RK 50: Robert Palmer
9-2-08 RK 50: Robert Palmer
CD PRESSURE DROP
1975 9 TRKS CD is copyguarded?
12" LOOKING FOR CLUES ISLAND
1980 3 TRKS no pic sleeve
CD CLUES
1980 8 TRKS
CD RIPTIDE
1985 9 TRKS
12" I DIDN'T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON ISLAND
1986 4 TRKS no pic sleeve, promo
An unusual thing for the Ron Kane files – an artist that I like, but do not collect…
Perhaps it was the way that the 70’s Robert Palmer solo albums were marketed, but I figured that I was not their intended audience – In the mid-70’s, I was all about progressive rock…and Palmer seemed to me to be an M.O.R. male vocalist. I knew of his work in the band Vinegar Joe, and I am a big fan of the ’72 debut Vinegar Joe LP on Island (Atco in the
But it looked like he was being marketed by
I remember liking “Riptide” at the time, but I never bought a copy, for whatever reason. When I found an inexpensive Japanese copy of the CD, I went for it. Decent stuff.
I was in
And where are those Robert Palmer models twenty years later? Are the Robert Palmer videos still on their ‘middle-aged’ resumes? “And I was one of those girls who pranced around salaciously in a music video for Robert Palmer that was shown on MTV dozens of times. Those videos lead to a lot of other work for me at the time, but…always strutting my stuff” – or thereabouts.
So, R.I.P. Mr. Palmer – I’ll continue to pick up your CD’s when I spot Japanese pressings in the cheapie bin.
Labels: Robert Palmer
posted by Ron Kane @ 6:54 AM
1 Comments:
Like you, I remember his mid-70s material as nothing too special. Every Kind Of People. Bad Case Of Loving You. Neither awful nor exciting.
But 1980's "Clues" had Gary Numan on two numbers and that bore some listening. The eclecticism of that album gave me a much better view of what Robert Palmer did as opposed to his occasional top 40 hit of the 70s. And Johnny & Mary was just a superb track! From that point on I paid attention to his output and was rewarded with the works of a man who wanted to do it all!
R&B! Rock! Funk! Pop! Synthpop! NY Electro! Reggae! Zedeco! Jazz Crooning! Yodeling! Sometimes all on the same song!
As someone with eclectic tastes I really appreciated Palmer. His clipped, mannered delivery was like no one elses, and around the time of Riptide, I began to appreciate his penchant for suave crooning on "Get It Through Your Heart." I began to want more of that material. The videos were tiresome, but I was present at the concert where his live "Early In The Morning" video was shot in Daytona Beach on the Heavy Nova tour. I never got a chance to see it on MTV because it did not feature those !@$% sullen models and thus it was never played.
I was very impressed with Palmer because when Riptide was selling like hotcakes he described mixing heavy metal and bossa nova for his next album and he actually followed through and did it! How many times does that happen?
The last time I saw Palmer was in 1997 when he finally toured with the Power Station behind their ill-starred 2nd album. Palmer was class under glass that night in spite being ill. No one there would have known it. He was the type of guy that made Bryan Ferry look like a homeless person. Dapper as could be and he did not break a sweat!
The last of his albums I have is Don't Explain and I need to catch up with Mr. Palmer's discography a bit more, I think. His "Honey" album features a cover of Devo's "Girl U Want!"
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