Somehow I got on a Robert Palmer kick tonight.

Then I remembered how much soul he had. He was like a funkier David Bowie in many ways - namely that he sorta created odd melodies or unusual rhythm and chord progressions (not unlike Peter Gabriel, too), which all seems to be very British.

People seemed to take larger notice of him when he hit big with "Addicted to Love," which you could not get away from if you tried. It was his first #1 US hit (although "Bad Case of Loving You" was #1 in Canada years prior). "Simply Irresistible" a couple of years later also hit #1. He said he had a tough time with that song, and couldn't find the catch or the hook in it to make it cohesive. Someone came along and worked out the drum hits, the pause and him saying "Simply irresistible..." before heading back into the chorus.

Palmer also had hits with quite a few cover songs, including Jermaine Jackson's duet with MJ, "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming (Too Good To Be True)," The GAP Band's "Early In The Morning," and Cherelle's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On;" the latter of which was a very different production and arrangement, compared to the original. He largely stuck to the original parts in the former two songs.

He later had a hit with a medley of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" / "I Want You"

Before all that, he had a stint with The Power Station (named after the New York recording studio of the same name) with Duran Duran members John Taylor and Andy Taylor, and drummer Tony Thompson (of Chic). It was the first supergroup I knew about, although perhaps there were others before that. (I think Damn Yankees was after that.) They had a huge hit with "Some Like It Hot," as well as with a cover of "Bang A Gong" (T. Rex) and the album also included The Isley Brothers' "Harvest for the World." (The beginning weirdness on "Bang A Gong" reminds me of "Dance On Your Knees," which was the "intro"-esque track of Hall & Oates "Out of Touch.")

Palmer once told the story about how he was in the middle of recording "Some Guy Have All The Luck," saying, "I was working with Moon Martin when I wrote 'Some Guys'. I played it to him and a few days later he said he'd just heard someone singing it in the studio across the road, which seemed impossible since I hadn't finished it myself! What happened was that I must have heard it subliminally, I think it was on Australian radio, and just hadn't realised. The only thing I remembered was the title line."

(Rod Stewart's cover version with the same name that was a cover of The Persuaders 1973 hit, came out a year later. It was the most successful cover of the song, peaking at #10 on the US charts. The "whoa whoa whoa" refrain after the chorus is from "Ain't Got No Home" by Clarence "Frogman" Henry.)

Palmer also sang the title song from 1988 movie, "Sweet Lies." He would later cover "Respect Yourself," an old Staple Singers song.

Palmer passed from a sudden heart attack while in Paris. He was 54. His long time female companion wasn't with him when he passed. It was reported that while he never delved into the drugs and alcohol that comes with rock n' roll, he was a heavy smoker, and sometimes smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day.

Yep, very versatile, very charming, I always liked his voice. He was Chameleon-esque too, his albums moved from Blue-Eyed Soul to New Wave to pure Pop Rock. My fav song will always be "Addicted to Love", for the hook, the riff and the butthurt the MV triggered in prudes, but I admit I have a soft spot for "She Makes My Day", just terrific delivery on that one.

[Edited 8/27/21 2:09am]

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Ndeeed!! My favorites were "Sneakin Sally Through The Alley" with The Meters, as well as members of Little Feat...

I especially dig the remix on Addictions, Vol.2:

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https://www.youtube.com/w...M2inX6jBo8

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and Every Kinda People

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https://www.youtube.com/w...hB_ZthG55g

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also, I read that Prince once mentioned he wished he had written Addicted To Love"

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[Edited 8/27/21 22:29pm]

Wikipedia mentioned the chorus melody for "Every Kinda People" was also used in a Van Morrison song, and MJ's "Blood On The Dance Floor."

I must've missed that song over the years. I really like it. It was noted that the mix in the video, and on Addictions is different. They removed a heavy guitar sound on the original and replaced it with an acoustic guitar, so it was a more earthy and organic sound; almost unplugged in a way.

