Customer Reviews

Your Country

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must confess that I was not much of a Graham Parker fan until I purchased a copy of A Fair Forgery of Pink Floyd and heard his incredibly stark and haunting version of Comfortably Numb. At that point, I had to learn more. The earlier stuff rocks -- this guy dances circles around Elvis Costello. But Your Country provided an even more profound surprise. Brit Pub Rocker Graham Parker has mastered . . . AMERICANA? It's true and Lucinda Williams is there to provide her stamp of approval on Cruel Lips. Your Country features a first rate, crack band and warm, inviting production values from John Would and Stanely Recordings (Check out Would's band Yortoise "I Love You to Death" if you get a chance). In addition to brilliant songwriting, its obvious that Graham can more than carry off all musicianship required by Your Country. But add in a superior player like Tom Freund and you get something pretty close to an all time classic. All I can say is purchase and enjoy -- I did!

Graham put out his best album ever last time with Deepcut to Nowhere. Great grooves, great hooks, superb lyrics. This one doesn't miss a beat. Ironically, Lucinda Williams sings on Cruel Lips-Ironic in the sense that all great musicians from her to Springsteen to Dylan think Graham is a genius songwriter.
There's something to a country tinge to many of the songs-especially the first three, but many of the songs groove to that trademark, hook-laden, rock and roll Graham has honed and perfected over the years. Fair Ground is one of the greatest songs he has ever written and pretty much puts into one song where the great Mr. Parker is at this point in his career. A great point, by the way.
To get excited by a release from an artist who has delivered so much in almost the last 30 years is one thing, but to have an artist doing his best stuff after 30 years is something rivaling the devine.
If you haven't yet discovered the greatness in Graham Parker, first, shame on you, second, start with Deepcut to Nowhere and then snatch up Your Country.

parker has been hit or miss his whole career, but when he hits, as in the case of "squeezing out sparks", "mona lisa's sister" and "struck by lightning", he's as good as anyone out there. this is his best since "struck by lightning" for sure (although "burning questions" is pretty great too). not a weak track to be found here, and several of them, most notably "the rest is history", "nation of shopkeepers", and "fairground", rate among parker's best ever. if you're even enough of a fan to read this review, you need to own this.

This gentleman gets better with age. A wonderful collection of songs, with as always, intelligent and interesting lyrics. Very tight band and excellent sound quality. Clearly by a craftsman who takes pride in the total package. Thank you Mr. Parker!

It is quite interesting that people who are not into Graham Parker tend to think that he always sounds the same. On the contrary we who are into GP knows that he is very diverse, he can deliver a slow and touching ballad with the same grace as he can deliver a hard rocking R'n'B number. Through all his music you still can find some trademark criterias. Well-crafted and melodic melodies - very often with a memorable hook, sharp and clever lyrics and that rich and emotional rasp vocal (which the fans adore and many others really dislike).

This time it is time for GP to conquer the country genre. It is absolutely no new area for him, but never before has he done it so consequently in one and the same album. And once again he comes out as a winner. Your Country is a rootsy album filled with traditional American music with a GP twist to them. The band is very groovy and tight and there is a clear album feel to the record, not only a batch of songs put together. Add to this that the whole album overall is very good recorded HiFi-wise and you realize that you have to get this one.

Let's go through the album song by song:
1. Anything for a laugh (8/10) - The album starter sets the country mode right away. Stripped down arrangement and a good lyric. It first reminded me of "Christmas is for mugs" from GPs "Christmas Cracker" but this one is better. One of many songs on the album that need several listens to shine.
2. The rest is history(10/10) - A fantastic song which makes me think of Bob Dylan. It is country flavoured but more GP than country to my ears. I love the energy and melody in the latter part of the verses and I love the laidback chorus. Nice backing vocal too.
3. Cruel lips (8/10) - a genuine country ballad with Lucinda Williams on backing vocals. Nice and bittersweet.
4. Almost Thanksgiving Day (9/10) - The least country-flavoured song with typical "old" GP vocal. A suggestive song that grows on you. But the worst HiFi quality on the album
5. Nation of shopkeepers (10/10) - A future GP classic. Not much country in this one either, but a terrific vocal and the best HiFi on the record - deep base and airy but distinct treble
6. Queen of compromise (7/10) - A typical "Dave Edmunds"-number. Solid and good fun, both in music and lyric, but not any of my favourites on the album
7. Things I've never said (7/10) - A slow traditional country ballad. Nice melody but maybe a bit too slow...
8. Sugaree (10/10) - I'm not into the Greatful Dead so I have not heard the original, but GPs rendition is very good with a very catchy and swinging chorus. A killer vocal and good HiFi in addition makes this a favourite of mine.
9. Tornado Alley (10/10) - Also a typical "Dave Edmunds"-number, but with a better better driving force, melody and vocal. The way he sings the title words in the chorus is just gorgeous, not to mention the backing vocals.
10. Fairground (10/10) - Absolutely one of the best songs on the album. An atmospheric song that tells a long story in many words. It is the longest song on the album but do not let this frighten you. It is a really good story/lyric and the song has a very natural flow to it. Hard to describe, you have to hear it.
11. Crawling from the wreckage (revisited) (9/10) - Funny is how GP really tries to not sound like Dave Edmunds on this one. He succeeds though and the result is, once when you have gotten used to it, a nice kind of countrygroovy version of the song. The song in itself is a very strong one and I think if GP should go for a hard rocking "Dave Edmunds"-version, that would be the definitive 11/10 version of the song.

