1996's ACID BUBBLEGUM was quickly hailed as a return to form for pub-rock vet Graham Parker, whose albums over the preceding decade had been considerably mellower than the late-'70s bile fests that had made his name. You couldn't really call ACID BUBBLEGUM mellow. From the album title on down, the titles say it all: "Turn it Into Hate," "Sharpening Axes," "Bubblegum Cancer." The anti-record biz "Beancounter" is one of Parker's most venomous songs since the infamous "Mercury Poisoning," and the snarling "Get Over it and Move On" suggests that Parker's too wrapped up to take his own advice. There are lighter moments, like the tributary "Obsessed With Aretha" and the tender "Girl at the End of the Pier," and the wry "They Got it Wrong (As Usual)" is more bemused than splenetic. ACID BUBLEGUM is a grand cathartic blast.

Rovi