GRAIL STILL ELUDES PARKER

“STEADY NERVES.” Graham Parker & the Shot. Elektra.

Steady nerves and the patience of Job are what Graham Parker needs, now that he’s on his third record label in the space of a decade. Perhaps Elektra can help him reach him the pop Grail that eluded the grasp of his best Mercury and Arista albums. But if such superb mid-career efforts as “Squeezing Out Sparks” and “The Up Escalator” weren’t enough, it’s hard to imagine that this shaky “Steady Nerves” will be.

Parker’s central failure has always seemed beyond his control. He burst on the mid-’70s scene as the angry little man of Anglo rock, with a big songwriting talent and an authentic R&B; dynamism. But he was all too quickly eclipsed by upstart Elvis Costello, who recast Parker’s abrasive appeal and underdog image with mercurial pop flair and overarching originality. At this point, Parker’s on the commercial fringe of a style he practically invented, and he’s not having an easy time navigating.

A shame, since co-producer William Wittman has returned Parker and his new backing band, the Shot (which retains Parker stalwart Brinsley Schwarz on guitar), to a driving rock attack spiced with a few eccentric arrangements. The sound avoids the over-polished pop flailings of Parker’s last two Arista discs, but the songwriting ultimately fails. Such powerfully engaged tracks as “Break Them Down” and “Mighty Rivers” yield quickly to such lackluster barbs and ballads as “Canned Laughter,” “Everyone’s Hand Is on the Switch,” or “Wake Up (Next to You).”

Still, Parker can squeeze out sparkling cut-and-run images (“The missionary’s position is clear. . .”). And “Take Everything” potently addresses the ambiguity of greed and need. But too much of this album seems a stylistic exercise edging dangerously close to self-parody. Parker needs a producer who won’t settle for less than his best new songs, and a new willingness to cover others’ material. Now that he’s steadied his nerves, he should take better aim.