By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Year: 2014
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Thom says: “Earlier
in my life nothing possessed me like music for a number of years &
I went through a surfeit of phases until fully embracing the New Wave
genre in the late 1970s. Through my brother Chuk I had discovered Elvis
Costello & the Attractions and he quickly became my newfound God of
popular music. Shortly thereafter I discovered Graham Parker & the
Rumour & by the release of Squeezing Out Sparks I was totally under
his sway. I mention them in the same way as their music was comparable
with the same ironic, caustic, humourous brilliance that set them far
above nearly all their competition. I only hoped their unique artistic
vision would hold sway for the rest of my life. But then both Parker
& Costello left their bands and struck out on their own and their
careers diverged dramatically.
“While both have continued their careers to this day Costello has been
far more successful while conquering a huge number of styles &
genres including reggae, country, soul, opera, jazz, pop, & punk
Parker has stuck to his own thing but rarely with the panache &
memorability of his classic work with the Rumour. A few years back now
he re-connected with all his old pals from the Rumour and they got
together to record a new CD 3 Chords Good (which incidentally I just
purchased and will play as soon as I receive it.
“So (I’m only guessing here) apparently someone came up with the
decidedly bright idea to do a biography of Parker while the CD was
being recorded along with their participation in the 2012 movie THIS IS
40 with Paul Rudd (does this man ever stop working?), Leslie Mann,
Jason Segel & Megan Fox. Since I also have yet to see THIS IS 40 I
admit to this review being tendentious. That being said I was thrilled
reviewing the early life of ‘our guy’, his rise to stardom, and the
many changes he has gone through in his fascinating life. Undoubtedly
they don’t go into his private life because of a privacy clause with
Parker (although we do get to see his lovely daughter), but more
distressingly the only talking Heads of relevance besides members of
the band, are Bruce Springsteen (with a different accent than the one
that he uses on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…) & Joe Jackson
with Costello conspicuously missing. Still I wouldn’t have missed it
for the world. 4 cats“ |
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