Graham Parker & The Rumour – Mystery Glue (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 47:47 minutes | 577 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UMC (Universal Music Catalogue)
Mystery Glue from Graham Parker and the Rumour was written in Parker’s second home of New York and recorded in only six days in London. The material is a real return to form for Parker and his powerhouse band, one of the UK’s pioneering pre-punk outfits, often cited as a major influence on other artists including Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Paul Weller and Bruce Springsteen. Mystery Glue, featuring the Rumour’s original 1970s lineup, is an album of conscious rock, harking back to Parker’s genre-defining music of the ’70s while paying homage to Dylan, reggae, soul and rock ‘n’ roll.
“When Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky described dark matter in the 1930s, he got the name wrong. It is of course ‘mystery glue’ that holds the universe together … when I present new songs to the Rumour they work feverishly to make sense of them, often starting out with wildly disparate and alarmingly wrong diversions. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, everything falls into place, as if by dint of some Mystery Glue that holds us all together.” –Graham Parker
If Graham Parker had been given a dollar every time someone called him an “angry young man” in the ’70s, he and his band could probably have driven a fleet of Porsches from gig to gig, but with the passage of time, Parker hasn’t mellowed so much as he’s evolved into a different sort of cranky guy, with the same wit and verbal acuity but a good bit more charm. If Parker used to be a more R&B-influenced Elvis Costello, a man with enough rage that he could tell God where to get off, in 2015 he’s the Larry David of rock, a shade bitter but likable and funny to boot, and his backing band the Rumour has aged just as well, hitting less hard than they once did but gaining a swing and a groove that reminds us these guys were the All Stars of the pub rock scene once upon a time, where unpretentious and easygoing music ruled the day. Cut in an efficient six days, Mystery Glue is Parker’s second album since reuniting with the Rumour in 2011, and though this doesn’t rock with the impact of their ’70s masterpieces like Heat Treatment or Squeezing Out Sparks, it sounds absolutely right for its time and place, with Parker easing his way through a set of songs that confirm he hasn’t lost his touch as a lyricist and the Rumour giving him just the sound and the space that he needs. While Parker is more than capable of going dark and dramatic on the ominous “Fast Crowd” and the rueful “Flying into London,” for the most part he sings with a sharp but inviting humor about his past versus his present (“Pub Crawl”), the state of the world (“Slow News Day”), the youthful misdeeds of himself and others (“I’ve Done Bad Things”), and his recent adventures in show business (“My Life in Movieland”). And if the Rumour seem more willing to stay out of Parker’s way in the 21st century, their support is emphatic and adds just the right touch, especially Bob Andrews on keyboards, Steve Goulding on drums, and the guitars of Brinsley Schwarz and Martin Belmont. Mystery Glue isn’t an album about aging gracefully so much as aging right, and this is just about perfect for a 64-year-old Graham Parker, a proud survivor who lives to gripe another day, putting him far ahead of plenty of his peers. –Mark Deming
Tracklist:
01. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Transit Of Venus (03:41)
02. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Going There (03:39)
03. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Wall Of Grace (03:54)
04. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Swing State (03:17)
05. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Slow News Day (03:44)
06. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Railroad Spikes (04:06)
07. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Flying Into London (04:09)
08. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Pub Crawl (05:10)
09. Graham Parker & The Rumour – I’ve Done Bad Things (03:22)
10. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Fast Crowd (05:00)
11. Graham Parker & The Rumour – Long Shot (04:36)
12. Graham Parker & The Rumour – My Life In Movieland (03:03)
