 Devil
Horns and Fast Women to You and Those You Love:
Peter Parker's Migliore!
CD Review by
Dave Liljengren
The website for
Seattle band, Peter Parker, (www.peter-parker.com) includes an advice
column. Bassist Mona answers fan questions about
relationships. A few months ago, I began to
sense that my relationship with rock was not
where I wanted it to be, so I sent the following
letter to Mona, seeking her advice:
Dear Mona--
I read somewhere
that rock is dead. Is this true? If so, what am I
going to do with all this Motley Crue
memorabilia?
-Confused 'Zine
Editor in Seattle
I received the
following email in response:
Dear Fellow
Crue Member-
Rock is
indeed dead. It's a sad but true fact. I knew it
was coming when Lita Ford sang that Duet with
Ozzy. My god.
However,
Motley Crue
lives on. Motley Crue are such a most
excellent bad ass band that they (along with
Great White) will never die. They transcend the
boundaries of mere "rock". Whatever you
do, don't get rid of your stuff, dude.
Devil Horns
and Fast women to you and those you love-
Mona Parker
This was just
the answer for which I was looking. Rock may be
dead, but why not dance on the grave a while
longer?
And as it
happens, Migliore!, the new work from Peter Parker is just the party mix
you need to begin that graveyard slam tango. From
the instant you hit the play button, a tough,
thick, frenetic pop leaps from the speakers.
Spinning a precise, complex web of high speed
distortion, Peter Parker communicates a keen grasp
of melody and an even more pronounced respect for
the rhythms driving it.
Because they
make effective use of knife-like, trebly, rhythm
guitar parts, the Parker gang is often tossed by
critics into the cafeteria
line of punk pop. This has to end. To
continue doing so is a disrespect for the
embryonic noise art developed by PP and producer John
Goodmanson in the studio.
A tour de force
of advanced distortion atmospheres, Migliore! features
guitarist Matthew Parker punching out defined
structures of free standing feedback which hold
their shape in memory like protean sound
sculptures. Meanwhile, drummer Steve
Parker and bassist/advice columnist, Mona Parker, pound out the big,
quirky rumble of PP rhythms like twin
heavyweights training on the same luckless
punching bag.
Peter Parker lyrics come off as
personal, intensely so, and listeners, no matter
whom they are, tend to lean in and listen as if
they are about to hear their name. From beginning
to end, this is a solid, fun disc. While the
tempo slows a little, and only a little, at the
end on "Hate For Hesitation," that's
what ending songs are for. Besides, the song has
the disarmingly poetic line, "Condemned to
roam in the shadow of almost great..."
Buy this disc
immediately. It's on Magic Palace Recordings. (magpalace@aol.com)
Visit the Peter
Parker Website, www.peter-parker.com
Click here for
Peter Parker Live Pix!
*****
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