Graham Parker, The Lady Bugs, The Goldtops - Quality Footwear (Live At The Brook) (2026)

Tracklist

01. Hotel Chambermaid (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
02. Black Lincoln Continental (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
03. Get Started. Start A Fire (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
04. It Mattered To Me (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
05. Lost Track Of Time (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
06. Sun Valley (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
07. Back To Schooldays (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
08. Don't Ask Me Questions (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
09. Since You Left Me Baby (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
10. Boogie Shoes (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]
11. Soul Shoes (feat. The Lady Bugs) [Live At The Brook]

GRAHAM PARKER is not an artist prone to looking back. In 2026, as almost every year, he's got a full solo tour booked in the US and UK, and his most recent album LAST CHANCE TO LEARN THE TWIST (released in 2023 by Big Stir) was roundly hailed as one of his strongest in this century. But while the veteran singer-songwriter remains focused on the here and now, the calendar reveals that it has been five decades since the 1976 release of his classic debut album HOWLIN' WIND as well as its followup HEAT TREATMENT. The songs from the 2023 live set with THE GOLDTOPS captured on the new, 11-track LP QUALITY FOOTWEAR lean heavily into selections from those three bookend (for now) LPs of Parker's career. A trio from WIND including the rockers “Soul Shoes” and “Back To Schooldays” as well as a taut audience-participation reading of the signature tune “Don't Ask Me Questions” join HEAT TREATMENT's “Hotel Chambermaid,” while the fresh tunes from LAST CHANCE (“It Mattered To Me,” “Lost Track Of Time,” “Sun Valley” and “Since You Left Me Baby”) show Parker's latest work to have just as much bite even when leavened with a touch of tenderness. The album finds him in fine voice indeed, and the band cooks with the intensity and empathy the songs demand.

Parker tells the tale of the record at hand: “On a short UK tour in September 2023, accompanied by The Goldtops (guitarist Martin Belmont, bassist Simon Edwards, keyboard player Geraint Watkins and drummer Jim Russell) and The Lady Bugs (backup singers Paige Stubley and Martha Evans), I had the show at the Brook, Southampton, professionally recorded. A few attempts at editing followed, but the idea from Big Stir Records to do a limited edition vinyl album made me rethink my approach. A live LP live works best with no loose ends, no rambling monologues, and by using only the very best performances, making it tight and intense. The result is QUALITY FOOTWEAR, which means of course that 'Soul Shoes' had to make the cut, especially with (Rumour guitarist) Brinsley Schwarz guesting on the track. I used my Parker Pinkie electric guitar and mostly left my acoustic on the stand, which helped to kick this thing up into high gear.”

Filling out the set list are some mid-career gems including “Black Lincoln Continental” from 1985's STEADY NERVES and “Get Started. Start A Fire” from the 1988 classic THE MONA LISA'S SISTER, both given particularly intense interpretations here. There's also a playful contrast in the surprise cover, keeping with the album's footwear theme, of “Boogie Shoes” by, yes, KC and The Sunshine Band. Back to back with Schwarz joining the band for the finale of “Soul Shoes” (marking a re-convening with Belmont to recreate their classic guitar approach from The Rumour), they present a soulful finale to a fine document of Parker's latest full-band venture, while the present year finds him on the road as a solo act again in the US (Spring) and UK (this Autumn). He'll have early pre-release copies of QUALITY FOOTWEAR on hand at the merch table for those lucky enough to attend.

The inclusion of the HOWLIN' WIND tunes and the auspicious occasion of the debut's 50th Anniversary make it a natural for Big Stir Records to offer a bundled pairing of the QUALITY FOOTWEAR LP with the new book GRAHAM PARKER'S HOWLIN' WIND, penned by author Jay Nachman with the full participation of Parker and members of The Rumour. Released late last year, the book has garnered acclaim of its own, with Musoscribe noting that “Nachman’s keen and deep appreciation and understanding of Parker’s music and artistry equips him to present a story that’s balanced in its emphases... and like all of the best works of its type, Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind will not only lead readers back to its musical subject, but to the subsequent releases from this powerful and still wonderfully vital singer-songwriter.”

The blazing performances on the live LP do the same, and those interested in the full scope of GRAHAM PARKER's work might do well to add a copy of the still-fresh studio album LAST CHANCE TO LEARN THE TWIST to their bundle. With fifty years of recordings (and twenty-four studio albums) to revisit, from the early works including the ultra-beloved Squeezing Out Sparks to recently-reissued jewels like Acid Bubblegum and Deepcut To Nowhere and the short-lived but rapturously received 2000s reunion with The Rumour, Parker's catalog is rife for fresh appreciation. And everything that make it great, from the soulful grit and impeccable phrasing of the man's vocal delivery to his unparalleled lyrical gifts and his unerring rock and roll instincts, can be heard on QUALITY FOOTWEAR: LIVE AT THE BROOK. It's one hell of an Anniversary celebration, and the best part is that Parker's still out there on the road, performing like he still has something to prove. And he's still writing songs like nobody else can... it can't be too long before he's hard at work on that 25th studio album as well.