Bloodshot Records
2007
Don't Tell Columbus
About This Album
Depending on which album you get from Graham Parker these days, he's either set on reminding us that he's still capable of serving up the sort of lean and feisty rock & roll that made him a cult hero years ago, or demonstrating that he's matured into a pithy and very gifted singer/songwriter with the passage of time. 2007's Don't Tell Columbus falls into the latter category (and follows his 2005 studio set Songs of No Consequence, which happened to fit into the former scenario), and while there are several examples of his acerbic side on display (most notably "England's Latest Clown," which concerns someone quite a bit like Pete Doherty, and "Stick to the Plan," a witty but poison-penned meditation on George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina), Parker's more gentle side dominates Don't Tell Columbus, and it serves him well on these tunes. The title cut is a cautious celebration of his adopted home in the guise of a road story, "The Other Side of the Reservoir" and "Suspension Bridge" are richly detailed slice-of-life stories, "Love of Delusion" is an intelligent but uncompromising story of a relationship gone sour, and "Somebody Saved Me" is an equally honest story from the other side of the coin.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.