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JOHN PARR - Letter To America; JOHN PARR - Letter To America
Topic Started: Oct 9 2011, 08:32 AM (453 Views)
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JOHN PARR
Letter To America

John Parr 2011

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John Parr from the eighties to give him his full name. And who knows how big he would have become had legal shenanigans not interfered with his career. In case you were wondering, a 20 year legal / litigation battle basically stopped Parr recording for the past 20 years.

That's why his is not a name that springs to mind for most folks despite ‘St Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)’, the theme for the film "St. Elmo’s Fire" hitting the No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Chart), other Top 40 hits like 'Naughty Naughty', US arena tours with Toto and Heart, other soundtracks tunes, writing 'Under A Raging Moon' for Who singer Roger Daltrey, resulting in Daltrey's biggest solo success in America. Add in songs for Meat Loaf including the hit duet, 'Rock & Roll Mercenaries' as well as other credits with Tom Jones, The Monkees, Tygers of Pan Tang, Romeo's Daughter and, most impressively, Bucks Fizz, and the name John Parr should be known far and wide outside of his Nottinghamshire / Yorkshire homeland. And that's before we get to his Gillette razor song, 'The Best A Man can Get'!

Hopefully, this double album will go some way to redressing the balance. The two CDs are divided into an electric and an acoustic set, which has Mr Parr performing sixteen old hits and new tunes with his band on the first set, as well, as well as thirteen acoustic tracks on the second set. So there's plenty of room for all the classics, including the aforementioned 'Naughty Naughty', 'Under A Raging Moon', 'St Elmo's Fire' and lesser known numbers like 'Somebody Stole My Thunder' and 'Two Hearts'. Some of the tracks have what seems like dubbed on audience noise on them, so I'm unsure what's studio and what's not, but it disnae really matter.

The acoustic disc is equally impressive as Mr Parr has a very strong voice, and when that's allied to some fantastic tunes, you can't really lose. There are repeat visits to the big hits as well as some unusual cover choices (Fleetwood Mac and Katy Perry!), but it's a real treat.

Don't let him slip from sight again, because that would be a real shame.

http://johnparramerica.com/
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