PARKER – To Eternity – 2008 – Album review

PARKER – To Eternity – 2008 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Western Soul – Sugar Coated - Penny Dreadful - Back To Ourselves
SOUNDBITE: “We do it from the west, you be rockin with the best/ We do it all big, we don’t give nothing less”
RATING: 4/5
Let’s consider the phrase ‘western soul’ for a minute - after all, it’s not just the name of the lead single off this LP. In fact Parker nicked it from his (and, incidentally, Monkeyboxing’s) favourite Bristol club night - the minds behind which coined the phrase itself with it’s echoes of ‘northern soul’ to evoke the melting pot of funk, soul, hip hop and reggae played by Western Soul djs. It’s a gumbo of influences that has been widely associated with Bristol since Massive Attack dropped Blue Lines back in ’91 – a time when they still made tracks at bpms that you could actuallly dance to – like all those Shara Nelson collaborations and especially the daddy of them all - Unfinished Sympathy…And so to the point of this lengthy preamble which is that perhaps, more than anything else, large swathes of To Eternity recall Blue Lines in its combination of bass-heavy hip-hop beats and smooth soul vocals. In fact the name ‘western soul’ almost seems to fit better with any one of these female fronted tracks (or indeed the LP itself) rather than the one to which it is actually applied. The recipe when it works (and it usually does), works extremely well. Sugar Coated is a case in point where mid-tempo breaks, and a big orchestral brass sound fit perfectly wth Scott’s nu-soul delivery or the slightly slower Nothing But The Truth and the piano-led breaks of Back To Ourselves.

On the other hand there is Dig N Swing featuring Laura Collins. I’m not questioning Collins’ ability to sing – there’s no disputing she’s got the skills – more Parker’s stylistic choices which here reek of plastic palm trees and ra-ra skirts. It all seems to have converted Collins to the dark side (or maybe it was the other way round) and she gets in more than a few ‘Ba-ba-Bahs’ in time-honoured jazzy hideousness. In fact, it’s like Sade crossed with Matt Bianco over bigger beats and (to be fair) the only bum note on the whole LP – a track only for very sick individuals and the product of either a very warped mind or a very warped sense of humour.

Elsewhere, intro You Will Return demonstrates Parker’s scratching skills, while Old Time Sermon is a heavy slice of dark instrumentalism that is a dead ringer for Endtroducing-era DJ Shadow. To Eternity itself is another slice of instrumentalism featuring orchestral strings and both this and the beats are reminiscent of something Aim might put out. Penny Dreadful is one of two remaining highlights and its super heavy breaks are based around some horns which manage to reference old-school funky soul while sounding totally up to the minute - the other is recent single Western Soul. Probably the best track on the whole LP, Western Soul is the sort of thing dropped by DJs to bring flagging, sweaty clubbers back up to speed again. Featuring US West Coast rapper Rasco of Cali Agents there’s a kind of West-coast meeting of minds here as party flows are laid on top of a warm bass groove and swirling horns. It’s got ‘summer’ written all over it.

There’s no doubt that To Eternity is the kind of LP that gets referred to as an ‘assured debut’ or something like that. Production is super tight, the styles are varied and there is as much that is aimed at the dancefloor as there is at the coffee-table, plus there are the right number of both 80s and 90s influences – at a time when the 80s revival is in full-swing but the 90s revival is about to make inroads – it is nearly twenty years since Blue Lines after all. I think it’s fair to say that Parker is probably right on the money.
Released 1 September on Rocstar Recordings.
LINKS
Listen to (selected tracks from) Parker – To Eternity
Parker - Myspace
Rocstar Recordings - Myspace
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