"Pride" (1983) and "Riptide" (1985) by ROBERT PALMER - A Review Of His 8th and 9th Solo Albums – Now Reissued And Remastered By Edsel Of The UK Onto A Deluxe 2CD Set In 2013.

ROBERT PALMER is part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"…Might As Well Face It…" 

After stints with THE ALAN BOWN in the Sixties, DADA in 1970 and three albums with VINEGAR JOE (featuring Elkie Brooks) between 1972 and 1973 – ROBERT PALMER was finally ready to go Solo. I’ve already reviewed Volume 1 with "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" and "Pressure Drop", Volume 2 with "Some People Can Do What They Want" and "Double Trouble" and Volume 3 with "Secrets", "Clues" and "Maybe It's Live". This 2CD reissue on Demon's Edsel label celebrates the next stage – his 8th and 9th album breakthroughs in the 80’s.

UK released 26 August 2013 - Edsel EDSK 7040 (Barcode 740155704032) breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (78:49 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 8th studio solo LP "Pride" – UK released March 1983 on Island ILPS 9720

Tracks 11 to 17 are BONUS TRACKS: "You Are In My System (12" Mix)", "Ain't It Funky (Si Chatouillieux - Extended Version)" [PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED], "Pride (12" Mix)", "Parade Of The Obliterators" [Non-Album B-Side of "Pride"], "You Can Have It (7" Mix)", "You Are In My System (Instrumental Mix)" and "Deadline (12" Mix)".

Disc 2 (68:39 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 9th studio solo LP "Riptide" – UK released November 1985 on Island ILPS 9801

Tracks 10 to 17 are BONUS TRACKS: "Discipline Of Love (12" Mix)", "Riptide Medley", "Sweet Lies" [from the film of the same name], "Let's Fall In Love" [PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED], "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (12" Mix)", "No Not Much (Live On The Tube 30/10/85)" and "Trick Bag (Live On The Tube 30/10/85)" [both non-album B-sides to "Riptide"] and "Les Planches" [PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED].

Fans will also know that outside of the "Gold" anthology on Universal – Palmer’s Island catalogue has been languishing without remasters for decades. Although it doesn’t say who mastered these album at Universal – they’re licensed from the Music Giant and the sound quality is leagues ahead of the dull Eighties discs we’d had for years. One reviewer is ranting on about MP3 files but I don't hear anything of the sort - and if these are sourced from Universal's 2006 remasters (prepped but never released for some contractual reason) then they are vast improvements on what we had before.

The outer card wrap is generic to all these Edsel reissues and certainly gives the whole thing a classy feel. The chunky 28-page booklet is substantial – pictures of the front covers, full-page colour photos of Palmer in various Eighties garb, lyrics to both albums and affectionate and knowledgeable liner notes by CHRIS JONES – (same as all the others) it’s a bang-up job done.

With only two covers and eight of "Pride's" tracks written by Palmer himself – the 1983 album saw him take the sound he’d pioneered on 1980’s "Clues" and surrender completely to the synth swirl of the Eighties. The results worked. Even his cover of Kool & The Gang's "You Can Have It" has that electronica feel as does the hit single "You Are In My System" (penned by David Frank and Michael Murphy) while the menacing pump of "Say You Will"” is a co-write with the Multi-Instrumentalist/Producer Rupert Hine. But then Robert Palmer finally hit commercial paydirt with his next album…

Almost as famous for its videos as its music – "Riptide" was Robert Palmer’s "So" (Peter Gabriel) and "Back In The High Life" (Steve Winwood) – an old timer suddenly modern - and with the dancefloors of the globe digging it the most. Even now the sheer punch of “Addicted To Love” is visceral and the funked up version of Earl King’s “Trick Bag” is a brilliantly reworked interpretation. And I’m utterly soppy for the dancefloor slayer “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” written by hit-maestros Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. But I could probably do without the heavy-handed “Flesh Wound” and “Discipline Of Love” though which now sound dreadfully dated.

