Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind

CB and I have been talking and when that happens… some cool music is discussed. This is an artist I should have checked out long long ago.

Graham Parker is someone I’ve heard of …but never actually heard. I’ve lived with this album for a week or so. What I’ve heard is some smooth groove music that Parker contrasts with his intense lyrics. I hear a little punk influence in the lyrics and voice. If I had to compare him with someone…it would be Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson but with a touch of Van Morrison and The Band sprinkled in on this album.

A little more about Graham Parker…after that, I’ll get on about the album. This is an extremely condensed beginning for Graham up until the debut album.

Graham Parker and the Rumour

Graham Parker was born in East London in 1950 and was the right age to catch The Beatles when they hit. He and his friends had a band that adopted the haircuts, sweaters, and boots but they never really learned how to play their instruments. He did a guitar and started learning it. Later on, when he was around 15 he started to listen to soul music, Motown, ska, and especially Otis Redding.

He started to improve on guitar and played bars and clubs. He even appeared on a television show in Gibraltar and played a few of his own songs. After that, he was asked to join a psychedelic band named Pegasus. He soon tired of that music and started to concentrate on R&B songs like The Midnight Hour. He then met the manager of Brinsley Schwarz. With ex-members of Brinsley Schwarz and ex-member Nick Lowe producing them…they made his debut album Howlin’ Wind. His band had a name at this point…The Rumour.

The Rumour would be Graham’s backing band for years. They also recorded their own albums separately and did three in all. They broke up in 1980 and then reformed and started to back Parker up again in 2011 and remain his backup band to this day.

The album is great. There is not a bad song on it. The second side rocks a little more than the first so it evens it out. I hear rock, reggae, rockabilly, R&B, Soul, rock, and a touch of jazz in spots. His voice is so damn convincing…you automatically take notice as he sneers his way through it. He can get raspy and then stay smooth. There is a variety on this album…he was not stuck on one style…he spread it about and his debut album is balanced and wonderful. It was a perfect marriage between Parker and The Rumour. Also, I have to give Nick Lowe some credit. He keeps it sparse…no studio tricks just straight-ahead music.

I’ve mentioned Van Morrison and I have to say Springsteen also. If you like those artists…you should like this Graham Parker album. Don’t get me wrong…he doesn’t copy them…he has his own original thing going on but it has some of the feel of those artists. I’ve listened to this album at home, in the car, and at work. It kept getting better as I was going through it.

Give this album a shot.

  1. “White Honey” – 3:33
  2. “Nothin’s Gonna Pull Us Apart” – 3:21
  3. “Silly Thing” – 2:51
  4. “Gypsy Blood” – 4:37
  5. “Between You and Me” – 2:25
  6. “Back to Schooldays” – 2:54
  7. “Soul Shoes” – 3:13
  8. “Lady Doctor” – 2:5
  9. “You’ve Got to Be Kidding” – 3:30
  10. “Howlin’ Wind” – 3:58
  11. “Not If It Pleases Me” – 3:12
  12. “Don’t Ask Me Questions” – 5:38

Graham Parker: “When I’m writing, I don’t write angry or think angry, so I appreciate that you noticed this, and thank you, sadly, all critics see or hear is anger. Not me, though. ‘With a little humor, always with a little humor.’” 

Graham Parker: “I’ve always tried to be playful, starting with Howlin’ Wind, not dumb, not goofy, but playful. I’m a fan of humor. People have always thought I was pissed off, but really, I was just joking around. They don’t get it or they’re not hearing me. I have always loved to tickle people.”

Originally released in 1976, from the album ‘Howlin’ Wind’. This remix was released as a single in 1978 from the album ‘The Parkerilla’.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

47 thoughts on “Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind”

  1. Great choice today Max. A reminder for me to get back to some of my Graham Parker albums. This one is likely his second best, Squeezing Out Sparks is just amazing. Brings back lots of memories. Cruzin’ around in my buddies Capri with Parker blaring from the tape deck, good times!

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    1. This was the first time I’ve heard this through…great stuff. CB brought him up and I knew the name but not the music…it’s great stuff. I will be exploring more.

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  3. Much the same as you, Max, I know Graham by name but not much by his music. He’s always mentioned when people talk of Elvis Costello in the 70s, but doesn’t get the airplay like him. He does have a role as himself in ‘This is 40’ (not missing much if you haven’t seen it) and seems to have a good sense of humor in that. An artist I should try to check out more.

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    1. I know that photograph in the middle…with all of them standing. Yea I’m going to start going through his catalog.
      As much of a Van Morrison fan that I am…when I heard this I thought wow…they have the same kind of vibe or feel going on….but different.

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  4. Like you said Max “not a bad cut”. I listened to each song you posted and they never fail to grab me. Love the punchy horns on ‘Whit Honey’. All those bands from that era that you mentioned had that sound. Throw J Geils into the mix. Plus all great live acts earned by playing endless gigs. Fox and I were planning a take on this album (Fox went hiking and CB went fishing) You did your usual solid work. Enjoy talking music with you and your friends. Seems to bring out the best if folks. Gotta run, have an appointment with my ‘Lady Doctor’

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    1. I would have put more songs but it takes too long to load for people… I have 8 songs on this album I keep going back to and the remaining ones are still good.
      Have a great one CB…

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      1. At our fingertips if we want more GP. Same path as randydafoe, I started with ‘Sparks’ and it was just a case of wanting more.
        Busy week on “PowerPop”, lots of cool music. Keep it coming Max.

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      2. Thanks CB….yea I found someone who recorded each side straight through on youtube….that was how I listened to it…right off of an LP.

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  6. Graham Parker & the Rumour were being trailed in the NME in 1976 as being very much the next big thing. In reality, however, they were overtaken by the much fresher and more urgent sound of punk and new wave, and never really had the commercial success once predicted. I did buy and enjoy (and still have) the Pink Parker EP with the great version they did of Hold Back the Night

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  7. This music sounds great! I recognized that album cover right away, and the name Graham Parker and the Rumour immediately rang a bell as well. And yet as I just verified by doing a search, I haven’t covered Parker to date – hm…But I’m pretty sure I listened to at least some tracks from “Howlin’ Wind” before. I guess I’ll have to pull up that album again.

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    1. He hooks me up with some good music…9 times out of 10…I don’t know it…but I like it.
      Here is what I listened to Matt. One is the A side and the other is the B side.

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      1. Cinci and I had a little riff raff about Paul Kelly a long time ago, but water under the bridge as they say. Thanks for posting all that Max.
        Tomorrow’s article about Love Buzz from Shocking Blue is arguably my most absurd, but I had fun writing it. I think I got that song from you.

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  9. Squeezing Out Sparks is the Parker albums I own on CD and know well. It has some great songs like Discovering Japan and You Can’t Be Too Strong. I’m fully intending to cover his early albums on my site sometime.

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      2. I started listening to it yesterday. I loved what I heard. CB sent me a link to a non-album single he did around the same time it was released….his cover of I Want You Back…excellent version to me.

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  14. There are two ways I love listening to Graham Parker. On his own, with the Rumour, is killer. But I’m just as fond for the Dave Edmunds covers of a few of his tunes.

    By the way, the Rumour albums (at least the first two) are wonderful listens.

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