2000 Great Songs #1427: Temporary Beauty

Graham Parker is one of those long-running artists with a massive, almost invariably reliable discography, where I have a million albums I can pull out and say, yep, this one's pretty good... but who don't necessarily create songs that I find revelatory. (Good lord--I'm just discovering this is his first mention in the seven years I've been doing this thing!)

Which is fine; the world needs really good artists. And while I particularly like his early work with The Rumour, merging 70s British pub rock with the angrier, lyrically biting, punk-adjacent  style of Elvis Costello, there's something about the sound of these records that limits my enjoyment of them. 

In contrast, Parker's first solo album, 1982's Another Grey Area, just sounds a little fuller to my ears, with a more emotional, Springsteen-like vibe. Opening song "Temporary Beauty" is a much more mainstream-ready ballad than anything that had come before, with his prettiest, most hum-along melody, but it's still got some Parker bite, making it one of his tracks I can throw onto a mixtape and know it'll definitely work for anyone listening, but without sounding like a total capitulation to radio friendliness.

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