Best of the extras is the radically reworked (and almost unrecognizable) smooth-as-silk seven-minute 'Instrumental' of "You Are In My System" that will catch the ears of any DJ wishing to mix up his dance and Rock. The near seven-minute previously unreleased mix of "Ain't It Funky (Si Chatouillieux)" is full of wild ZTT guitars and spoken French language (Trevor Horn would be proud). Just as good are the surprising good and previously unreleased “Let’s Fall In Love Tonight” and the reggae-vide of “La Planches” which sounds like “Some Guys Have All The Luck” but with French lyrics. The others are good but feel like so many 12” mixes of the Eighties – over the top and superfluous to requirements.

I’ve always thought Robert Palmer was a class act – not just as singer – but also as a vessel for other people’s songs – and the two studio sets on these 2 CDs provide wads of both. And the extras are both substantial and good.

There’s a lot of primo Robert Palmer on here for the money and I for one am glad to be rehearing it in such style....

"Babel" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2006 Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Film

Here is a link to Amazon UK to get this BLU RAY at the best price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000NTPCL0

"…Three Kilometres…"

On a desolate Moroccan mountainside impoverished young brothers Ahmed and Yussef are testing out their exciting new manly acquisition - a Winchester M70 Rifle their father bought from a local guide Hassan for 500 Dirhams and a goat. They start out innocently enough (pot shots at Jackals) but sibling rivalry kicks in as they test Hassan’s claims that the gun is so good - the bullets can travel up to 3 kilometres. Yussef (the younger of the two) is the better marksman - so in jest he takes aims at a long tourist bus trundling up a dirt road far below. They laugh as nothing seemingly happens. But then the bus pulls in – screaming voices inside – they’re English-speaking tourists. Ahmed and Yussef look at each other and run.

Mr. Wataya proudly watches his deaf Japanese teenage daughter Chieko play fiercely competitive Volleyball with other mutes in a privileged Tokyo school gym (fabulous turns by Koji Yakusho of the original "Shall We Dance" and Rinko Kikuchi of "Pacific Rim"). Chieko is beautiful but is mentally tortured by the suicide of her mother only a year earlier and a subsequently difficult relationship with her father. But more obsessive than that is her burgeoning sexuality that no cool J-POP Japanese boy seems to want because of her language disability. She begins to go extreme lengths to get attention in shopping malls and even with her dentist as she lays prostate on his chair…

Amelia is a big-hearted middle-aged Mexican nanny (a stunning Adrianna Barraza) taking good care of two beautiful white children is Los Angeles while their warring parents Richard and Susan Jones (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) are holidaying in Morocco. But Amelia gets a phone call from Richard that his wife Susan has been shot and they’re holed up in a small town called Tazarine waiting for an American helicopter to get them out. Amelia will therefore have to cancel going to her son’s wedding that day in Mexico to look after the kids. But Amelia figures it will be ok (what can go wrong) and takes the young Debbie and Mike (Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble) and her son Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal) across the border in his beat-up car. But things go badly wrong. And on it goes to a honourable Japanese cop who works out where the Rifle originated…

Employing the same creative team he worked with on the equally compelling  "Amores Perros" (2000) and "21 Grams" (2004) (see review) – Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu once again uses the disjointed different-people different-places storytelling of Guillermo Arriaga (Writer) and the hugely emotive Music of Gustavo Santaolalla to make the stunning "Babel" (2006). But this is an even more accomplished round-the-world parable that the two that went before.

Ok - the idea that unbeknown to them two Moroccan children could set in motion a chain of events that will affect people in Tokyo, Mexico and the USA is perhaps stretching credibility a tad – but Inarritu wants us to see that we are all connected and that 'pain is universal' whether you’re rich or poor. He also clearly believes that kindness and faith are not merely rationed to the West. In fact people with nothing show more grace than panicking affluent tourists greedy for their own safety do - while one of their own lies bleeding to death in a dust hovel with a bullet in her neck.

