Graham ParkerDon't Tell Columbus | Bloodshot  March 19,
2007 5:23:23 PM
Graham Parker has averaged almost an album a year since his debut in 1976, and Don’t Tell Columbus isn’t appreciably different from any of them. That might sound like a criticism, but it isn’t: from the start he’s crafted intelligent songs and delivered them with commitment and flair. He’s had his share of misfires, but his determination to fine-tune something that works — an acoustic record here, a step toward alt-country there — has more often than not produced songs worth returning to. At 56, he isn’t quite as angry as he was in his late 20s, and the guitars are often quieter — the fury of his early albums with the pub-rock backing band the Rumour has given way to a more tempered brand of rock. Now it’s the smooth “I Discovered America” (the Brit expat’s home for some time) instead of the prickly “Discovering Japan,” and the politics of “Stick to the Plan” instead of the romance of “Stick to Me.” But if the edges are smoother, the urgency and sense of purpose remain.
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