ROBERT PALMER : Music & Style

Robert Palmer, by 1984, was a cooly composed, eclectic, British R&B-rock vocal legend — a “concessioner of many things,” by Taylor’s estimation — without having ever had a huge, continuous presence on the charts since his solo album debut with Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley (1974).

“Robert had a very dexterous voice and a clever lyrical style about him,” says Taylor. Palmer’s gritty but gracefully soulful singing prowess and fast way with a lyric brought a different energy to what the Taylors and Thompson had planned for the sessions. “We didn’t have a plan…. Didn’t really think it all out,” says the bassist. “Andy and I didn’t have, as our goal, to start another band. We just wanted to make cool music with Tony and Bernard. Suddenly, however, we had this other group. Fuck me, right? But it all sounded so incredible with Robert in the mix.”

Suddenly, and quickly, the Power Station became an “antidote” to what Duran Duran had become at that time, where everything they did felt important and pre-planned, if not fussy. “It was nice to do something that wasn’t at all important,” Taylor says. “Actually, what we did was like we were having an affair from our marriage. And we knew that this affair wasn’t going to last. We were built to come together like a lightning flash, and pull off something unusual.”

The album’s most thundering track, one that came together speedily, was Power Station’s biggest hit, Some Like It Hot, a Twin Taylor idea where Palmer immediately added the “sweat when the heat is on” lyrics after hearing the title. “The success of these songs was excess to expectation, as no one could anticipate the outcome, let alone the lot of us who made it,” says Taylor. “This project was driven solely by a desire to fuck, to rock – nothing contrived. It all started out as truly unconventional.” Taylor quickly credits the work of “the hottest engineer and mixer at that time, Jason Corsaro, from the hottest studio around, the Power Station,” as hugely beneficial to his band’s buoyant vibes.

That drive – and this band’s muscular rock and funk sound – quickly pushed The Power Station up the charts following the March 1995 release, to the point they immediately scheduled a summer shed tour. That same sound was so crisp, cutting and, yes, commercial that Palmer suddenly took it as his own, and recorded 1985’s Riptide with producer Edwards, drummer Thompson and guitarist Taylor on his biggest-ever solo hit to date, Addicted To Love. Not long after Riptide’s release, Palmer left his longtime label, Island, for new digs at EMI, and a continuation of the crunch-rock-rhythm sound.

Palmer bailed on the tour and split from the Power Station weeks after the album’s release. Taylor doesn’t sound angry at Palmer, now, for having jumped ship on the Power Station when he did. “Hey, Island made him a huge money offer at the time to deliver a new album on the heels of ours,” says the bassist. ”Look, we were blessed just to be able to make a record with Robert. He’s a great artist, a great collaborator, and should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Robert just came into the studio, loosened his tie, and took off – he made it all look so easy."

Taylor makes sure to mention that Palmer’s Power Station tour replacement, Michel Des Barres, came nobly to their rescue when the already-booked 1985 Power Station summer tour and Live Aid appearance reared its head. “We started out as a band meant to have more than one singer, so why not,” says Taylor with a laugh. “Still, we needed a singer for this tour, so God bless Michael. Everyone knew his reputation as an amazing singer and an underachiever who had two bands who were supposed to have been massive – Silverhead and Detective – that just didn’t happen. And it wasn’t as if he wasn’t current; he had just written that Animotion song Obsession, which was a huge hit, and he was wide and alive. We found Michael in Texas hanging out with Don Johnson on a movie set, flew him into New York, he hit the mic, and immediately we knew that he just got it. Michael was perfect. He came in and embraced it.”

Taylor says that listening to the never-before-released August 1985 live show that’s part of the new Power Station boxed set was something of a thrill, as he’d never heard the tapes prior to creating this 2026 collection. “I forgot that we’d had to fill out a two-hour set on that tour based on a Power Station album of just eight songs, so, sure, we did Obsession. And of course, let’s do a Duran Duran song. Hey, let’s do two.”

The lesson John Taylor learned with the creation of the supergroup: there’s no place like home. “The idea of a supergroup was so everything not punk-rock, right?” says the bassist with a big laugh. “The Power Station started off as this unconventional thing, gained traction, and became more legitimate, more conventional. And by the end of its 1985 tour, I realized that I didn’t start the Power Station for the sake of convention, or even to have another band. I was already in a great band to start: Duran Duran.”

A.D. Amorosi (Variety - Jan. 2026)

Voir aussi :

• John Taylor Looks Back At The Power Station's Debut LP  (Forbes - 2026)
• The Power Station's Cocaine-Fueled Chaos Left An '80s Masterpiece  (Spin - 2026)