Graham Parker’s Dream Box Set

Published on

August 3, 2016

The illustrious 40-year career of British original Graham Parker, both with and without the Rumour, will be celebrated on 30 September by UMC. These Dreams Will Never Sleep, The Best Of Graham Parker, 1976-2015 is a 6-CD/1 DVD box set featuring a total of 124 tracks, with a wealth of studio tracks and previously unreleased demos and live material.

The first three CDs in the set include such well-known songs by Parker and the Rumour as ‘Hey Lord, Don’t Ask Me Questions’ and ‘Soul Shoes,’ as well as highlights from his solo work and with such bands as the Shot and the Figgs, and collaborations with Lucinda Williams and the Punch Brothers. Disc four is a Live At The BBC collection including many tracks from Graham Parker & The Rumour’s show at Hammersmith Odeon in London, and from the BBC show Sight and Sound In Concert in 1977.

Discs five and six comprise Parker and the Rumour’s last-ever live show at the Forum in London in 2015, which included the band’s brass section for the first time since 1980. Then the 34-track DVD features a specially-recorded live show by the band last year at the Brook in Southampton, followed by rare archive solo performances by Parker from the late 1970s on such TV shows as Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Parker set components

The set is completed by a 36-page hardcover book which features a new interview with Parker and an overview by Holly A. Hughes, plus a poster and three postcards.