The Up Escalator

Ignited by the crosscurrents of pub rock and punk, these raw-boned songs have a scrapper’s impassioned spirit. Producer Jimmy Iovine took everything he’d learned working with Springsteen and helped Parker pare his songs down to the sinew. “Devil’s Sidewalk” and “The Beating of Another Heart” have the packed-in intensity of a crowded bar, as the stripped-down band pulls sweat from Parker’s vocal performance. While Danny Federici’s organ and Nicky Hopkins’s piano turn “Stupefaction” into a garage rock gem, Springsteen himself shows up for “Endless Night,” a momentary merger of roots rock, power pop, and punk.