Shoot me down in flames, Sting, but no other white British band really nailed adapting that Jamaican off-beat to their own purposes the way Graham Parker and the Rumour did.

Which is to say that Steve Goulding and Andrew Bodnar (curiously the best preserved of this veteran ensemble) were always a better rhythm section than Stewart Copeland and Gordon Sumner. During a set that ranged from the title track of debut album Howlin' Wind to an encore of Hey Lord, Don's Ask Me Questions, that was one thought I hadn't planned on having. Because Parker and the Rumour were an R&B band, surely, our Springsteen and the E Street Band?

The comparison is still valid - and nothing on the reunited outfit's new Three Chord Good album marks a radical change in direction - but the accomplished sextet's musicality is more sophisticated, with the contrasting guitar styles of Brinsley Schwarz and Martin Belmont and Hammond and piano of Rob Andrews stretching to the US-conquering Discovering Japan, as the Costello-esque Don't Get Excited, as well as the more straightforward pub-rock of Lady Doctor and Hotel Chambermaid. Long Emotional Ride, Snake Oil Capital of the World and Old Soul, from the new disc, are worthy additions to that catalogue.