But what gives "Babel" its extraordinary humanity and personal punch are the faces you don’t recognize and the worlds you’re allowed to peer in on – often not sexy nor glamorous - but full of family and heart nonetheless. There is an old lady who stays with Cate Blanchett’s Susan as she writhes in pain – her wizened sunken-sockets life-long-struggle face is incredible. Mohamed Akhzam as the desperate father trying to keep his kids from being killed by trigger-happy police as the 'American Killed By Terrorists' storyline filling the news gets out of hand. The speech-challenged teenage girls in Tokyo who just want to be cool and liked but get hurt by the cruelty of giggling boys in Games Arcades. Its amazing around-the-world stuff…

After the grain-filled gritty realism of "21 Grams" on the new format – it’s fabulous to see that "Babel" is a proper looker on BLU RAY and a quantum leap ahead in terms of visuals. Defaulted to 1.85:1 aspect  - it fills the full screen and the effect is powerful. Dust, dirt and goatherds on the one hand with the neon blitz of downtown Tokyo on the other – all looking fabulous. The Audio is in both English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital with Subtitles in English, English for the Hard Of Hearing, French and Spanish. But apart from a Theatrical Trailer and some Previews – a huge disappointment is the complete lack of Extras when this film so cried out for them.

“Babel” broke down doors in terms of showing us the world in all its complex but similar humanity. And while it may not all tie up perfectly at the end (like life) - it was hailed in certain circles as 'a genuine masterpiece'.

I for one would agree wholeheartedly…

Secrets” (1979), “Clues” (1980) and “Maybe It’s Live” (1982) by ROBERT PALMER - A Review Of His 5th, 6th and 7th Solo Albums – Now Reissued And Remastered By Edsel Of The UK Onto A Deluxe 2CD Set In 2013.

ROBERT PALMER is part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"…You’ll Know Me Better…" 

After stints with THE ALAN BOWN in the Sixties, DADA in 1970 and three albums with VINEGAR JOE (featuring Elkie Brooks) between 1972 and 1973 – ROBERT PALMER was finally ready to go Solo. I’ve already reviewed Volumes 1 with "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" and "Pressure Drop" and Volume 2 with "Some People Can Do What They Want" and "Double Trouble". This 2CD reissue on Demon's Edsel label celebrates the next stage – his 5th, 6th and 7th albums.

UK released 26 August 2013 - Edsel EDSK 7039 (Barcode 740155703936) breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (71:38 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 11 are his 5th studio solo LP "Secrets" – UK released June 1979 on Island ILPS 9544
Track 12 is a BONUS TRACK - the 12" Mix of "Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor Doctor" – it was originally featured on the "Addictions" Best Of LP and CD in 1989 as a 'Remix'
Tracks 13 to 20 are his 6th studio solo LP "Clues" – UK released August 1980 on Island ILPS 9595

Disc 2 (48:14 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 3 are BONUS TRACKS – "Good Care Of You" (Non-Album B-side of the November 1980 “Looking For Clues” 12" Single on Island WIP12 6651), "Johnny And Mary (Alternate Take)" and "What Do You Care (Alternate Mix)"
Tracks 4 to 13 are his 7th solo LP – the live set "Maybe It's Live" – UK released April 1982 on Island ILPS 9665

Fans will also know that outside of the "Gold" anthology on Universal – Palmer’s Island catalogue has been languishing without remasters for decades. Although it doesn’t say who mastered these album at Universal – they’re licensed from the Music Giant and the sound quality is leagues ahead of the dull Eighties discs we’d had for years. One reviewer is ranting on about MP3 files but I don't hear anything of the sort - and if these are sourced from Universal's 2006 remasters for "Gold" then they are vast improvements on what we had before.

The outer card wrap is generic to all these Edsel reissues and certainly gives the whole thing a classy feel. The chunky 32-page booklet is substantial – pictures of the albums, recording studio shots, colour publicity stuff, lyrics to both albums, live photos in colour and black and white, affectionate and knowledgeable liner notes by CHRIS JONES – (same as all the others) it’s a bang-up job done.

