Monday 6 May 2019

You Can't be too Strong

Phonogram RIP

Unlike other stand alone record labels, Phonogram was never a label per se, but an umbrella company with a host of catch all labels in its stable including Philips, Mercury, and Vertigo. As with so many other labels and imprints it was subsumed by Universal Music; any identity these labels retain today is purely nostalgic. Which is probably why I paint them.



One of Vertigo's star players from the seventies was the maverick Graham Parker. His silky skills provided the perfect counterpoint to the emerging punk and new wave. I love this song.


Graham Parker - You Can't be too Strong (1979)



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Postscript 12.11.19

I've been meaning to post this for a while - it's just Parker and his acoustic guitar recreating the same song 40 years later (he replicated the whole album that way as an anniversary type thang).




4 comments:

  1. It's one of those logos which is just so perfect in its simplicity. Love the way you paint them.
    Re. GP, whilst I never got into him, I appreciate now more than I ever could have at the time his place in the whole late '70s scene.

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    1. It's never too late to discover the Parkerilla! He's coming back to these shores in Nov/Dec for an acoustic tour. I'm hoping to get along to at least one of the dates.

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  2. They made the cheapest singles though, thin, brittle clickey clackety things with moulded labels. Only Polydor were worse. Were they Phonogram too?

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    1. I never liked moulded labels!

      In answer to your question, H - yes.

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