Book Review: Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind by Jay Nachman

Disclosure: I received a review copy from the author, Jay Nachman in exchange for my honest opinion.

Two years ago I interviewed rock legend Graham Parker. Admittedly I didn’t know much about him until I interviewed him. When I got the opportunity to review a book about the creation of his 1976 debut album with The Rumour, I had to check it out. One thing that I always enjoy when reading any books about classic rockers is seeing how few degrees of separation there is between seemingly different musicians and this story is no exception. Graham Parker is associated a lot with the pub rock (Australia also has its own separate genre of the same name, which makes it especially confusing as I’ve written about Australian rock and roll in the past, in essence Australian pub rock is heavier than British pub rock) genre, but he rejects this label since in the heyday of pub rock he was still living in Deepcut with his family.

Pub rock is a bit of a blind spot for me as a classic rock fan because the genre name is kind of confusing and vague to me. What exactly does that mean? What kind of sound is it? I’m not one to go to pubs, to be fair so maybe it’s a me thing. Well just like fashion trends are responses to the past, music genres are responses to older music or contemporary music. The early 70s was when glam and prog rock were at its peak and well those aren’t exactly the most minimalist genres. Glam is all about excess in style and playing it loud and prog is where virtuoso musicians fuse jazz and classical with rock music and flex on the listeners with their epic long songs with multiple movements and shifting time signatures. Pub rock is more humble in style with musicians not caring about fashion or style, it’s all about the music, man! In sound, it’s eclectic with influences taken from folk, R&B, and country music. Many of the bands part of that scene didn’t get major label deals because they weren’t seen as commercial, but they had cult followings. However, Brinsley Schwarz got lucky when they met manager Dave Robinson, who has rubbed shoulders with some of classic rock’s biggest acts, taking pictures of The Beatles at the Cavern Club, photographing The Rolling Stones in Ireland, being Jimi Hendrix’s tour manager, and managing The Animals, Eire Apparent, Van Morrison, Vanilla Fudge, and The Young Rascals. That’s where a lot of the name dropping in the book comes from, that’s such a great CV. Brinsley Schwarz started the 70s making their way to the US to play the Fillmore East in NYC opening for Van Morrison and Quicksilver Messenger Service. What a bill! The Brinsleys would go on to open for Paul McCartney & Wings on their 1973 UK tour.

The book tells the story of Graham Parker’s journey from Deepcut (yes, that’s a real place) to getting a major record deal and touring the US and getting praise from the music press early on in his career, and that wasn’t long after he was working as a petrol pump attendant. What makes this story really special is when you look at classic rock, how many bands can you say really started off strong with their debut albums, considering their whole discography? A lot of 60s bands started off playing covers and were imitating American R&B and early rock and roll. In many of those cases like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and The Who, their best work was a few years into their career where they really started to find themselves. Don’t get me wrong, The Who were incredible live from the start and I love early Beatles, Stones, and Kinks. I’d say the ones in the 60s who started off the strongest would be The Doors and Jimi Hendrix.

Graham Parker’s life before is really interesting. He went through many phases from 60s mod rock music to ska to R&B to blues rock. He attended a secondary modern school and didn’t want to be doomed to be a worker bee in a factory so he travelled after graduating, moving with some friends to Guernsey and travelling to Paris and Morocco, inspired by the beat poets. He appeared on TV in Gibraltar, performing some of his original compositions. Before the fame, he worked a lot of dead end jobs he hated. Since he was living with his parents in Deepcut in the early 70s, he didn’t have any exposure to the live music centred pub rock scene in London. He first encountered pub rock musicians through an ad he placed in a Melody Maker ad in 1974, looking for tasteful musicians for his backing band. A guitarist named Noel Brown answered his ad, introducing him to Paul Riley, who then introduced him to Brinsley Schwarz’s manager Dave Robinson, who had a studio above the Hope and Anchor pub in Islington, considered the centre of pub rock. Robinson became Parker’s manager too.

The book also tells the story of The Rumour, who to me are like a pub rock supergroup, with the members coming from Brinsley Schwarz (Brinsley Schwarz, Bob Andrews), Ducks Deluxe (Martin Belmont), and Bontemps Roulez (Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding). Brinsley Schwarz were formed from the ashes of the psychedelic Kippington Lodge. Ducks Deluxe have a connection to Brinsley Schwarz, as their roadie Martin Belmont formed the band with Sean Tyla, Ken Whaley, and Michael Cousins. Bontemps Roulez were more funky and New Orleans inspired (hence the name). After those groups broke up, they joined forces and became The Rumour. The Rumour needed a singer and Graham Parker needed a backing band. Take a supergroup and a musician with a diverse array of influences and eclectic taste in music and it’s the recipe for a great, unique debut album.

The last chapter of the book is a track by track commentary/analysis with the lyrics (all original compositions by Graham Parker), telling the stories of these songs, in both Parker’s words and with the author’s opinions. I recommend reading this section as you listen to the album to really appreciate it.

Howlin’ Wind came out in April 1976 and it got great reviews early on from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. Publicity and marketing is crucial to getting an album out there to an audience who will appreciate it. It was a great year for Graham Parker & The Rumour with two of their albums ranking high up in the 1976 Pazz & Jop critics poll. Their sophomore album Heat Treatment came in second place, only behind the legendary Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. Their debut Howlin’ Wind came in fourth and in third was Jackson Browne’s The Pretender. Initially Howlin’ Wind received a B+ rating from music critic Robert Christgau, but later it received an A. In the intro, author Jay Nachman said in his intro that he wasn’t keen on the album at first, but it later grew on him and he became a fan of the group. I can definitely agree that some of my favourite albums weren’t love at first listen and even ones that I loved from the start only got better with each spin. That’s really the mark of a great album, that it gets better with every listen. Very rewarding!

Overall I think it’s a great book for Graham Parker & The Rumour fans, telling the story of their early days and the creation of the eclectic album that put them on the map. It’s a story that shows the power of collaboration, teamwork, and keeping an open mind. A really good message in this day and age! You can really tell that the author is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the music.

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