Robert Palmer was a Yorkshireman. That should be enough recommendation for anybody !! He was born in Batley, where quite a few of my ancestors lived and moved to Scarborough where we used to go for one day a year on our holidays.
Robert progressed through a few bands, the first being The Mandrakes when he was just 15, then to lead singer with The Alan Bown Set, a stint with a 12 piece jazz-rock band, Dada, then joining 2 members of Dada, Elkie Brooks and Pete Gage to form Vinegar Joe. He went solo in 1974 with his first album 'Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley'.
I bought this album, 'Heavy Nova', in 1989 when I got back to Australia after working in Papua New Guinea. One year later, a friend came over to see me and brought me the same album on CD .. that was the very first CD I owned !!!
'Heavy Nova' brought Robert to even greater world wide attention partly because of the track 'Simply Irresistable' but mostly because of the video that accompanied that track. That's strange really because it wasn't the first time he'd used that music video formula.
In 1986 for the video to 'Addicted to Love' there was a line-up of 5 girls all dressed the same, expressionless playing 3 guitars, a keyboard and drums. The same year he released another single 'I Didn't Mean to Turn You On' which had the same all-girl group with the addition of 4 dancers.
In 1988 for the 'Simply Irresistible' video there were 5 girls but no instruments. The girls were superimposed in different outfits and at some points there were 13 of them on-screen. Finally, early in 1989 he did a video for 'Change His Ways' but this time there was a noticable difference. There were still 3 guitars, a keyboard but no drums. There was however an accordion and a violin, but instead of fashion models, the band was made up of female cartoon ducks !!!
This however is not a video post, it's meant to be about music, so back to our regular scheduled programming.
One stand-out feature of todays album is the list of contributing musicians. People like Tom 'T-Bone' Wolk, who was bassist for Hall & Oates and part of the Saturday Night Live house band. Ricky Fataar, record producer, member of the Beach Boys for 3 years and the actor who played Stig O'Hara, a parody of George Harrison, in the movie 'The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'. Then there was Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, both members of The Band, famous in their own right and more so for being with Dylan.
The two single releases from this album, 'Simply ..' and 'Change ..' were both written by Robert, but a lot of his stuff was other people's music. Going back to his first album, the title track 'Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley' with a bit of 70's funk is a great introduction, with some excellent harmonica by Steve York. The rest of the 70's had some good releases - 'Every Kinda People', the calypso beat 'Man Smart, Woman Smarter' and radio playlist staple 'Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor').
In the early 80's there were a couple of tracks that really stood out for me. Although never a hit, in 1980 'Johnny and Mary' became one of my favourites. Contrary to what I said, this is a Robert composition and for me it works on every level. There's a bass tone running through that first kicks in just before the 1.20 minute mark guaranteed to make your speaker woofers buzz !! In 1982 Robert released 'Some Guys Have All the Luck' which was later done by Rod Stewart, but this is a strong version.
For a very short while in '84-'85 Palmer was part of the 'supergroup' The Power Station which included John Taylor and Andy Taylor from Duran Duran and Tony Thompson from Chic. They released 3 singles from their eponymous album, went on tour, Robert left and that was the end of his supergroup days. Back to solo work.
Then came the girl group video songs mentioned above but in amongst those was another single release from 'Heavy Nova', 'She Makes My Day'. Described variously as a "lilting, easy-paced rock ballad" - a "smouldering Sinatra-esque slow jazz single" and "arguably the sweetest few minutes in his entire catalogue" it really is a smooth laid back listen.
Just as a little bit of priceless trivia, when Robert was recording the 'Heavy Nova' album he was sent a track from - wait for it - Prince !! The song was called 'Lust You Always' and even though Robert recorded it, he didn't want it on the album. In his own words he said .. "I had to record it because I didn't want to offend the chap, did I? But I thought the lyric stank."
I can't finish without a reference to a couple of other artists who rank high in my musical life - Dylan and UB40. In 1990 Robert recorded his 10th album 'Don't Explain' and included the Dylan song 'I'll Be Your Baby Tonight' with UB40 providing backup vocals. He also covered Marvin Gaye's 'Mercy Mercy Me' on the same album.
Robert sadly passed away too young in 2003, aged just 54. Remembered as a dapper dresser with a wide range of musical genres under his belt he was, is and always will be a Yorkshireman.
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