I loved "Secrets" as a whole album – it's chockers full of great tunes done in his Soulful Funky Rock style. "What's It Take" (lyrics above) has graced many a Seventies Fest CD-R of mine while Jo Allen’s brilliantly catchy Motels rock of "Jealous" is the same. Speaking of Rock – his cover of Moon Martin's "Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor Doctor)" is a bona fide smash. But again it's his interpretations of Todd Rundgren's gorgeous "Can We Still Be Friends?" and Andy Fraser's (of Free) equally melodic "Mean Old World" that impress - "Mean Old World" managing to be upbeat and hopeful when talking about tough domestic stuff.

1980's "Clues" seemed to anticpate the sound of the decade ahead and took a quantum leap into electronics and succeeded. I can remember being in a London nightclub when the DJ let rip "Looking For Clues" – the floor just went mad – bopping themselves into a lather. And his "Johnny And Mary" is truly one of 'the' great Eighties singles – up there with Kate Bush, Talk Talk and Prefab Sprout. Gary Numan fans will also dig the two collusions on here – “I Dream Of Wires” and the jerky electronic finisher “Found You Know”.

The live set "Maybe It's Live" always left me cold and re-hearing it now doesn’t change that. The band may be tight but the vocals are awful – way back in the mix and the whole feels like contractual crap that everyone can do without.

The 3 bonus tracks are interesting – especially the 'Alternate' of "Johnny And Mary" where more layers of synths are audible as is his still-working-out-the-lyrics mumbling. The B-side “Good Care Of You” is a great fan addition and goes some way to rescuing Disc 2 from the dreadful live set.

I’ve always thought Robert Palmer was a class act – not just as singer – but also as a vessel for other people’s songs – and the two studio sets on these 2 CDs provide wads of both. But the overall show has to docked a star for that unnecessary turkey on Disc 2…

Having said that - there’s a lot of primo Robert Palmer on here for the money and I for one am glad to be rehearing it in such style…

“21 Grams” on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2004 Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Film

"…Forgive Me…"

21 Grams on BLU RAY

Like a freight juggernaut carrying the poisoned cargo of a screwed-up past and a tormenting temptation-filled-present - ex convict Jack Jordan is a train wreck waiting to derail yet again - only this time in spectacular fashion. At the hands of Preacher John (the ever stunning Eddie Marsan) Jack has at least discovered God ("Jesus gave me that truck...") but he seems to be slowly losing everything else - his freedom, his job and his family.

Mexican Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu had made the brilliant "Amos Perres" in 2000 and it went a long way to drawing in huge talent like Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and especially Benicio Del Toro (as Jack Jordan). Not conventionally structured - 2004's "21 Grams" uses the device of back and forward in time flashbacks to offer up a story of accidents and loss and extreme pain and how ordinary people cope with it (or not as the case may be).

The structure is odd and at times grating - but it brilliantly unfolds the story so you slowly twig what's happened and to whom. One minute Jack Jordan is clean-shaven happily waving to his friends by his pick-up - the next he's in a prison shower again with a towel around his neck (and he isn't trying to clear up his zits). Sean Penn's character Paul River's is wheezing on a ventilator while he sneaks a cigarette from a pill bottle stash in the bathroom in one scene - then is healthy and immaculately suited in the next scene as he ogles a woman in a swimming pool (Naomi Watts) he seems overly interested in for a married man. One moment he's raising a glass of wine with his friends celebrating an organ transplant that has literally saved his life - the next Paul is lying in a hospital bed looking battered with tubes in his mouth - ruminating on the size of the bodyweight you lose when you die (the film's title).

In between all of this we keep returning to a father (a brilliantly subtle Danny Huston) on his mobile to his wife. He is clearly not paying enough attention to his two young daughters giddily chasing a bird on the footpath ahead of him. As the three pass out of shot - leaves are blown ahead as a familiar-looking truck races past - and a few moments later (still out of shot) there's an ominous screech of tyres...

