The Up Escalator [EXTRA TRACKS] [IMPORT]

Graham Parker

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• Original Release Date: November 25, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import
• Label: Lemon Records UK
• ASIN: B0000CESUB
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #193,279 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
2003 reissue of long unavailable 1980 album, digitally restored & mastered from original source tapes, features 12 tracks including 2 bonus tracks, 'Women In Charge' & 'Hey Lord Don't Ask No Questions' (previously unreleased live track recorded in 1981). Lemon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his very best. And still powerful, March 22, 2006

By	Frank Camm (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The boy is becoming a man. Punk energy, anger still generate anthems, but urgency eases out steadiness; toughness increases, but so does uncertainty; demands increase as hope falters. Bitterness peeks through for first time, but GP's giant heart continues to pour over everything. Quintessential GP + Rumour. Tough, tight, soulful, passionate anthems. Towers over anything being made today. Almost all tracks are classics. Stand-out: tr 10--(Can't have) Love without greed.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real Cracker from Graham, August 4, 2004

By	Ed Kaz "Ed Kaz" (Shell Pile, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

"Up Escalator" is simply a great album. Endless Night, the track featuring Mr. Springsteen on backing vocal, is rip-roarin'; never fails to raise the hair on the back of my neck.

I bought this Way Back When as a bargain-bin cutout. I'd love to own the CD.

If you enjoyed my review, please be sure to visit my wishlist and buy me a copy of "Up Escalator," as my turntable is no more.

Oh and get a copy for yourself while you're at it!

Thanking you in advance,
Kaz

3.0 out of 5 stars maybe a tipping point for GP, November 7, 2008

By	Jersey Kid (Katy, Texas, America!) - See all my reviews

A strangely flat album from Graham Parker and Rumour that is, in point of fact, the last one he did with the band. By then, keyboardist Bob Andrews had left the band, and GPR was working for Arista Records. We also find Jimmy Iovine in the driver's seat as producer and - lo and behold - there is a guest artist; namely Bruce Springsteen. This means that blaming Mercury Records for the lack of a commercial breakthrough is mooted. But with the new label and the use of a high-name-recognition gunslinger as producer indicating regime change of a sort, we are left with - to my mind - reasonably good, but not great material presented with overly slick production.

This situation reminds me a bit of what X went through. That band tried - after four stunning albums that turned punk on its ear - to write for commercial success and ran aground by destroying their identity. I think Parker yielded to the same temptations. This was compounded by the fact that I think his music is not for mass consumption and, as such, might be a prescient indicator of the indie/DIY movement in the 80s and 90s.

From here, Parker spent a number of years in the musical wilderness, churning out albums of more-or-less mediocre quakity. The new century, however, saw a new GP hit the stage. One with a less edgy-tone, but of greater wisdom and maturity.but, that's another story. 'The Up Escalator' is a nice GPR album, more for the completist than the general buying popoulace.