Ultimate Collection [Original recording remastered]

Graham Parker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B00005ABJR
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,374 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. White Honey

2. Back to Schooldays

3. Soul Shoes

4. Don't Ask Me Questions

5. Heat Treatment

6. Fool's Gold

7. Hold Back the Night

8. Stick to Me

9. Thunder and Rain

10. Mercury Poisoning

11. I Want You Back (Alive)

12. Discovering Japan

13. Local Girls

14. You Can't Be Too Strong

15. Passion Is No Ordinary Word

16. Stupefaction

17. Temporary Beauty

18. Wake up (Next to You)

19. Get Started, Start a Fire

20. Disney's America

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this!! Deserves the title "Ultimate Collection", February 3, 2002

By 

"pdec" (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

GP beginners buy this.
This CD contains many of GP's best songs (not all. impossible to cover them all in one CD anyway). They range from "White Honey" ---A-1 of his debut album--- to the unforgettable "Disney's America" from his '95 Album, all arranged in chronological order.
Deep fans buy this too.
I have been a GP fan for 25 years, and I can tell you that this CD has the best sound quality of all. Many of his classic songs sound much better than in the 25th anniversary re-issues released in 2001. Do not complain about the number of GP compilations, it's not this CD's fault. This collection deserves its title.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GP - The Best Kept Secret!, October 21, 2003

By 

N. Bournat "(Nic)" (Surrey, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

I've been fan of Graham Parkers since I saw him with the Rumour at the Roundhouse in 1976 when they were the support act to a chap called Andy Fairweather Low - from the English band Amen Corner. His nervous energy never left me, soul mixed with English sacastic wit and Van's romantic dreaming of gypies and caravans. He was overcome by punk in 1997 and too many people thought he was a copy of Elvis Costello - who released his first album a year later. This is collection that would better suit a new comer to GP and discover his underated talent and brilliance. If you dont know Graham Parker - this is the place to start, otherwise you will have these tracks already. Buy it if you like an original talent and tell your friends what you have found.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slim Pickens of Graham Parker, April 4, 2008

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Graham Parker was up to near 20 albums spread across six labels by the time Hip-O dropped this single disc on the market, and unfortunately it falls far short of the mark. Parker developed from an excellent Van Morrison/Bruce Springsteen acolyte (Howlin' Wind and Heat Treatment) to contender on the charts for Angry Young Man King (Squeezing Out Sparks) to a gradual slide into middle aged malcontent/romantic (everything from Another Grey Area on).

However, this CD front-loads the music from the first four albums (arguably Parker's best work) and then skimps. It abandons several albums entirely (The Real Macaw, Burning Questions and three of his 4 RCA albums. "Life Gets Better" could have bumped something from the first half easily, and "Empty Lives" (from The Up Escalator) is one of his fiercest rockers ever, but not here.

However, all the obvious "hits" are here, including Parker's one US Top 40, "Wake Up Next To You" (off the recently reissued Steady Nerves), the radio rockers "Get Started. Start a Fire" and "Discovering Japan." You can hear Parker gain confidence and personality as he changes from those first albums to the intensity of the classic "Sparks," then note the sophistication that increases the complexity of his music even as his fan-base dwindled. His jaunty pub-rock (it's almost impossible not to notice Nick Lowe's guiding hand in the early production) sharpens by "Sparks" to laser-like burn, then to the folkish lover's lament "Disney's America" that closes this disc.

While the Rhino double disc Passion Is No Ordinary Word: The Graham Parker Anthology [2-CD SET] does a better job in fleshing Parker's music out (but ended before the Capitol and Razor/Tie CD's), this single disc offers a solid overview/introduction. If you're just curious, there's also The Best of Graham Parker 1988-1991 to cover the RCA years, Master Hits: Graham Parker for the Arista years, and - of course - those incredible first four studio albums.