While Sean Penn is typically magnetic - the movie belongs to Benicio Del Toro who straddles it like a malevolent colossus. In the 'Making Of' the Director says you need only point the camera at him and magic will happen - worlds going on behind a glance. Yet somehow (and there are repulsive scenes with his family) Del Toro fills his tattooed enraged Jordan with such gravitas that you empathise with his gradual loss of faith rather than judge him. In one scene he begs a startled man to kill him - end his torment - and you don't for a second think that he doesn't really mean it.

But special praise should also go to the women who are simply astounding and in some cases act the showier male names off the frame. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Sean Penn's wife Mary Rivers obsessed with having a child even if their relationship is disintegrating - while Melissa Leo plays the wife of the God-obsessed Jack Gordon trying to keep him out of jail and her family together (both are simply superb). But it's Naomi Watts who blows you away. There is a scene where she has to go the hospital to check on her husband and two daughters only to be given unfathomable news. As a parent you physically shake and ache with her harrowing disintegration (she's that good). The only other times I've ever seen this sheer acting power is in "Bright Star" about the life of poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne that has Abbie Cornish give the same kind of mind-blowing performance (see review) and Marion Cotillard's unbelievable performance in the Edith Piaf biopic "La Vie En Rose".

With a 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio (the full screen is filled) 'adequate' best describes the BLU RAY picture quality. It isn't great by any stretch of the imagination featuring many indoor and night scenes with an ever-present pallor of grain. Shooting was all about feel and immediacy - and prettily framed suburbia was never going to be part of the equation. But I'd still say that the power of the watch quickly dissipates any qualms on that front. The only subtitle is English for the Hard Of Hearing.

There's also a great "In Fragments" Making Of where the Director gets all the cast and crew to throw red roses in the air at the start of shooting and white roses when they finish. Each of the principal actors get spots and they're praise and love of the work is palatable. Icing on the cake is Gustavo Santaoialla's stunning score of electric and acoustic heavy guitar strums (like a Mexican Ry Cooder). Gustavo also embellished "Babel" and "The Motorcycle Diaries" with the same emotion-tugging power.

Nominated for 2 Oscars and 5 Baftas - "21 Grams" is visceral cinema peopled with a plethora of actors giving 1000% to a script they know is hard-hitting yet somehow real world redemptive. Inarritu would go on to make the equally brilliant "Babel" and the seriously harsh "Biutiful".

In 2014 you can pick up the stunning “21 Grams” for five quid or less on BLU RAY - and that's a skydiver well spent in my book...

"The Socks" by THE SOCKS (2014 Debut Album on Small Stone Records) - A Review by Mark Barry...

Here is a link to Amazon UK to get this CD at the best price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HE0OPF0

Hailing out of France but sounding like they're steeped in the spirit of 1991 US Grunge, Seventies British Heavy Metal and Prog and even New European Psych - "The Socks" make a hell of an angry racket. And in the case of "Some Kind Of Sorcery" (the lead off single) they have been clearly snorting Nirvana's "Nevermind" and Black Sabbath's "Master Of Reality" on a nightly basis.

"Next To The Light" has that great phased Ozzie vocal (similar to "Planet Caravan") and it's as commercial (dare we say it) as this album gets. I can hear this beauty getting serious airplay.

Personal favourites include the choppy guitar-rock of "Gypsy Lady" with its heavy Stranglers bass and keyboard lines while the six and half-minute finisher "The Last Dragon" with its smoky guitars and Mellotron swirl would do many a Vertigo Spiral band proud (May Blitz and Linda Hoyle's Affinity jump to mind). I bet it slays them live.

Similar in vein to Black Rainbows, Karma To Burn and Mars Red Sky - The Socks have made a slammer of a debut and Julien Meret's vocals are going to make Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell fans sit up and take serious notice. Well done…

“Some People Can Do What They Like” (1976) and “Double Fun” (1978) by ROBERT PALMER - A Review Of His 3rd and 4th Solo Albums – Now Reissued And Remastered By Edsel Of The UK In 2013.

