The Parkerilla
	Produced by John Robert Lange
	Released on May 1978
	UK CHART POSITION #14 . . . US CHART POSITION #149
	Find it at GEMM
SRM-2-100 cover [high resolution photo]

H ow to go from Golden Boy to lead weight in three easy steps: (1) Release a smart and scary record that makes critics stand up and take notice, (2) Complete your contract with the minimum possible effort by releasing a lazy, live double record, (3) Rub salt into the label’s wounds by releasing a song about your soured relationship. Whether crank or crook, Graham Parker didn’t make any new friends or fans with The Parkerilla. He sneers his way through selections from his first three albums with all the warmth of a wet blanket. In fact, over the course of the record, Parker seems to get pricklier, treating his fresh legacy with the unpredictable and unreadable emotion of a Bob Dylan. (I could never tell if Bob was joking or just bored when he sang live.) Oddly, Parker doesn’t seem to have let The Rumour in on his little joke; they play it straight and hot. Maybe that’s the difference between consummate professionals and temperamental artists. Anyway, avoid my mistake and don’t make this an early purchase in your pursuit of Parker. I bought this, listened to it a few times, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the fuss was all about. Immediately, I placed Parker on a lower peg than Van Morrison and Joe Jackson (of who he’s sort of an amalgam), figuring that Rockpile wrote better stuff than “Back To Schooldays” and “Lady Doctor.” Things do heat up on side three during the succession of “Heat Treatment,” “Watch The Moon Come Down” and “New York Shuffle,” but it’s not a question of finding hidden treasure so much as salvage. However, any good will on the part of the listener is erased by Parker’s parting finger: a studio re-recording of an old song (which already appears here in a live version) stretched out over all of side four. Step two completed. Now, where’s that shaker of salt?

SRM-2-100 outer gatefold	SRM-2-100 company sleeve

TRACK LISTING

record one

1. LADY DOCTOR    2:48
2. FOOL'S GOLD    4:23
3. TEAR YOUR PLAYHOUSE DOWN    3:50
4. DON'T ASK ME QUESTIONS    5:33
5. THE HEAT IN HARLEM    7:35
6. SILLY THING    3:15
7. GYPSY BLOOD    5:15
8. BACK TO SCHOOLDAYS    2:40
   
   record two
   
1. HEAT TREATMENT    3:33
2. WATCH THE MOON COME DOWN    5:15
3. NEW YORK SHUFFLE    2:57
4. SOUL SHOES    3:23
5. DON'T ASK ME QUESTIONS    3:51

CREDITS

GRAHAM PARKER -- vocals, guitar
BOB ANDREWS -- keyboards, backing vocal, brass arrangements, musical director
MARTIN BELMONT -- guitar, backing vocals
RAY BEVIS -- tenor sax
ANDREW BODNAR -- bass
JOHN EARLE -- tenor and baritone sax
STEVE GOULDING -- drums, backing vocals
CHRIS GOWER -- trombone, DICK HANSON -- trumpet, flugelhorn
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ -- guitar, slide guitar, backing vocal
Alphonze -- introduction
Ted Sharp -- engineer
Robert John Lange -- mixing
Brian Griffin -- cover picture
Frances Newman -- inner picture

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