Heavy Nova
Titre : Heavy Nova
Date de publication : 1988
Label : EMI
Type : Album
Classement : US#13 / UK#17
Récompenses : Disque de Platine US / Disque d'Or UK
Morceaux :
2. More Than Ever
4. Disturbing Behavior
8. Between Us
9. Casting A Spell
Une réédition de l'album chez Edsel (2012) intègre des morceaux supplémentaires:
Simply Irresistible (Extended Version)
Nova
Simply Irresistible (E.T. remix)
Change His Ways (Wed 9 PM Mix)
Simples :
- Simply Irresistible - edit b/w Nova (7")
- Simply Irresistible b/w Nova (US 7")
- Simply Irresistible - extended version + edit b/w Simply Irresistible - instrumental + Nova (12")
- Simply Irresistible - extended version + edit + instrumental + Nova (CD single)
- Simply Irresistible + Nova (JP CD single)
- Simply Irresistible - edit + extended version (US promo CD single)
- Simply Irresistible - extended version (US promo CD single)
- Simply Irresistible + Nova (Cass single)
- Early In The Morning - edit b/w Disturbing Behavior (7")
- Early In The Morning - extended version + edit b/w Early In The Morning - instrumental + Disturbing Behavior (12")
- Early In The Morning - Get up mix + West coast mix b/w Early In The Morning - Dub + Percapella + Club instrumental (promo 12")
- Early In The Morning - edit + Disturbing Behavior (CD single)
- Early In The Morning - edit + album + extended (US promo CD single)
- Early In The Morning - edit + Get Up mix + West coast mix (US promo CD single)
- Early In The Morning - edit + Disturbing Behavior (Cass single)
- She Makes My Day b/w Disturbing Behavior (7")
- She Makes My Day b/w Disturbing Behavior + Simply Irresistible - ET remix (12")
- She Makes My Day + Disturbing Behavior + Simply Irresistible - ET remix (CD single)
- She Makes My Day + Change His Ways (JP CD single)
- She Makes My Day + Casting A Spell (US 7")
- She Makes My Day + Casting A Spell (Cass single)
- Change His Ways b/w More Than Ever (7")
- Change His Ways - Wed 9 PM mix b/w More Than Ever + Change His Ways - Rock mix (12")
- Change His Ways - album + Wed 9 PM mix + More Than Ever + She Makes My Day (CD single)
- It Could Happen To You b/w Change His Ways (7")
- It Could Happen To You b/w Early In The Morning - Get up mix + Change His Ways (12")
- It Could Happen To You + Early In The Morning - Get up mix + Change His Ways + Casting A Spell (CD single)
- It Could Happen To You + Change His Ways (Cass single)
- Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming - 12" edit b/w More Than Ever (7")
- Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming - Westerville mix + 12" edit b/w Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming - Dub1 + Dub 2 + Dub 3 (promo 12")
- Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming - Westerville mix + 12" edit + Dub1 + Dub 2 + Dub 3 (promo CD single)
- Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming + More Than Ever + Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming - 12" edit + Westerville mix (Cass single)
- More Than Ever b/w More Than Ever - live version (US promo 12")
- More Than Ever - album + live version (US promo CD single)
Critiques / Reviews :
- "The ol' smoothie plays stylistic chameleon on this one, effortlessly gliding from the funk-boogie of the single 'Simply Irresistible' to the metalish 'More Than Ever' to the Afro-Cajun 'Change His Ways'. Along the way he does the Frug, covers a Jacksons song, croons a la Nat King Cole and zips down to Rio to do the Samba. And he does all of it well, with that elastic, soulful voice." (Cash Box)
- "The title comes from a phrase coined by Palmer to describe the moods of the album - heavy metal meets bossa nova. In some ways, the title is a misnomer; it doesn't begin to describe the eclecticism on show on this splendid set, from the aforementioned Latin feel to African rhythms and chants, cajun influences and his typical blend of pop-funk. 'Simply Irresistible', with its big drum sounds, looks set to be as hot a disco favourite as 'Addicted To Love' but the most interesting track is 'Change His Ways', which not only has a story to tell but is musically daring, featuring African beat, a hillbilly accordion and yodelling to boot." (The New Straits Times)
- "Long-sought success is sweet, but it can also prove unduly seductive. Ask Robert Palmer. After years of cult figure status, releasing an occasional irresistible song to a mostly indifferent public, hits such as 'Addicted To Love' made this British veteran an established star. With the new 'Heavy Nova', he faces the challenge of keeping that star on the rise. Unfortunately, Palmer takes the easy route. Everything about the single, 'Simply Irresistible', from the chunka-chunka Power Station beat to the reprise of beautiful women pouting in the video, smells like a rip-off. Even more annoying, he's ripping off himself. It leaves a bad taste that 'Heavy Nova' doesn't have the strength to recover from, despite some admirable attempts at stretching out. 'More Than Ever' is a noisy car wreck of a song. The attempt at crossing cultures in 'Change His Ways', which mixes yodeling, a rollicking accordion and a vocal riff lifted from 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', sounds like a confused airline terminal on a hot day. Palmer's at his best when he relaxes and lets his good taste take over." (The Robesonian)
- "Just who is this Robert Palmer guy? You might remember he was the singer who, many years ago, sooked it when he was forced to lip-synch 'Bad Case Of Loving You' with the 'Countdown' dancers playing imaginary guitars behind him. So how does he explain the clip for 'Simply Irresistible' with the same glossy, fake-guitar-playing, androgynous women he used as a backdrop for his previous two video clips? Irregularities aside, Palmer is a very good singer. But like many very good singers, he's spent most of his long career looking for a style he could call his own. Thus he's been a rhythm and blues performer, a synth-pop exponent and -horror of horrors - a member of that crunch-funk outfit, Power Station. At least on this album, now that he has attained platinum status after so many years of trying, he's finally relaxed and managed to ditch some of those stylistic anxieties. What we end up with here is a bit of just about every style Pamer has adopted over the years and - in these days of albums sounding like one 45-minute track interspersed by half-a-dozen rest breaks - that's not such a bad thing. What I can't accept, however, is: the 'Simply Irresistible' clip's use of breast-based titillation and the song's lyric line 'She's so fine there's no telling where the money went'. Palmer's eclecticism is fine, his occasional mysogyny isn't." (The Age)
- "One has to love a guy who is singing heavy-metal dance music one moment and yodeling (!) against a fiddle backdrop the next. That is Robert Palmer, the King of Suave Rock, back with another cross-cultral rock 'n' romance extravaganza, 'Heavy Nova', this one featuring the influences of Brazil and Soweto, as well as renditions of songs made famous by Peggy Lee, the Gap Band and Jermaine Jackson. Eclecticism only goes so far, though, before one wants to hear strong songs behind all the orchestras and trumpets and screaming guitars and Brazilian vocalists and funky rhythms, and that is where 'Heavy Nova' comes a little light. 'Simply Irresstible', the first single, is in the same vein as 'Addicted To Love'. That and the equally hard-dance-rocking 'More Than Ever' both connect, as does the more rootsy 'Disturbing Behavior'. The string-laden Lee standard 'It Could Happen To You' makes for an agreeable digression from all the rhythmic agression. Less successfully, 'She Makes My Day' is Palmer's failed attempt to write a McCartney-esque pop ballad; the structure and production are so complex one ends up digging the bass lines more than the melody, which Palmer's voice is unable to find in the lack of focus. That is emblematic of much of the LP: not enough striking hooks, but more than enough fun instrumental textures and oddities." (The Vindicator)