In November 1975, Robert Palmer was a 26-year-old with an more and more subtle style for blue-eyed soul infused with one of the best worldwide components, gathered from New Orleans to Kingston, Jamaica.
Simply over a 12 months earlier, after reducing his tooth on the UK rock scene with the Alan Bown Set, Dada and Vinegar Joe, he had made his solo debut with Sneakin’ Sally By means of The Alley. It was an album that mixed his personal songwriting aptitude with an ear for southern-flavored rhythm and blues, as created by the likes of Allen Toussaint (whose tune grew to become the title monitor) and Little Feat’s Lowell George.
Certainly, George was among the many A-list crew of contributors to that LP, together with members of the Meters, different crack American session males and British notables from Simon Phillips to Steve Winwood. When Palmer got here to make the follow-up, George was once more current, together with fellow members of Little Feat, for the distinguished album Strain Drop.
The duvet of the disc would now be regarded in lots of quarters as politically incorrect, and though it was launched within the completely different social milieu of the mid-Seventies, it was not immune from controversy then both. On its launch, Tower Data introduced that it could not be stocking the album due to its cowl picture.
With Steve Smith once more serving as producer, George and Toussaint have been once more among the many contributing songwriters, as Palmer turned his hand to “Trouble,” from Little Feat’s Sailin’ Sneakers album of 1972, and Allen’s “Riverboat,” first sung by Lee Dorsey in 1970. The title tune mirrored the Englishman’s love of reggae, as he lined Toots and the Maytals.
However the remainder of the album noticed Palmer asserting himself as a composer in his personal proper, on songs such because the percussive “Work To Make It Work,” the luxurious “Back In My Arms” and “Here With Me Tonight,” the latter co-written along with his former Vinegar Joe colleague Pete Gage.
Better of all have been the album’s attractive opener, “Give Me An Inch,” and the closing “Which Of Us Is The Fool.” Two prime examples of blue-eyed soul, they served discover that Palmer was a singer-songwriter on a fast rise. They drew on the delectable string-laden preparations of the peerless Gene Web page, on an album that additionally boasted the brilliance of the Muscle Shoals Horns. Billboard known as the outcomes “a superb example of rock and roll versatility.”
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Palmer was nonetheless a 12 months away from his UK album chart debut, and the place Sneakin’ Sally By means of The Alley had reached No.107 in a 15-week run on the American chart, Strain Drop stopped at No.136, in an eight-week stint. Nevertheless it had many admirers. Rolling Stone known as the file “easy to like and easy to live with.”
In that February 1976 article, author Bud Scoppa described Palmer as “another marcher in the growing column of white folks who prefer playing it greasy and getting down (notable recent examples: Bowie, Cate Bros., Frankie Miller, Little Feat). A talented chameleon, he knows what he wants and gets it.”
Purchase or stream Strain Drop.
