Music

Average customer rating:

Starting Over on a New Label
The Maturation of an Artist
Probably GP's best of the '80's
Hightlight of his career
Great Cd remastered with incredible depth

The Mona Lisa's Sister
Graham Parker
Manufacturer: Buddha
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Howlin' Wind

ASIN: B00000IYVQ
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Tracks:

Don't Let It Break You Down
Under The Mask Of Happiness
Back In Time
I'm Just Your Man
OK Hieronymus
Get Started. Start A Fire
The Girl Isn't Ready
Blue Highways
Success
I Don't Know
Cupid
Ordinary Girl

Customer Reviews:

Starting Over on a New Label.......2002-08-03

I happen to think the album that preceded this, Steady Nerves, was one of his all-time best. I only learned recently that following Steady Nerves he signed to Atlantic, but no album was released. Thus, this RCA debut arrived three years later. It's a lot more acoustic than earlier efforts, certainly a more mature, lower-key performance that is almost Dylanesque. While this new direction was no doubt a welcome facet in Parker's artistic maturation, it may have made RCA label heads wonder if they got what they had signed -- after all, this was a different sound. It set the pace for the albums that followed, which were increasingly well-produced and very folksy-acoustic, none achieving the commercial success of his earlier efforts with the Rumour and the Shot. Still, the grandeur of such songs as "Success," "Get Started (Start a Fire)," "Don't Let it Break You Down" and "Girl Isn't Ready" makes this a keeper. One wonders if including "Ordinary Girl" on the original release might have resulted in a more commercially successful hit that could have helped propel the album up the charts.

The Maturation of an Artist.......2000-09-14

Long considered by MOST GP fans as one of the three best albums done by him (along with "Squeezing Out Sparks", 1979's Rolling Stone Critic's pick for album of the year and 1996's "Acid Bubblegum", his last studio effort), "The Mona Lisa's Sister" signalled the arrival of GP as a truly independant artist as well as the resurgence (in quality at least) of a somewhat moribound career. While his loyal fans enjoyed his work of the early-mid 80's, it did seem as his sense of direction and earlier commitment to his music was somewhat lacking. "Mona Lisa" was GP's first TOTALLY personal record and established the pattern he was to follow for the rest of his career, making records that make HIM happy and all of his fans have benefitted from that artistic genesis. "Mona Lisa" includes some of his absolute greatest songs, and every song is an heartfelt and riveting performance. Some reviewers have quibbled with Buddha's remastering here, but I thank it really does a lot for the lower end which was somewhat subdued on the earlier production. A matter of taste, but a truly wonderful record regardless of which mix you prefer. As readers of GP's website (found at punkhart.com) know, it is a mystery when or if GP is going to release a new studio album. Myriad label changes and a refusal to subvert his musical philosophy have led to diminished sales and recognition over the years. I consider GP to be in the same league as Van Morrison and Bob Dylan as a song writer/performer. Unbelievers only need to peruse his work of the past 20 plus years and they MIGHT be converted, or at least acknowledge that GP is one of the most underrated and underappreciated artists of his time.

Probably GP's best of the '80's.......2000-06-26

After Squeezing Out Sparks, GP released his last album with the Rumour "The Up Escalator" (now out of print) in 1980 and spent most of the 80's putting out very uneven albums, hitting rock bottom with "Steady Nerves"

But in 1988, he turned things around and released this brilliant album.

This is almost as good as GP's golden era (1976-79) - not quite, but almost. "Back In Time" may be the most poetic song he has ever written, though. It epitomizes the music of GP - cynical but beautiful.

Hightlight of his career.......1999-10-24

This disc is the highlight of his career, because it was here that he took charge of production and made the record he wanted to make. The songs come out easily with wit and grace. Back In Time and I'm Just Your Man are probably my favorite GP compositions. And the re-make of Cupid is done convincingly.

Great Cd remastered with incredible depth.......1999-10-08

A classic CD that didn't really sound bad has been remastered really well. I couldn't believe the depth that has been added, particularly in the bass and acoustic guitars. It sounds as good as a MFSL production. GP's new liner notes are pretty insightful and occasionally hilarious. The bonus track is good to have, but nothing essential. One of the more pleasant surprises in a while.

Average customer rating:

Strong effort a repeated listen
Who is Mona Lisa's Sister?
doesn`t start a fire
A highlight
Parker Delivers Listenable Angst

The Mona Lisa's Sister
Graham Parker
Manufacturer: Diablo Records UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000003BTJ
Release Date: 1997-11-01

Tracks:

Don't Let It Break You Down
Under The Mask Of Happiness
Back In Time
I'm Just Your Man
OK Hieronymus
Get Started, Start A Fire
The Girl Isn't Ready
Blue Highways
Success
I Don't Know
Cupid

Customer Reviews:

Strong effort a repeated listen.......2000-09-08

Tremendous album which gets better and better with each listen. "Get Started (Start A Fire)" is an explosive single which did well on radio. The only disappointment when this album was released was that more songs did not make it to radio. Every song is a keeper, and you will not be disappointed with this disc.

