ROCK · A · RAMA
GRAHAM PARKER AND THE RUMOUR —Stick To Me (Mercury)::Graham Parker's enshrined status as rock critics' teacher's pet of 1976 is wearing a bit thin now that punk-plunk is rapidly replacing those tarnished old (recent?) Springsteen ikons, but this is still a solid, rewarding album, whatever fashion's going down.
ROCK · A · RAMA
GRAHAM PARKER AND THE RUMOUR —Stick To Me (Mercury)::Graham Parker's enshrined status as rock critics' teacher's pet of 1976 is wearing a bit thin now that punk-plunk is rapidly replacing those tarnished old (recent?) Springsteen ikons, but this is still a solid, rewarding album, whatever fashion's going down. Parker's exposition of modern urban romanticism, without the automatic validation of an enclosed lyric sheet, is some kind of achievement in itself, these post-literate days. Besides, everybody tells me that this sounds almost interchangeable with Elvis Costello (and so it does!), so Graham's ride on the New Wave hasn't wiped out yet.
