just got his first one "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" and it's pretty fucking rad. total mix of Dr John and Sly & the Family Stone.
yes! listened to it for the first time last time and it's like the best Little Feat album there never was. which now makes sense
wiki sez: 'Palmer is backed by The Meters and Lowell George of Little Feat. Multiple reviewers have commented that Robert sings confidently on this album despite being backed by more accomplished musicians such as Lowell George, Art Neville and New Orleans singer-songwriter Allen Toussaint. Recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana, New York, and Compass Point Studios in Nassau'
― herbal bert (herb albert), Friday, 22 April 2011 12:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Sneakin' Sally is great: Get Outside is such a great song and the final 12-minutes long track is truly hypnotic in the best way possible. Also he covered From A Whisper To A Scream, one of my personal faves.
― Marco Damiani, Friday, 22 April 2011 13:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I like Sneaking Sally Through The Alley but my favorites are Pressure Drop, Double Fun and Pride. Everything that comes after Riptide is kind of meh.
― Leopard on the Cheetos Bag (MintIce), Friday, 22 April 2011 13:23 (thirteen years ago) link
The trend is irreversible.
― My mom is all about capital gains tax butthurtedness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 April 2011 13:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Hopefully yes!
― Marco Damiani, Friday, 22 April 2011 13:50 (thirteen years ago) link
i bought pride a couple weeks ago and have been playing it almost every day. the drum programming is insane. i'm obsessed with the title track. one song even sounds like a prototype for lifelike/kris menace sidechain house
― am I diversified? (blank), Thursday, 21 July 2011 04:23 (twelve years ago) link
ugh anyway "say you will" and "the silver gun" have a big boisterous low end + synth flickers/gurgles that remind me of maximalist post-crydamoure french house (or even some nudisco)
but the vocals and songwriting are the big draw of this album (besides previously mentioned drum programming). the first music i got into when i was 2 or 3 yrs old was stuff like hall & oates, wham!, tears for fears.. i would have played the shit out of pride if i had had it then.
― am I diversified? (blank), Thursday, 21 July 2011 04:33 (twelve years ago) link
Ten years gone today. Love his music and lots of what I've heard about him as a person, not least the story where one of his girlfriends walked into his hotel room to find him taking a bath wearing a full length leather coat and drinking from a champagne bottle.
― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Thursday, 26 September 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
On the day he died, I saw a Delorean parked (legally) in a handicap spot. Seemed symbolic.
― bendy, Thursday, 26 September 2013 16:21 (ten years ago) link
Reports published after his death were coy about what brought on his heart attack. Drugs?
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 September 2013 16:34 (ten years ago) link
good one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X683kO4ZcKA
― espring (amateurist), Friday, 21 March 2014 22:45 (ten years ago) link
oh wait that's the remix/remake
this is the one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdWTy9TwvZ8
am I wrong to hear some african guitar music influence on this one or is it one of those funny confluences?
― espring (amateurist), Friday, 21 March 2014 22:46 (ten years ago) link
Nope. In the liner notes to the greatest hits album on which this resides he mentions the very thing. My first exposure to this music btw.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 March 2014 22:59 (ten years ago) link
that's good to know. but oddly the african influence seems more pronounced on the version _not_ on the greatest hits thing.
anyway, i feel vindicated. a good feeling.
palmer made some of the more thoughtful (and tuneful) art-pop of the period. he doesn't get enough credit for this.
― espring (amateurist), Friday, 21 March 2014 23:03 (ten years ago) link
glad the Todd Terje-Bryan Ferry cover of "Johnny and Mary" is exposing people to the song.
He was at his best with electro R&B. I can't think of any white Englishman who would show the restraint, taste, and production choices with which "You Are in My System," "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming" are lavished.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 March 2014 23:06 (ten years ago) link
yeah, nice drum and synth programming on those. why don't we just crown him god and devote the rest of our lives to his name?
― espring (amateurist), Friday, 21 March 2014 23:08 (ten years ago) link
pride (the album) is so awesome, i like it much better than Clues. the gary numan cover on clues starts off awesome and then just gets ridiculous. I wouldnt have minded a whole album of angsty apocalyptic palmer.
― brimstead, Friday, 21 March 2014 23:34 (ten years ago) link
he acquits himself so well on this tricky Jermaine-Michael duet. He doesn't go for histrionics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0QpPbnxexY
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 March 2014 01:41 (ten years ago) link
rp was the greatest curator of music from like sneakin sally to late 80s. he was always 1/2 step ahead in bringing sounds to pop. i like clues better than pride, but i like the meters' stuff off of sneakin' sally better than almost anything else- in a genre that isn't really my thing.
and he always seemed to have figured out how to live better then anyone, save for an ilxor or two.
― a nation filled with lead (Hunt3r), Saturday, 22 March 2014 02:34 (ten years ago) link
"than." oh and also i disagree on that song where he disses fitness chicks, cause they rule.