Who is Mona Lisa's Sister?.......2000-04-30

The angry young man, Graham Parker, doesn't appear all that angry on The Mona Lisa's Sister. With Motown style songs like `I'm Just Your Man,' `Blue Highways,' `Success,' and `Cupid,' I'd call Graham a soulful young man. He gets so close to genuine Motown that you can imagine Smoky Robinson singing "I'm not a burnin' comet that fell out of the sky" (I'm Just Your Man). `Get Started Start A Fire' contains some funky bass lines, and `The Girl Isn't Ready' is a competent Reggae. There are a couple straight-up rockers here including the sizzling `Don't Let It Break You Down' and `OK Hieronymus.'

While you're singing along with Graham like a member of a Doo-Wop back-up group, you'll probably notice that the lyrics aren't exactly `I love my baby" R&B stuff. Kids are beating-up old people on `Don't Let It Break You Down,' and I'm not certain who Hieronymus (OK Hieronymus) is, but with lyrics like "Just taste the odor of burning skin,' I doubt that I'd like to meet him. Parker is best when he's cynical: Joan of Arc is burned at the stake for lighting a cigarette in an airport (Get Started Light A Fire). Maybe "angry" is a poor choice of words. Parker is disenchanted with love "I don't know why it's not enough to feel moments of mighty love" (I Don't Know), and also frustrated that he has never been a stadium sellout (Success). He has one minor bad trait: stuffing some lines with just too many words (Back In Time, OK Hieronymus).

I've tried to find one stinker, one throw-a way on this CD, but there isn't one. The combination of spirited R&B music and caustic lyrics works successfully on The Mona Lisa's Sister.

doesn`t start a fire.......2000-03-07

This was Parker going from pretty indifferent `mellow` music to the heights he attained with Struck by Lightning a coupla years after this. As usual there are some classics which soon as you hear them you think they`ve been around forever: Back in time,I`m Just Your Man and Success,but there are some songs that are in moulds Parker keeps on trying but has never pulled off. Example,Under the Mask of Happiness which is kinda `Southern Rock` which English rockers can never pull off--it`s from the Rolling Stones and all they `way down New orleans` fixations-- Then there is a song about Heironymous Bosch, a painter..puh-leeze! Mr Parker can not do `arty/intellectual` themes! And there`s a problem with the opener,which sounds like Neil Diamond trying to rock out. You feel in this record a low-watt glow of laidback,soft rock rather than Parker`s usual heated style. But the stand outs are worth it,and Blue Highways and Girl Isn`t Ready help the variation here (reggae and an acoustic Sprinsteen vibe respectively) while one song I Don`t Know is virtually a little education in rock; Buddly Holly meets Elvis vocal with an African guitar riff running through it as well as an `African-sounding` choral background. The result works brilliantly and is inspired. Not a disappointing album by all means...but just one that was a holding operation.

A highlight.......1998-10-20

While released during a period of uneven recordings and weird producers you would be wrong to dismiss this album. It garnered renewed and always rare attention for Parker. Solid songs matched by Parker's own production (producing his own work was one of his strongest artistic moves to date) amount to a crafty, whimsical and airy work, where even a cover like Cupid works.

MLS has more in common with later Parker rather then Squeezing out Sparks-this marked the transiition. His next solid work after this was Struck by Lighting, a fine companion piece. It's a shame these two aren't domestically released. Howlin' Wind and Sparks would complete a quadrangle of high points.

Parker Delivers Listenable Angst.......1998-06-26

I've long considered Graham Parker part of my "little, p*****-off British guy" phase, during which I listened to a lot of Elvis Costello and related artists. Parker is a cynic, without a doubt, but the heart of a true romantic still beats in his chest. Like Costello, who does not allow his varnish of world-weary cynicism to obliterate his soft side, Parker goes from sharp-tongued social criticism to whistful longing at times in the same breath. All without forgetting how to craft a good solid melody, which makes for music you can listen to even if you're not particularly interested in what it has to say.

Average customer rating:

The Mona Lisa's Sister
Graham Parker
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Acid Bubblegum
Struck By Lightning
Human Soul
Live! Alone In America
The Real Macaw

ASIN: B000008JA7
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Don't Let It Break You Down
Under the Mask of Happiness
Back in Time
I'm Just Your Man
Ok Hieronynus
Get Started, Start a Fire
Girl Isn't Ready
Blue Highways
Success
I Don't Know
Cupid

Music:

Music