14th & Division (Live)

This simple live album is a satisfying alternate listen to one of the finest singer-songwriters of the ‘90s and ‘00. Taken from two nights two years apart, the collection features seven tracks from Parker’s solo debut, Tell It to the Dust, two from the excellent final Varnaline album, Songs In a Northern Key, the title track from his Wounded Astronaut EP and “Gulf of Mexico” from Varnaline’s 1998 album, Sweet Life, the album where Parker was coming into his own as a songwriter. His album productions have occasionally slid towards fancy, ornamental touches, so this straight-from-the-gut collection delivers the straightforward emotionalism behind “Tell It to the Dust,” “Blackbird Fields” and “Song,” while still allowing for the feedback turmoil of “Gulf of Mexico.” The curtain is pulled back and there stands Parker in all his naked glory, reveling in the gorgeously fingerpicked webs of sound and a melodicism that tends towards the beautiful-loser side of the scale. The recording was originally a bootleg recording and the audience chatter represents the usual small-club experience, though no drinks are noticeably dropped.