Album Review: Graham Parker & The Goldtops, Quality Footwear: Live at the Brook

Graham Parker emerged out of the British pub-rock scene in the mid-1970s with The Rumour, a ferocious backing combo with roots in Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe. Their first two albums, Howlin’ Wind and Heat Treatment, both from 1976, established Parker as a major songwriter – part Dylan, part Van Morrison, part Otis Redding – with a proto-punk snarl. Produced by Jack Nitzche, 1979’s Squeezing Out Sparks caught Parker at the exact moment where pub rock, soul, punk, new wave and singer-songwriter craft all collided.

The singer has seen it all and then some, so it’s terrific to listen to this 11-track live LP, which catches him in 2023 at The Brook in Southampton. Performing with The Goldtops and back-up singers The Lady Bugs, he raids the vital bookends of his career with the swagger of a man still very much at the peak of his powers. From Howlin’ Wind come the bar-room scorchers ‘Soul Shoes’ and ‘Back To Schooldays’, alongside a supreme rendition of ‘Don’t Ask Me Questions’.

Heat Treatment is represented by the sonic gold of ‘Hotel Chambermaid’, while the newer Last Chance To Learn The Twist tunes – ‘It Mattered To Me’, ‘Lost Track Of Time’, ‘Sun Valley’ and ‘Since You Left Me Baby’ – prove Parker’s pen has lost none of its sting, even when tenderness creeps in at the edges.

• Out now.