Graham Parker & The Rumour – Three Cords Good

Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind (1976) is one of my favorite albums.  I am not much of a Parker fan, but that one album has really resonated with me over the years.  When I heard Parker had The Rumour back together (the backing band that put Parker on the map) I through I would give this album a try.

Parker’s voice sounds fantastic – it is both snarling and soulful.  It is a complex voice – pinches of electric Dylan, Elvis Costello, John Hiatt, Face’s era Rod Stewart, and Sam Cooke.

The Rumour sounds great too; a tastefully swirl of guitars and keyboards.  Listen to this album about 10 times and music which seemed so simple and easy-going at first blush, reveals itself as the work of consummate professionals who have been perfecting their rock and roll craft for fifty years.  Deceptively simple but perfectly executed rock, or as the title says “Three Cords Good.”

Like Howlin’ Wind this album mixes rock and roll, reggae, and folk rock.  Where early Parker reeked of “angry young man,” this album is the work of a mature, but not quite satisfied man.  He is not happy-go-lucky, but the bitterness has faded.  Or as one of the songs on the album states, Parker has become “an old soul.”