Kicking off with "I Discovered America," Parker humorously relates his career origins, soldiering on with his "bony-chested T-shirt / some stolen guitar licks / navigating by dead reckoning / in 1976." He follows his story of conquest by observing the other side of the pond in "England's Latest Clown," a wicked rebuke of rock stars like Pete Doherty, who always emerges from rehab "with muscles on his muscles and Kate Moss by his side." But it's the meditative quality of a song like "Suspension Bridge" that sets apart Parker's newfound muse, especially when he describes his father taking him to stand on an unfinished bridge, where "the suicide lovers swim under the sea / and the murderers submit an innocent plea."
Despite his age, he's still a card-carrying "angry young man." Listen to the aggressive verbal deconstruction of Dubya's bloody policies in "Stick to the Plan" and "Bullet of Redemption" and tell us Parker has mellowed. Yeah, we didn't think so.
