Graham Parker & The Figgs - Songs Of No Consequence (2005)

Over the past 30 years, few have been better at crafting truly irresistible hooks than Graham Paker. SONGS OF NO CONSEQUENCE continues his run as one of rock-n-roll's legendary figures. His pen is a as sharp as ever, as is the effortless coupling of punk's energy, American R&B and soul's swagger. The Figgs join him this time around (they last recorded with him on the live LP THE LAST ROCK AND ROLL TOUR) and bring a solid eight ball in the hip pocket bar room strut to Parker's consummate song craft.

Nearly 30 years after his debut LP Howlin' Wind piggybacked Van Morrison's white man's soul with Mick Jagger's blue-eyed snarl, Graham Parker continues to churn out records from a thinking-man's songwriting stoop at the corner of Sarcastic and Wry. His unyielding pub rock stature once ran in critical circles with the likes of fellow Brits Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, and the fifty-something has aged with the same lyrical elegance and literate style, chronicled in the Farfisa-led life reflection "Did Everybody Just Get Old" and "There's Nothing on the Radio," still another doubting Thomas diatribe about the FM dial. Parker's nasally vocal delivery and lip-smacking pop hooks recall Marah on the album's two catchiest efforts: "Dislocated Life," which pokes fun at a day that's anything but routine, and "Bad Chardonnay," where he unfurls the secrets to a three-decade rock n' roll life. That's cigarettes and bad Chardonnay. And a songwriting dexterity that, unlike that Chardonnay, gets better with age.~Scott Holter