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Issue
#41
Sept. ‘02
Prologue:
In
March ’02 we Featured and reviewed AderPale,
a CD by the Swedish band Parker. Due to
its success and sell out in their
native Nordic region (and the fact that they had a bunch of new songs) Parker
re-released the CD with 7 of the original 10 AderPale
songs plus 7 new
songs and renamed it: Delusions of Grandeur.
Unsure of how
to
present a review of a disc we’ve already (half)
reviewed, we decided to take Parker’s
lead. Here they take the
original disc and slide and shift the track order to fit the new
material – Here, we
will take the original review and slide and shift it to fit Delusions
of Grandeur…
What would you say
if I
told you that in Sweden there is a band that
would have been right at home playing CBGB’s circa 1977? A
band that not only wears
it’s influences on their sleeve, but are dressed to the hilt
in what the punk pop of
New Wave embodied
with it’s return to basic stripped down fun Rock-n-Roll built
around 3 chords and a
whole lot of attitude. But, rather than come across as a nostalgia act,
this band lets the
Punk/New Wave homage build to a resounding ring of 21st
century Rock
for every fan whose ever wanted to Roll.
Parker a self proclaimed
“secret” band from Sweden consists of
Eva, Carlos, and Klaus Parker. Their CD Delusions of
Grandeur explodes
into us with “Parker Theme”
- 51 seconds of the most
fierce poppy excitement to come along in ages, it rivals the Rocket To
Russia era Ramones
style. Beginning with a low rumbled vocal – “Let’s
Go,”
gatling gun snare drum, power pogoing bass, chord crashing guitars, a
female shrieked
“C’Mon,” intense
high-strung lead, “1,2,3,4,”
slow it down, pick it up, run with it. Run with the attitude, run with
the mayhem, run
with the rediscovered purity of Rock-n-Roll.
“Big
Nose” grinds us into
submission with its heavy guitars screaming, crunching, slashing, and
sliding all over the
solid old school punk rhythm track, delivering novelty lyrics worthy of
classic
B-52’s. This could be a dance floor sensation quicker than
you can say “Bap
Bap Beloula.” The manic duel guitar solo and Big
Nose’s novelty quickly
directs us to the heart of Parker
– Its addictive attraction derived
through the power of complex minimalistic rock wrapped around a female
point of view.
It’s Eva’s sultry lovelorn vocal lead that the
majority of these songs center
on. Dishing the dirt on relationships of all types, the good, the bad,
and the ugly.
“Ugly”
(Track 4) rips its intro
right out of the late 70s punk scene and clubs the present over the
head with it as Eva
relates a beautiful tale of 2 people blissfully in love because they
are both ugly. “You’re
ugly / you really look awful / no doubt about that”
… “All I can
say / is lucky me / ‘cause I’m like you /
I’m ugly too.” She is
so happy because she realizes that without their so-called
deficiencies, as defined by
society, this wonderful love would not be possible –
“If you were handsome /
you wouldn’t even see me / Sad but true / If I was a model /
we weren’t together
/ not me and you.” So touching are the sentiments
expressed and set against the
driving guitar hooks, that it’s not until we are singing
along with the swelling
vocals of this most unlikely heroine, “I like to
kiss you with my eyes closed
…” that we appreciate the power of Parker
and their
refreshing modern day New Wave Punk Pop sound.
“Let’s
Go To Bed”
makes the bed and rips off the sheets simultaneously to a repeated
cheesy Hammond sounding
organ effect and slashing Punk riffs that have us pogoing as
we’re tearing our
clothes off in true party fashion. Echoing in our hearts and heads a
grand statement that
not only has Pop, Punk, and New Wave always been SO Rock-n-Roll - but
so has the pleasure
of listening to it.
Punk, contrary to what some may believe, was never a musical style, it
was an attitude,
and with that attitude came the music. New Wave was Punk as much as
Punk was Punk, it
didn’t matter if it was down and dirty crunchy 3 power chords
and out, or if it was a
slicker, more musically fabricated ditty with actual structure, as long
as it was
presented with the attitude of rebellious teenage Rock-n-Roll. One
thing the Punk/New Wave
movement of the late seventies taught us was that the bliss found in
most of the
simplistic basic tribal expressions of music was where the purest
release/abandon/escape
lie. But the twist was that when conflicted in an artistic statement of
intricate
cohesiveness within a composition; it could reach levels that render to
one – the
fabric, the core, the soul of life, and it’s fullest
enjoyment.
A perfect contrast to this statement, but in complete agreement with
it, is the song
“Blind and Stupid.”
A song that presents a 60s beatnik
acid swirling mind boggling back beat that has the root of your body
twitching to some
sort of beach/surf dance - like the Fug and the Shimmy and the Susie Q
- as background
accompaniment to the story of a woman whose finds her lover is running
around on her. She
can’t believe her own gullibility and how Blind &
Stupid she was to this fact, so
now she wants to see him dead. It’s all summed up in the
following lines: “But
every time you left me / you fool around with other girls / gave me
diseases that they had
/ I’d like to kill you dah’ling”
delivered in a manner that conjures a
mental picture of Eva Gabor as Lisa Douglas on Green Acres singing with
a Parallel Lines
era Debra Harry Blondie femme fatale mystique.