I don't expect any album this year to be better than this one. I'm a fan of GP for years, but can see this one appealing to a wider audience - especially country or alt-country fans. Graham makes what is arguably his masterpiece, similar to Elvis Costello's King of America. There is not a bad track to be found. Perhaps the weakest for me is his reworking of "Crawling From The Wreckage". My immediate favorites are the remake of the Greatful Dead song "Sugaree", "Almost Thanksgiving Day" and "Things I've Never Said". "Cruel Lips" has Lucinda Williams singing a sexy backing vocal. Don't rely on the 20 second sound bites above. This music should be played on a good system. Tight band and great production.

I was a big GP fan back in the early days, but like a lot of people, I started to lose interest around the time of Another Grey Area and The Real Macaw. I totally lost track of him for twenty years, until 2003, when I got a bug to hear Life Gets Better Yet again. I ordered the Master Hits CD from Amazon, and then found a Best of..at the library. I was hooked all over again. I've obtained every GP album out there within the last year, and have obsessively listned to them all. I wonder what in the world I was thinking when I "lost interest." Your Country fits smoothly into his ouevre. Although there were a few songs on last year's Deepcut to Nowhere that I like better, this is overall the stronger collection, one of his best. (As an aside, one album that doesn't get any attention on Amazon is Loose Monkeys, which is only available from Razor & Tie. It's a collection of great songs that never made it onto albums. Give it a try, too.)

Beginning with his debut album in 1976, Graham Parker has been among the most consistently great solo artists there has ever been. The quality and quantity of his catalogue warrants his being mentioned alongside Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young among long running solo artists. Though the mass popularity accorded those artists has escaped Parker. Graham Parker's new album "Your Country", is possibly a masterpiece. While the album goes more towards the country genre than Parker has ever gone before, it also has a rock and roll joy that is on display on several of the songs. In a just world, this album would merit consideration for the Grammy, it's that good.

Some of Parker's output in the '80's and '90's has suffered from a blandness in musicianship and production, almost as if Parker were still fervently attempting to remove himself from the legacy of the ferocious aggression of his greatest backing band, the Rumour. "Your Country" is not exactly going to bowl you over with power or overt musical challenges, but it's slow burn features the best and most sympathetic musical accompanyment GP has had since his first album, "Howling Wind."

The understated interplay between the drums, bass and acoustic guitar alone are worth the price of admission, and Parker's voice has finally reached a warm and fluid maturity that suits the songs down to the ground.

As for the songs, each one flows as sweetly as if they were written in one intense session, and this gives the album the most cohesive feel Parker has ever achieved.

"Anything For A Laugh," which appears to be about a journeyman entertainer going through hard times, "Cruel Lips," a marvelous Dylanesque country ballad featuring a duet with Lucinda Williams, and the very wordy "Fairground" are songs written by a man at peak performance.
But don't expect his often confusing mixed bag of styles. This record is firmly planted in the new Americana mold.
My only complaint is that both "Tornado Alley" and his honky tonk remake of "Crawling From The Wreckage" suffer from a lack of fullness, as if he forgot to add the keyboards, which he did!

This quibble aside, "Your Country" is an excellent recording that stands tall with the best of Parker's work.

Too bad some of the die-hard Parker fans aren't liking the sound of this new LP. It sounds to me like the best of Van Morrison. And even when it lags a bit musically, the lyrics are first rate. I'm reminded in those songs of some of Dylan's stuff with the Travelling Wilburys.

I don't think Parson's has lost his edge, instead he seems to have matured and found his voice. Just listen carefully to A Nation of Shopkeepers and you'll get what I mean. There's a breadth of social vision there that Elvis Costello never found.