**1/2 Graham Parker

ACID BUBBLEGUM

(Razor & Tie)

Middle age and family living in pastoral Woodstock may have mellowed Graham Parker a bit, but he can still work up a pretty good head of steam when he wants to. He makes that clear enough on Acid Bubblegum, a prickly disc in which he forsakes his recent explorations of domesticity in favor of good old bile over the state of the modern world. "You're only dreaming anyway if you don't get irate," he vents on "Turn It into Hate," which opens the record with a get-pissed-off call to arms. From there he proceeds to blast . . . well, pretty much everything: People magazine, Joe Camel, corporate drones, trailer-park trash with Axl Rose tattoos, TV evangelists, gangsta rap, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, the media, and all things vapid about consumer culture. Backed by a group that includes former Rumour bassist Andrew Bodnar and one-time Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri, Parker has fashioned his hardest-rocking record in more than a decade. That's not to say his best -- though its lyrics are finely tuned, it's a bit short on memorable melodies. But this is yet another worthy offering from an artist who refuses to become obsolete.

-- Chris Erikson

(Graham Parker plays the Paradise this Sunday, October 13.)