Steady Nerves

by

Graham Parker And the Shot

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While I don't fully agree with the previous reviewer's boundless enthusiasm for this album, I can understand him feeling that way, as its high points are certainly among the better moments of GP's mid-period career, but in retrospect it is the sound of sonic compromise symptomatic of so much '80s music. This was an awkward period for Graham, shuffling between labels (this was his only album on Elektra) as you can see from the cover pic but NOT the artist listing on this reissue, he was trying to start another band, a sequel to the Rumour called The Shot, again featuring the brilliant guitarist Brinsley Schwartz. But the sound of the album is beset by mid-'80s synthesizers and robotic Linn drums. Personally I can't stand "The Weekend's Too Short", it sounds like a desperate bid for airplay -- I can't believe I'm typing this, but I'd rather hear Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" than this awkward rocker. I'd say the highlights are "Mighty Rivers," a great uptempo love song (despite those awful splashy synths), "Wake Up (Next to You)", a great neo-soul ballad that someone ought to cover today. The topical "Break Them Down" was also a brave opener for a record in 1985 -- major labels really frowned on political commentary then. There are some other nice moments "When You Do That To Me" and "Canned Laughter," and "Black Lincoln Continental" is interesting too.

Yes, Squeezing Out Sparks is the acknowledged classic, but I'd also urge anyone getting into GP to include his first two albums, Howlin' Wind and Heat Treatment, in your investigations. They are closer to Van Morrison than Elvis Costello, if you know what I mean -- rootsy and organic and soulful but still rocking, instead of the smoother sound he developed for Sparks and which reaches perhaps its glossy peak in the sound of this album, before his retreat into more organic textures in the excellent Mona Lisa's Sister and Struck By Lightning albums to come.