MARIA DUARTE reviews Desperate Journey, Blue Moon, Pillion, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
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Graham Parker, Union Chapel London/Touring
Acoustic set lacks essence of a great body of work
Nothing needs fixing: Graham Parker
WILL STONE enjoys a set by an artist too eclectic to be pigeonholed
RUTH AYLETT reviews two collections of outright political poetry
The book feels like a writer working within his limits and not breaking any new ground, believes KEN COCKBURN
PRAGYA AGARWAL recommends a collection of drawings that explore the relation of indigenous people to the land in south Asia, Africa and the Caribbean
CHRIS SEALE speaks to Palestinian sound artist BINT MBAREH
MARY CONWAY applauds a brave and timely two hander that explores the difference between intimacy and abuse
OFTEN an “unplugged” session by an artist reveals an extra dimension to their music, stripping it down to essential components and revealing hitherto unconsidered depths.
Not so, it seems, with Graham Parker. Solo, with only an acoustic or electric guitar as accompaniment, he stands somewhat naked in the spotlight, unable to reinterpret his work in a way that does it full justice.
Few of the 19 songs he delivers to an attentive and supportive audience sound as good as the originals and, more disconcertingly, many of them — even classics such as Howlin’ Wind and White Honey — feel as if they have lost their very essence.
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