Ian Parker (Page 3 of 3)

Thanks Mike, I will.

Dates for Ian, 2017:-

April 2017
Sat 8 Apr De Amer Club, Amen, NL BAND (3-piece)
Sun 9 Apr Le Melangeur, Geldermalsen, NL BAND (3-piece)
Mon 10 Apr (to be confirmed)   
Tue 11 Apr Topos Club, Leverkusen, DE BAND (with Morg)
Sat 15 Apr The Bull's Head Inn, Chelmarsh, Shropshire, UK SOLO

May 2017
Sat 6 May Music Festival at Overton On Dee, Wrexham, UK BAND (with Morg)

June 2017
Thu 1 Jun Robin 2, Bilston, Wolverhampton, UK BAND (with Morg)
Sun 25 Jun The Prince of Wales, Church Lane, Ledbury, HR8 1LD, UK BAND

July 2017
Sat 1 Jul The Bull's Head Inn, Chelmarsh, Shropshire, UK SOLO
Sat 15 Jul Kinver Music Festival, Stourbridge, Staffordshire, UK BAND (with Morg)

October 2017
Sat 7 Oct Tropic @ Ruislip, Ruislip Social Club, Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 6JQ, UK BAND (with Morg)
Sat 14 Oct Ripley Live, Ripley Town Hall, Ripley, North Yorshire, HG3 3AX, UK BAND (with Morg)

November 2017
Sat 11 Nov Tenby Blues Festival, UK SOLO

Parker & Lister; August 2018

From The Robin: Tell The Truth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Uu4VVHMYw
From The Harlington: Born Under A Bad Sign - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVqVFmiKrvE
From The Robin: 1010 Degrees - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5lglhWX5FI

Hot stuff indeed….....

PS - I know I just posted these on Aynsley's thread, but would you deny Ian a moment in the sun?

PPS - Look out for Ian's new album, Spoonful of Gold, released 22nd Oct.

Well, my “Album of the Year” competition has just got interesting. Just when you think RHR have it cut and dried, along comes Mr Parker and [ahem] muddies the waters, as it were…. Spoonful of Gold - Blues For Willie is just an absolute aural treat from start to finish.

The inspiration, it seems, came from picking up a volume on Willie Dixon at a bookstore and from there the idea rolled. Now it has to be said, a lot of Willie Dixon songs have either been done to death over the years, or else there are those where there are such iconic takes by various artists that it’s almost impossible to discern that they are covers already. So to do a tribute album that is neither a direct replication of the great man’s work, nor duplicate other artists who have gone before can’t have been an easy task. Somehow though, Ian has achieved an outstanding “live” studio performance, ricocheting between the above constraints, but has given the chosen tracks a freshness and vitality that excites the ear yet remains Blues to the very core. Great credit for that also goes to the assembled band around Ian, the three Chris’s; Finn (drums & percussion), Lomas (bass) and Eaton (lap-steel, electric guitar & dobro). And finally, no Ian Parker album would be complete without piano, Rhodes & Hammond from Morg Morgan.

Taking the tracks, Evil is the snarling opener, a big loping riff from Ian’s trusty Strat drives the song along. Following along easily comes Back Door Man, slow, swaggering piano riff with delicious slide licks in-between and a more sultry than braggadocio vocal phrasing. With I Can’t Quit You Baby, as soon as you see the title, you’re thinking Plant, or “upstart” Josh Kiszka for the opening line, but that’s too obvious a path, if anything the performance more echoes Clapton at his best, let the guitar do the “talking” and Boy, Ian is at his most eloquent. Just when you think you know what’s coming along, Mighty Earthquake & Hurricane takes everything back to a bouncing, semi-acoustic style that makes the feet itch. I Just Want To Make Love To You is probably the song that been done over the most, especially with what seems to be the current trend of plundering Etta James back-catalogue (see earlier note about covers…), so how to carry this off? Big, baritone riff and under-play the vocals for a start, underpin with great slide and the middle section has a great dual between Ian & Chris E. Skipping along with an urban-tough ZZ Top-esque stuttering beat comes I Can’t Understand and again, the middle section guitars are crisp & biting. Slowing things down, My Love Will Never Die; a song I last heard in 1992 covered by Diamande Galas, is just beautiful; such clarity in tone and perfect weighting of each struck note. Seventh Son is a shorter, stabbing track, mixing the Rhythm & Blues with what was the contemporary emergent Rock & Roll. Giving over to Morg for the opening solo, Weak Brain, Narrow Mind is yet another superb turn. And finally, Spoonful; well, if you’re going to end on a “biggie” it may as well be one of Dixon’s biggest and best known numbers… Somehow though, keeping away from the associated histrionic performances such as Howlin’ Wolf’s, Ian has still retained the stark, haunting feel to the piece.

I’m not the greatest fan of the older school of Blues, but in short, the highest compliment I can give this album is that it makes me want to dig into Dixon’s back-catalogue more, and soon. And if that was Ian’s intent, then job done, with great aplomb.

Rating - 95%