3 Mulligans

I certainly didn’t have an appreciation for Graham Parker when I saw him warm up for Journey in 1979. Those two artists seemed as likely a match as when Prince warmed up for The Rolling Stones. However, when Squeezing Out Sparks was finally reissued in 1996 it became the cornerstone of my growing interest in Graham Parker’s music. The release of Your Country slipped by me but I eventually found it one day by accident. After all these years his writing is strong as ever; snarling and biting in one song, sensitive and touching in the next. The influence of country music makes it a perfect home for this duet with Lucinda Williams.

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I doubt you’ll read anything about Davie Allan that doesn’t mention the sound of a fuzzed-out guitar, biker movies, or the ’60s.  With these three welded together his trademark was born.  This 2-CD anthology on the Sundazed label was a perfect starting point as it collects 40 instrumentals spanning the years 1964-1968.  There’s plenty of variety to keep the listening experience from going stale but as strong as this collection is, Devil’s Rumble is also a perfect stopping point, as I doubt I’d ever need more.

Allan carved his own sound that landed right where surf and psychedelic intersect, featuring equal parts fuzz effects, whammy bar, Farfisa organ, and revved up beats, but his playing deserves to be grouped with similar guitar kings like Dick Dale and Link Wray. It would be hard to imagine any other music accompanying the films for which he wrote theme songs and soundtracks, or a better music to represent this era’s biker subculture.

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