POP MUSIC REVIEW : Parker Puts on a Solid Solo Show

The verdict has long been in on Graham Parker. It is an unjust one that has subjected this first-rate rocker to an apparent life term in the commercial Gulag.

That didn’t stop Parker from giving an eloquent summation Thursday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, where he opened a solo tour. The wry and crusty Englishman, who seems to take perverse delight in cracking wise about his mishaps in the marketplace, cheerfully acknowledged that he is touring to pump sales of a new double CD retrospective, “Passion Is No Ordinary Word: The Graham Parker Anthology, 1976-1991.”

But Parker went far beyond a rote recycling of oldies in his 90-minute set, even though he stuck to the anthology material, except for a poignant, beautifully sung rendition of the Supremes’ “Stop! In the Name of Love.” With the solo-setting highlighting the strength of his songwriting and the cohesiveness of his primary themes (afflict the powerful, urge on the underdog, cherish romance), Parker kept banter to a minimum and played with the intensity of a man relishing the chance to state his own brief and make the case for an exemplary body of work.