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Yeah, the more I think about it , I guess I liked a lot of his "under the radar" tunes...

this was another one I dug:

(I also liked Clare Fischer's little Clarinet arrangements here)

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Rober Palmer - Happiness

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https://www.youtube.com/w...0tyFB0rmW0

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and Aeroplane:

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https://www.youtube.com/w...7JgAx0YAJo

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[Edited 8/29/21 19:26pm]

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I'm a huge Robert Palmer fan.

I have all his records and love basiclaly all of 'm.

Still play 'm up to this day.

And i also try to collect his 45rpm's and other collaborations, as well as his production work for others.

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I even heard him saying in an interview of 1985(?) that he liked the ''The Family'' album by a ''band associated by Prince'', because of the soul and apporach of real music (on that record).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sdd4JDraRk

from 11:20 on.

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He also had a (better) hit with the Jam & Lewis penned ''I Didn't Mean To Turn you on'', which was originally written for and performed by Cherelle.

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For some reason (when i started art school in the early eighties and) i discoverd his album ''Pride'' and was intrigued by this fantastic album cover (at the time).

Up to this day I keep on playing this album.

It. Is. A. Classic. Album. !!!

It is so fantastic for the way he worked with synths instead of guitar, touched a different style in every song on that album, still seemd to keep 'm all together as a whole.

A very enjoyable joyous album, with a fanstasic closure song drenched in eastern paterns and sound.

His singing always had a soul element in it. You could hear his love for Otis Redding in his singing, althogh his was different but unique.

The guy had style and appearance.

I'm sure he liked Prince's music too.

Just didn't see himself singing ''Lust You Always'' on one of his albums.

He was stylish true romantic kind of R'R artist who didn't feel the need of singing lyrics by Prince like;

"Slow motion ejaculation
Purple ecstasy
My body reeks with lust
will rape U if must"

LOL

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[Edited 8/30/21 8:51am]

Doalwa said:

I’ll just leave this here… https://youtu.be/1_bpXhUavGY 🤘 [Edited 8/30/21 12:45pm] [Edited 8/30/21 12:47pm]

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All gone. R.I.P.

What a great performace.

Thank you !

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This song came out in 1988, it must have been a different Robert Palmer song probably Addicted To Love, unless the club had an early promo

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.Cat Glover on the night she met Prince:

"We took different cars and we ended up at a club called Voila in Beverly Hills, a private club, downstairs in a mall. I was sitting there with Fargnoli, DeVaquez, Prince and a couple of other people. Prince said (speaking in a low, raspy voice) "Cat, when a good song comes on will you dance with me?" I said "Sure!"

The first song came on and he didn't ask to me to dance. The second song came on; he didn't ask me to ask. On the third song, "Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer, he asked me to dance. I was wearing cowboy boots and a pair of Levi's jeans. He reached to hold my hands while we were dancing, but, I had leather gloves on, so, I couldn't feel anything."

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Robert Palmer - Simply Ir... - YouTube

https://youtu.be/UrGw_cOgwa8

Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love (Official Music Video)

https://youtu.be/XcATvu5f9vE

Robert Palmer - Addicted ... - YouTube

I remember reading the liner notes on Addictions, where he talked about overlying two different types of tracks. Everyone thought he was nuts and didn't get what he was saying. He said,

"This is in the Mbiru style of msuci, it's kalimba music. It has two isolate time signatures, a standard 4/4 with a slow African waltz floating over the top. Nobody could understand what I was getting at at all, they thought I was nuts but I knew if we recorded the two metres separately and then played them back in sync everything would syncopate."

Yet ironically, he also said, "I wrote a new section during the '86 live tour and we completely ermade the song so that this version supersedes all the others."

I always found that fasincating. The track is definitely a different sound from his previous albums. (It's on Clues.) The Addictions version sounds more cultured and ethnic in whatever way, but I sorta dig the Clues version a bit more because of it's experimentation.