - don't miss it!

I have nearly all of Graham's albums, and this one is tied for best. Just about every song is great. The few that aren't great are very good. (I must say, though, that it did take a number of listenings to grow on me before I fell in love with it.) It's not in the style of his 1970s stuff. If you loved Mona Lisa's Sister, you'll love this one too.

Graham Parker's best? No way. But "Struck by Lightning" finds him taking a lot of chances and mostly succeeding. He goes from pretty to propulsive to thought-provoking over the course of this fine disc, and a couple country-flavored songs and just too much music (a wee bit of trimming, please) are his only missteps. Quite nice.

You kind of need to be married with kid(s) to really appreciate this as a 5-star disc. Being used to a louder and in-your-face GP - this album seemed kind of overly sedate to me as it was released when I was single and without domestic concerns, but I liked songs here and there. But I have really come to appreciate it over the years, as I myself have the same thoughts GP had on this album. Children and Dogs says things to me now (1999) that just didn't click when I was single. The stripped down approached works.

I especially liked the evil circus organ opening of They Murdered The Clown. And It Shook Me and Weeping Statutes are truly outstanding tracks.

I have long been a fan of Graham Parker and The Rumor. I've noticed that some who have reviewed this CD mention the sound is so much different. I would think so. I believe it's the years living in the hills of Woodstock N.Y. that has done so. The biggest bonus of this CD is having his good friend, Garth Hudson of The Band playing on it. This is one fine CD and another musical journey for Parker.

This is one of Graham Parker's handful of masterpieces, along with his first two albums, Squeezing Out Sparks, and this album's true precursor, The Mona Lisa's Sister (Yes, the Human Soul album came in between these two, but it's kind of an aberration, with a glossy hit-desperate sound that's in contrast to the acoustic textures of the two great albums on either side of it).

As many times as I hear it, the romantic one-two punch of "Wrapping Paper" and "And It Shook Me" never fails to choke me up. And "The Kid with the Butterfly Net" is one of the most evocative songs about childhood I know. The album features contributions from other Upstate N.Y., Woodstock-area greats like Garth Hudson, John Sebastian and "Civil War" violinist Jay Ungar, whose infectious contribution to that last song is among the record's treasures.

Even if you're not sure whether you like GP or not, if you love singer-songwriter music, you will not be disappointed with this warm, heartfelt collection of songs.

This is definitely one of Graham's best albums. The music is consistently excellent and it's beyond me why it wasn't played on the radio. As great as the music is, however, it's the lyrics that bring me back again and again, particularly on songs like "Kid with the Butterfly Net", a song about his young daughter that never fails to bring tears to my eyes now that I have a little girl of my own--"She walks through the fields/Walks in the heat through the fields/She swings with her arms but can what she catches be real/And when you see her by the water, you see what you want to/And all the chains around you cannot keep her prisoner/They haven't been forged yet/For the kid with the butterfly net". Beautiful.

This is Graham Parker's best, most amazing album. Graham takes a minimalist approach with this outing and performs some of his most intriguing songs with a small tight group of musicians that includes such players as Pete Thomas and Andrew Bodnar, with special guests Garth Hudson, John Sebastian, and Cindy Cashdollar. The lyrics are clever and biting. GP is an undiscovered genius.

IMHO this is the finest album yet from an artist whose work is amazingly neglected. Most music fans lost track of Graham Parker in the years since his mega-hit Squeezing Out Sparks in 1979; working under the radar, however, Parker has since produced an astounding body of work -- restlessly intelligent, wickedly funny, tender, and multi-faceted. On Struck By Lightning, he turns out some of his smartest lyrics ever -- the guy was always underrated as a wordsmith -- but the range of musical styles is what really impresses, sampling Americana, soul, power pop, acoustic folk, you name it. Great guest stars on the album, too, like Garth Hudson, John Sebastian, and Cyndi Cashdollar. It's a surprisingly wise album about growing up, yet it crackles with energy and fun.