With the next few
songs Parker
embraces the focal
point of the basis of creation within the Rock world as told with a
Punk attitude. We meet
people who are repressed to a point where the fanatic/frantic energy of
the music that
constantly drives us from a 3-chord proclamation is our only clue...
It isn’t
until
the final chorus of “Driving”
is ringing through
our ears (where it becomes more than evident that Eva’s
vocals are being matched
perfectly musically), with a furious chaos building, that we feel the
song’s focus
shift from a nice lazy sunny day drive to the woman’s
desperate need to get home to
her lover as soon as possible – faster and faster the music
drives us along with this
woman into total oblivion.
“Blame
It On Me” is a simple
breakup song that reveals its complications through the foundations of
musical attitude
that bounce us off the walls just as the narrator is doing in trying to
show restraint
while dumping him.
Then in “Hip,
Hip, Hooray” we
find a forlorn soul celebrating her Birthday alone and be damned to let
it spoil the mood,
“I don’t mind
I
don’t care
That
no one’s here
to
celebrate me I have bought presents to me
and
me, myself and I
are
having fun
Hip
Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hooray
It's
my birthday
I'm
disco dancing alone
celebrating
myself, yes
it's
my birthday
I
have
a party on my own”
Impelling to the point of madness, we can see the middle fingers in the
air as she
she’s jumping up and down, and telling everyone to go hell.
It releases a fury so
tragic that the rage wells up in us too, and when the final sonic
chords drop out of sight
– well, damn girl, let’s you and I go get a beer
and really celebrate ;-)
Delusions
of Grandeur begins its conclusion with
“Sunshine
After The Rain”
(A song, that if there was any justice in the world of music, would
gain the significant
airplay it deserves as the Hottest Single this side of the teenage
Divas) This is 2:58 of
some of the most perfect New Wave Pop to befall the ears since the
heydays of vinyl
singles. Swirling in lush hooks reminiscent of The Shoes, with a pop
sensibility
attributed to The B-52’s by way of Lene Lovich, and Martha
Davis of The Motels, it
offers the It’s A Beautiful World approach as one who is
truly in love and expresses
it with the attributes of such overlooked trivialities as; blueberry
pie, a Cole Porter
song, Italian shoes, a drink in the evening, a swim in the ocean, and
more…Well, by
the time Eva is blissfully declaring;
“you're delicious, you're the best of meals
you
are ice in my favourite drink
you're
the man in every dream I dream
you
are a fine Cuban cigar
perfect,
that's what you are”
you know that that cigar is being smoked in more ways than one - and
the liberation in
this joyousness comes through as the prolific instrumentation requires
you to sing and
dance with the chorus;
“You are my sunshine after the rain
make
me feel good again
I'm
feeling so fine”
Yes we do feel so fine, and we are won over by the glee that the
musicians have taken in
creating a Newness to the Retro sound of the Punk-Pop Wave.
By now I think you
might
be doubting my earlier claim that this is
not a nostalgia trip, but I remain steadfast in my assertion that Paker
embodies the musical edge that always needs to become apparent
throughout the ages. The
return to basic primal Rock-n-Roll was assured with it’s
birth from the Blues / Big
Band / Jazz meld that spawned it forth in the 50s and has been reborn
by every generation
in succession since. But, this I can say - in 2002 Parker
achieves the
forward progress of Pop returning to a basic primal form that it
reaches us in the here
and now - call it New “Retro” Wave. And Parker
delivers on
every level. Never have we heard a CD that so completely and accurately
covers the genre
sprawl that was New Wave and Punk, that begat Alt. Pop and Modern Rock,
yet acknowledges
its 50s Rock-n-Roll and 60s Garage Rock roots.
“Blue
Days, Black Nights” proves
this. A song that dozens of Pop bands across the last 4 decades
would’ve killed to
cover. We could see this gem being done by everyone from The Troggs and
The Standells, to
Blondie and Romeo Void, to Garbage and Pink, not to mention The
Sarfaris – Dig that
Dick Dale styled surf guitar bouncing around. A tragic tale of a woman
pining for the
return of her lover, who of course has left not to return. Its darkness
overtakes us just
as the anguish consumes her to a point where the helpless madness is
flawlessly conveyed
in the sadly sinister guitar and Eva’s dead on emotional
vocals. “Blue
Days, Black Nights” also is the
perfect set up for the CDs closer…
“Thunder
In My Heart” is a cover
of a Leo Sayer song, (Yes you read that correct, A Leo “When
I Need Love” Sayer
tune). Here, Parker squeezes everything
that works with a prime female
lead: think Marilyn Monroe in a Black & White film, hesitating
a moment before
throwing herself into the arms of a man she thinks she might love, all
the while crooning
the swoon of the Title to a stripped bare acoustic strumming. Chilling
and effective, out
of contrast for the disc, yet the perfect fit for closing this amazing
piece of work.
You want Power Punk Pop that reminds you that artistic inspiration is
not only derived
from the past but presents onward with a slant of the times?
We’ve seen it since The
Beatles reinvented the original Rock-n-Roll of the 50s, and with every
movement since
then. And, we see it again now – coming from a secret place
in Sweden, Parker
harkens us back to the pure joy of rebellious noise with attitude
enough to spare for
future cultures of our times.
Delusions of Grandeur
by Parker
"Imported
from Sweden"
(Order now and receive a FREE Parker button/badge.)
available now for $10.98 + s/h*
Special $7.98 +
s/h*
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