The Gentleman Rocks On

Publié le par olivier

The Gentleman Rocks On

Like most of his recent albums, Robert Palmer's latest effort, Don't Explain, parades a wide diversity of styles ranging from the metal-funk he pioneered on Riptide and bossa nova to soul and Carribean pop. The work was recorded in Logic Studios, Milan, and produced by Palmer and Teo Macero.

The first single from the album, a reworking of the Bob Dylan song I'll Be Your baby Tonight, is now racing up the charts in Britain and the US. Palmer is backed by British reggae band UB40 on the track. Both parties had been planning to do a project together for a long while. When the chance presented itself this year, they went into the studio together.

Robert Palmer was born in Batley, Yorkshire on Jan. 19, 1949 and was whisked off to the Mediterranean island of Malta when he was six months. As a teenager, he cultivated a taste for American rhtyhm-and-blues and soul music, incorporating elements of these idioms in his first band Mandrakes, which he joined when he was 15.

After a stint as a graphic designer, Palmer plunged into music full-time and hooked up with the Alan Bown Set as a vocalist in 1968. The next year, he joined the group Dada which later became Vinegar Joe. With the latter, Palmer played rhythm guitar and sang with Elkie Brooks. But a yearning to pursue his own muse made him leave Vinegar Joe after a series of albums in 1974.

He made a deal with Chris Blackwell of Island Records, who was impressed by Palmer's work, and started work on his debut solo album, Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley, which was recorded with members of Little Feat and top session musicians in New York and New Orleans. The album, which paid tribute to Palmer's seminal influences, was fairly successful in the US, where Palmer moved subsequently.

After the next album, Pressure Drop, Palmer shifted base to Nassau where he began soaking up ethnic styles. Through musch of the late 70s and early 80s, the singer released a steady succession of albums that, despite selling modestly and being inconsistent in quality, demonstrated his experimental bent.

In 1985, Palmer again hit the big time when he teamed up with members of Duran Duran for the Power Station project which yielded the hit Some Like It Hot. He furthered that direction on Riptide, which hatched the radio/video hit Addicted To Love.

Heavy Nova, his last album, contained Simply Irresistible, and Palmer, who now has a dapper, gentleman-being-cool image, undertook a world tour that included a stop in Singapore last year. Palmer will be doing a tour in support of Don't Explain early next year, and there are plans for a movie project about "music in a romantic environment where you can eat, talk and drink as opposed to a psychedelic meat market."

(The New Straits Times - Dec. 1990)

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