Anyone remember the Britannia Music Club ? It was a mail order company/membership thing for buying records. When you joined they gave you this great offer of buying 4 LP’s for £1 each but you were then tied in for 2 years and you had to buy X amount of records in year 1 and a lesser amount in year 2. The reason I mention this is that in the early 80’s I joined the Britannia Music Club mainly because of that 4 LP’s for £1 each offer, and in the two years and possibly a dozen albums I bought, this is the only one I remember getting from them. It is a belter tho’.

“Howlin’ Wind” was the debut album for Graham Parker & The Rumour. Parker had spent the late 60’s and early 70’s working odd jobs and playing music around France, Gibraltar and North Africa. After returning to London he advertised for musicians to play with and through a fortuitous series of connections was introduced to Dave Robinson (later to form Stiff Records) who had a small recording studio above the Hope & Anchor pub in Islington and they began recording demo’s. One of those recordings ("Nothin's Gonna Pull Us Apart”) was played on Charlie Gillett’s “Honky Tonk” show on Radio London and caught the ear of Nigel Grange at Phonogram Records. Robinson acted as Parker’s manager and he was signed to Phonogram.

Produced by Nick Lowe, the recordings that became “Howlin’ Wind” started. But Parker needed a band and via Robinson and Lowe’s connections in the London Pub Rock scene they helped put together the Rumour, Brinsley Schwarz (lead guitar) and Bob Andrews (keyboards) (both formerly members of the band Brinsley Schwarz along with Nick Lowe), Martin Belmont (rhythm guitar, previously in Ducks Deluxe), Andrew Bodnar (bass) and Steve Goulding (drums). Bodnar and Goulding went on to play for Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and The Mekons among many others.

What Parker and the Rumour cooked up was a blend of Blue Eyed Soul with an occasional hint of reggae and some good old pub rock ’n’ roll. The finished article is not a million miles different to Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle” (in fact E Street organist Danny Federici did play on a later Parker album) and the sound of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. “White Honey” and “Soul Shoes”, the two songs that kick off each side, are both tuff blue eyed groovers. The version of "Between You and Me" is the demo originally recorded with Dave Robinson as when the Rumour attempted to record it it was decided they couldn’t capture what had been done in Robinson’s little studio in Islington. Side 2 closes out with that hint of reggae on the title track and one of Parker’s two hit singles "Don't Ask Me Questions" (aka "Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions" when it was a hit, although that was a live recording, not this one). My absolute highlight however is the ballad “Gypsy Blood” on side 1 where our Graham pours out how he feels about his sweetie and her “red hot gypsy blood, keeping me warm tonight”. I’m a sucker for a good ballad and this is a beauty.

Graham Parker & The Rumour have always been highly regarded in British music circles. They had one other hit, a cover of The Trammps “Hold Back The Night”, and recorded together until 1980 when Bob Andrews left the band. They reformed in 2012 for a really good album, “Three Chords Good”. 

Gypsy Blood - https://youtu.be/UJnh6mEICrA?si=ffvu2x7sJ4WJH3Xq