ROBERT PALMER is part of my Series "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters 1970s Rock And Pop" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"…Takes Every Kinda People…" 

After stints with THE ALAN BOWN in the Sixties, DADA in 1970 and three albums with VINEGAR JOE (featuring Elkie Brooks) between 1972 and 1973 – ROBERT PALMER was finally ready to go Solo. I’ve already reviewed his 1974 debut "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" and its sexy 1976 follow up "Pressure Drop". This 2CD reissue on Demon's Edsel label celebrates the next stage – his 3rd and 4th solo albums.

UK released 26 August 2013 - Edsel EDSK 7038 (Barcode 740155703837) breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (38:41 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 3rd Solo LP “Some People Can Do What They Like” – UK released October 1976 on Island ILPS 9420

Disc 2 (35:01 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 4th Solo LP “Double Fun” – UK released March 1978 on Island ILPS 9476

The outer card wrap is generic to all these Edsel reissues and certainly gives the whole thing a classy feel. Fans will also know that outside of the “Gold” anthology on Universal – Palmer’s Island catalogue has been languishing without remasters for decades. Although it doesn’t say who remastered these album at Universal – the sound quality is great – a huge improvement over the dull Eighties discs we’d had for years. One reviewer is ranting on about MP3 files but I don't hear anything of the sort - and if these are sourced from Universal's remasters for "Gold" then they are vast improvements on what we had before. The 28-page booklet is substantial – pictures of the albums and rare singles, studio shots, colour publicity stuff, lyrics to both albums, affectionate and knowledgeable liner notes by CHRIS JONES – it’s a bang-up job done.  

Having relocated to the Bahamas and with his 2nd album “Pressure Drop” only just released to the shops in April of 1976 – Palmer was already under pressure to produce another album immediately. Hence only two songs on “Some People…” are originals – the other 8 are hastily worked out covers. But cobbled out of nothing – the album is brilliant - and perhaps one of the great lost Funk-Rock nuggets of the mid Seventies.

It opens with a Bill Payne original (of Little Feat) “One Last Look” and not surprisingly Palmer makes a return to the mighty Feat on Lowell George’s fab “Spanish Moon”. Two absolute belters however come in the shape of drummers – his pal Alan Powell (the backbeat behind Vinegar Joe) co-writes the brilliantly funky “Gotta Get A Grip On You (Part II)” while legendary Kansas sticks man James Gadson (Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, The Jungle Brothers and later with Beck and Paul McCartney) gives us the stunning “What Can You Bring Me”. An old Harry Belafonte Calypso hit “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” was funked up and lifted as a single on Island WIP 6345 but it made few inroads. The album ends on a high note though with his own fabulously groovy “Some People Can Do What They Like” featuring Old Grey Whistle Test Theme type harmonica wailing from Greg Carroll. The album scraped the Top 100 in the USA. Commercially things fared better next time around…

I recall first hearing the stunning groove of “Every Kinda People” – a song penned by Andy Fraser of Free (lyrics above). I bought the single immediately and played it to distraction (there is a ‘Remix’ of it on the 1999 Universal CD compilation that is not included here – would have made a good bonus track). With a two year layoff Palmer contributed 7 originals to the superbly crafted 10-track “Double Fun” album – the other two covers being “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks and “Night People” - a new contribution from his old New Orleans pal and genius songwriter Allen Toussaint.

The boppin’ “Best Of Both Worlds” sees Reggae seeping into his funky style – the same with “Love Can Run Faster” only featuring more piano. Again Richie Hayward, Bill Payne and Paul Barrere of Little Feat are all over the tracks on Drums, Keyboards and Guitars respectively. Things take a string-plucked change with the lovely “You Overwhelm Me” – a great Palmer melody.  And it ends well with the “Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor Doctor)” funk-rock of “You’re Going To Get What’s Coming” which is just great.

I’ve always thought Robert Palmer was a class act – not just as singer – but also as a vessel for other people’s songs. On this reissue you get a whole lot of both. Bluntly there’s a hunk of quality Seventies Funk-Rock-Soul-Reggae on offer here for not a lot of your hard earned.

Get this fabulous double-CD in your life and you’ll find yourself sneakin’ those other titles into your shopping basket too.

I miss him…