Robert Palmer Albums Ranked

Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was known for his powerful, distinctive, gritty, and soulful voice, sartorial elegance, and for combining soul, jazz, rock, pop, reggae, and blues. Palmer’s involvement in the music industry began in the 1960s, covered four decades, and included a spell with the band Vinegar Joe.  He found success both in his solo career and with the Power Station and had Top 10 songs in both the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Three of his hit singles, “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On”, “Addicted to Love” and “Simply Irresistible”, were accompanied with stylish music videos directed by British fashion photographer Terence Donovan. Palmer received a number of awards throughout his career, including two Grammy Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, an MTV Video Music Award, and two Brit Award nominations for Best British Male Solo Artist.[4][5] He died aged 54, following a heart attack on 26 September 2003. Here are all of Robert Palmer’s albums ranked.

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10. Pride (1983)

“The album’s highlights are: “Pride” (title track) is Robert’s answer to Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical”; “You Are in my System” has dico and funky undertones; “What You Waiting For” is the typical New Wave song with a synth hook and a heavy slap bass; “Want You More” is a solemn love song with sweeping synth notes; “The Silver Gun” is a song unlike any other. Sung in Urdu (a language from Pakistan), it is a very haunting and bizarre track, which displays the incredible versatility of Robert Palmer’s voice. The track’s music shows a very complex mix of synth loops, samples, heavy beats, funk bass. The rest of the album has a few weak tracks (“You Can Have It”, “It’s Not Difficult”, “Dance For Mew”), but you can always remove them from your playlist and enjoy the rest of the album.”

9. Don’t Explain (1990)

“Don’t Explain is a double album. The first record is up-tempo Pop with either straight-forward Rock, Soul, New Wave, and Caribbean influences, respectively while the second record is softer featuring lush arrangements, again of various styles – Soul, Swing, Jazz ballad, Brazilian influences. The title song refers to the song made famous by Billie Holiday, of course. In most cases, fans of either style will reject the other ones and so, Don’t Explain was a predictable commercial flop.”

8. Secrets (1979)

“Taken by itself,this is probably Robert Palmer’s most lead guitar oriented album of his first decade. That’s not to say,however,that this is a simple hard rock album. Actually, it’s just about everything but. Palmer and his band seem to be thinking very much like black musicians such as Jimi Hendrix or P-Funk’s Eddie Hazel would in regards to rock ‘n’ roll. That being rock as a genre functions a lot better when approached as something flexible rather then being a be all and end all in itself. Most of the songs here that have heavier guitar tend to be oriented around the blues or the soul/funk sound Palmer had already established himself in.”

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7. Addictions Volume 1 (1989)

“The thing I liked most about Robert Palmer was his ability to be original and diverse. “Addictions, Vol. 1” encapsulates his unique talent, a talent that was underrated and will be missed by all his fans. One listen to this cd and you can easily tell that you are listening to a one of a kind musical stylist. You have all of his big hits with the exclusion of “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” and “Get It On (Bang A Gong)” (which appeared on “Addictions, Vol. 2″ in 1992).”

6. Double Fun (1978)

“This album fits squarely into that first period of his musical journey and actually rather winds up as a conclusion to it. Ever since  Sneakin Sally Through the Alley  Palmer had been working through his Nassau derived mix of reggae, funk, and pop R&B while refining it different ways from album to album. And one thing that could be said about him that made him a unique artist was his ability to understand how to perform funk well. Not only by maintaining connections with Little Feat and The Meters but by his ability to interpret, both vocal and as a writer/musician the polyrhythms and varying tempos of the genre.”

5. Heavy Nova (1988)

“”Heavy Nova” stands as a testament to a true genius of songwriting captured at the peak of his career, with unparalleled arranging and interpretive skills. His voice is thrilling – nuanced, yet always exuberant. Robert Palmer sang with infectious joy and truly loved all kinds of music. Soul, r&b, calypso, rock, new wave – nothing was beyond his reach or capability. Not only could he do it all – he could do it well. This comes through on all of his wonderful albums. There’s none I wouldn’t recommend buying, but none contain as much variety as this one. It really is a masterpiece.”

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4. Riptide (1985)

“”Riptide” is an old standard done up in a kind of mid 80’s synth-rock style. Kind of an odd variation on what Nelson George called the “retro nuevo” trend in some 80’s music. The brittle electro dance-rock of “Hyperactive” (not the Thoma Dolby song),”Flesh Wound” and “Discipline Of Love” is not very far removed from the style of music Palmer would use as a member of Power Station around the same time. “Trick Bag” tries to go for a heavy funk-rock flavor and with all the cooks in the kitchen from Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson and keyboard player Wally Badarou the drums and electronics are just a little too heavy to accommodate the sound of funk, which isn’t as based in loudness but actually serves to bring out both the advantages and limitations of the funk/rock hybrid. “Addicted To Love” is the big 80’s “rock” song that hooked everyone into this album and is presented here in an extended length on this album.”

3. Some People Can Do What They Like (1976)

“Throughout the entire album the bass and percussion are very tight, and on the piano we have Bill Payne at his absolute best. Robert Palmer’s vocals are full of energy and soul. There are three Robert Palmer albums worth owning, and this is one of them. The other two are “Pressure Drop” and “Sneaking Sally Thru the Alley”. Most would argue that those two are better than “Some People Can Do What They Like”, because the latter does not have Lowell George on guitar. But I would say that this is his best album, albeit by the slimmest of margins.”

2. Clues (1980)

“”Clues” represented a major departure for Robert Palmer, shifting from his typically island-flavored rock towards harder-edged New Wave/Electronica. At the time “Clues” was recorded Palmer was playing on the Talking Head’s  Remain in Light sessions and was heavily influenced by Gary Numan, and all of them wind up playing on the tracks here. Palmer’s chameleonic voice was ideally suited for electronica, ranging from the low rumble demonstrated on “Johnny and Mary” to the falsetto on the title track. There still is a strong island flavor here and there, as on “Woke Up Laughing”, but overall keyboards and drum machines dominate as on the Numan-penned track “I Dream of Wires”, which rocks harder here than on Numan’s original.”

1. Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley (1974)

“Sneakin” Sally Through The Alley is Robert Palmer’s first album–at least his first album to be a commercial success. He pays homage to Little Feat and Lowell George with this recording. Listen to the segue of Sailin’ Shoes/ Hey Julia/ Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley and if you are familiar with Little Feat at all, you will see just what I mean. This segue was a staple on college radio back in 1974. I heartily recommend this album just because it brings back so many good memories of my college days.”