― a nation filled with lead (Hunt3r), Saturday, 22 March 2014 02:35 (ten years ago) link
great youtube, that keyboard solo is close enough for jazz. :)
didn't little feat back him on some of dem early albums or am i just fantasizing? there are more than a few albums I wish little feat were on (the wild the innocent and the e street shuffle for starters).
― espring (amateurist), Saturday, 22 March 2014 02:57 (ten years ago) link
yeah, Palmer's first album has Lowell George playing all over it (plus a Little Feat cover and another LG co-write) and his second album has pretty much all of Little Feat as his backing band.
― some dude, Tuesday, 25 March 2014 13:00 (ten years ago) link
The Andy Taylor memoir has a couple anecdotes about the Taylor boys partying and booching with Palmer, whose dress and hair sense and ability to look impeccable after a night of partying surpassed Bryan Ferry's apparently.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 25 March 2014 13:07 (ten years ago) link
Some People Can Do What They Like (1976) is tremendous. some funky funky shit.
― jamiesummerz, Tuesday, 25 March 2014 14:07 (ten years ago) link
Yeah the Little Feat/Palmer combinations are amazing (on top of everything else). I said elsewhere that great as that Little Feat box set is a dream box would have included a slew of their backing sessions for others and the Palmer stuff is top of the list. Phill Brown, producer/engineer for a ton of folks, had some great anecdotes about those sessions in his book Are We Still Rolling?
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 25 March 2014 14:16 (ten years ago) link
And they backed up Akiko Yano on her debut album
― brimstead, Tuesday, 25 March 2014 18:39 (ten years ago) link
you know i hadn't noticed before today (when I listened to the album on headphones) how bizarre/awesome the female backing vocals on "hey julia" are... "doodle doodle doo..."
― display name changed. (amateurist), Sunday, 25 May 2014 00:11 (nine years ago) link
anyone know how the whole little feat/akiko yano/hosono collabs came about?
just listened to the yet-to-be-mentioned-on-this-thread "best of both worlds" for the first time in years and, damn, those are some weird chord changes. he briefly changes keys in the middle of each verse, from B to D, in a way that's unexpected, awkward and pretty damn cool.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 05:28 (nine years ago) link
as for his interest in african, caribbean, brazilian, etc. music, here's a pretty good interview where he delves into it with some musical depth.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 05:39 (nine years ago) link
really enjoying Clues and Pride
― Heez, Friday, 17 March 2017 23:13 (seven years ago) link
somehow I never knew about Clues. What a great album.
― akm, Saturday, 18 March 2017 05:22 (seven years ago) link
https://open.spotify.com/track/5bg0lxba4KQmBhWe3nKHUB
― calstars, Friday, 26 May 2017 23:09 (six years ago) link
Link to Alfred's recent writeup since he hasn't gotten around to it yet:https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/07/09/he-needs-all-the-world-to-confirm-best-of-robert-palmer/
― Under Heaviside Manners (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:21 (six years ago) link
i somehow managed not to hear "every kinda people" until like two or three years ago. what a great song! i love the steel drums. definitely the sort of soft rock i go for.
― The Saga of Rodney Stooksbury (rushomancy), Sunday, 23 July 2017 01:03 (six years ago) link
Yet he wrote a few terrible tunes.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 February 2018 02:34 (six years ago) link
Hearing this for the first time and digging it!
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 5 April 2019 20:59 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7tMoOJbc-A
I never knew he used to cover "New Day Rising" live
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 13 December 2019 20:45 (four years ago) link
Another one for the "I can't believe this exists" file: Palmer covering Motörhead's "Eat the Rich" live in 1988.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEaCwaYyt_E
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 22:52 (two years ago) link
Well, the embed didn't work, but here's the link...
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 22:53 (two years ago) link
Totally believe it. This man loved performing his record collection
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:01 (two years ago) link
The crazy/awesome part to me is that "Eat the Rich" is a song from 1987, which means Robert Palmer was an active Motörhead listener.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:05 (two years ago) link
His fake Lemmy is hilarious.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:11 (two years ago) link
He covered The System's "You Are in My System" a year after its release too.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:15 (two years ago) link
His live "New Day Rising" was late-'80s too, no?
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:26 (two years ago) link
yep
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:28 (two years ago) link
Was near his Comsat Angels period iirc.
This man loved performing his record collection― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, April 19, 2022 4:01 PM
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, April 19, 2022 4:01 PM
Well put.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 23:29 (two years ago) link
I have a soft spot for his cover of “pressure drop”
― brimstead, Wednesday, 20 April 2022 00:40 (two years ago) link
Happy birthday. He was capable of dubbed-out shit like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xccGP7IfgjI
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 January 2023 14:52 (one year ago) link
I feel he is on the cusp of a new hipster crush.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 19 January 2023 17:05 (one year ago) link
There's a lot about Palmer in Guy Pratt's memoir too, all of it very fond.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 15:51 (nine months ago) link
Pratt on Palmer:
These were fabulously debauched times, although they were never keen on you leaving the house, figuring they had all the gourmet food, cocktail ingredients, narcotics, firearms, films and musical equipment anyone could ever wish for.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 16:38 (nine months ago) link