Watch your step (Brian Auger) (LP 3730 - 3733)

Brian Auger  Auger Incorporated  (Vinyl, Soul Bank Music, 2023) *****  

Laura Cantrell  Just Like a Rose (The Anniversary Sessions) (Vinyl, Propeller Sound Recordings, 2023) ***

Shirley Collins  Archangel Hill  (Vinyl, Domino Records, 2023) ****  

Graham Parker & The Goldtops Last Chance to Learn the Twist (Vinyl, Big Stir Records, 2023) ***

Genre: Jazz, jazz fusion, country, folk, rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records (Auger), JB Hi Fi (the rest)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Music of the Devil (GP)

Gear costume: The Bonny Labouring Boy (Archangel Hill)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Apart from the Brian Auger compilation (a triple), these albums come from a recent JB Hi Fi 75% off sale. Whaaat? Yes indeed - some real bargains to be had (a few more are in the S and onwards collection so I'll get to them in due course.

Auger Incorporated is special in that it's a chronological collection from his beginnings as a jazz pianist, through his various bands to the 2020's. A remarkable career!

Laura Cantrell has a very pure Americana (with a leaning towards country) sound. She specialises in clear and simple singing without a great deal of artifice. That and the tasteful backing (love that sporadic pedal-steel) make this a welcome introduction to her work.

Shirley Collins has long been a favourite of mine. Archangel Hill is her most recent release and it's like she's your lovely grandmother, in the room with you, giving you a one-on-one performance. The instrumentation is appropriately spare, allowing Shirley's voice to take centre stage.

Graham Parker's latest album is the last on my list. Again from 2023, he is with The Goldtops for this one.

His voice may be a lot more lived in these days, but the whole approach reeks confidence in his abilities. The music is fun to listen to, as it has echoes of all those years in between, even reaching back to his own youth (he was born in 1950). 

You have to hand it to him and Brian and Shirley - still looking to express themselves last in their career, in 2023; still with things to prove; and still enjoying the process enough to put out new records. 

God bless them!

Where do they all belong? I also picked up a couple of The Kinks' back catalogue albums and a David Sylvian album which I'll get to eventually.

Stick to me (Graham Parker) (LP 3441 - 3443)

Graham Parker  Howlin' Wind (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 1976) ****  

Graham Parker & The Rumour  Stick To Me (Vinyl, Vertigo Records, 1977) *****

Graham Parker & The Rumour  Squeezing Out Sparks (Vinyl, Vertigo Records, 1979) *****

Genre: Pop, rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: White Honey (Howlin' Wind)

Gear costume: Soul Shoes (Howlin' Wind)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I have previously written about his Pink Parker EP and mentioned how I won Stick To Me in a radio competition. We go way back!

Howlin' Wind was his debut album, and he certainly hit the ground running. White Honey is a great opening shot - that organ sound hooks me every time, and Graham's distinctive vocals are right on the money. 

The AllMusic review sums the album up well:  Howlin' Wind remains a thoroughly invigorating fusion of rock tradition, singer/songwriter skill, and punk spirit, making it one of the classic debuts of all time.

Although he's his own man, I kind of link him in my brain to Southside Johnny. Both have that great passionate blue-eyed soul sound and sympathetic backing from The Rumour and The Ashbury Dukes respectively. They differ in that Graham writes the majority of his material and his lyrics are often brilliant.

Stick To Me is my favourite GP album. Yes, partly because I won it (young Greg also won a copy), but it's instantly loveable as a set of songs. I wrote about it on my brother weblog - Destination Records.

Squeezing Out Sparks is another superb album. Somehow GP is able to channel his angry young man delivery into a consistently passionate, engaging set of songs.

Where do they all belong? That should do it, although if I happen across their second album, Heat Treatment, in a Real Groovy sale bin, I shall scoop it up.

I got my soul shoes on my feet (Graham Parker) #301

Graham Parker and the Rumour Hold Back The Night, (let me Get) Sweet On You/ White Honey, Soul Shoes (Vertigo 12", 6831 040, 1978)

A.K.A. The Pink Parker, this EP has two distinct sides to GP and The Rumour - the studio and the live.

The real excitement here? Live, of course. But he ain't no slouch in the studio either.

I won his 1977 album Stick To Me in a competition of some sort, back in the day, and loved it. The Pink Parker came out between that and his previous album, Heat Treatment. He was in a rich vein of form.

Hold Back The Night is his cover of The Trammps song, but if you didn't know the original you would swear it was a GP song - compare the two versions below. The Trammps is wonderful in a Four Tops super soul way; great sax break too. GP adds some sped up London grit and attitude; groovy guitar too. 

Hidden gems: Live is where The Rumour really show their chops - the wonderful organ fills on White Honey are matched by the wonderful guitar fills and GP vocal on Soul Shoes. All up - an excellent value for money EP and on lurid pink vinyl to boot.