Robert Palmer – Record-facts…

posted by albums-update

Don’t Explain is the tenth solo studio album by Robert Palmer, released in 1990. During the course of its 18 tracks, Palmer displays rock, R&B, jazz and Bahamian influences. Several classic songs are covered, as well.

Robert Palmer‘s second EMI album, which turned out to be a sales disappointment, seems to combine two different musical concepts in its 18 tracks. The first is a straightforward, rhythm-heavy Robert Palmer rock album that takes up about the first half of the record. The second is a soundtrack for a planned musical that a Palmer bio describes as “a futuristic comedy using telling songs from the ’40s to the present day,” some produced by jazzman Teo Macero. These include songs like Bob Dylan‘s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (done reggae style), Marvin Gaye‘s “Mercy Mercy Me” and “I Want You,” and Rodgers & Hammerstein‘s “People Will Say We’re in Love.” The idea looks forward to Palmer‘s next album, Ridin’ High, which is comprised entirely of standards, but the mixture of rhythm tracks and string-filled arrangements here makes for a confusing mixture.

The tags tell the story here. To begin with, you think you’re on familiar ground: the first track, ‘Your Mother Should Have Told You’, is much like the hard rock that Palmer became known for in the 80s, most notably on Heavy Nova. And so it continues — for 5 tracks or so, with ‘Dreams to Remember’ supplying some variation in being a synth-powered 80’s ballad.

And then comes ‘Mess Around’, which sounds more like Prince, and signals a complete change in the tone of the album. The next 5 tracks are virtually unclassifiable as a group. ‘Happiness’ is jazzy and light. ‘History’ is a vocal tour-de-force in which the main vocal comprises a layering of Palmer’s voice, and he provides most of his own backing, à la Bobby McFerrin. Next up is one of the album’s two hits, the reggae version of Bob Dylan‘s ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ with an assist from UB40.

‘Housework’ is a song about doing the housework, for God’s sake, in preparation for an at-home dinner date with one’s wife. It begins: ‘Wave goodbye from out of the window / Good — no trouble starting the car. Time for just one more cup of coffee (you know the housework won’t wait).’ Other lyrics feature taking out the trash, going shopping (including getting cash from an ATM), and peeling vegetables. The song ends with the dinner being served, and… ‘Leave the dishes until tomorrow. Let’s play!’, and segues into a salsa-like closing. The song is, astonishingly enough, excellent fun.

The album’s other big success was ‘Mercy Mercy Me / I Want You’, a seamless melding of two Marvin Gaye songs. One is about environmental degradation, the other romance; Palmer moves back and forth between the two, almost as if ‘I Want You’ is the chorus for ‘Mercy Mercy Me’. (Or maybe vice-versa. But ‘Mercy Mercy Me’ comes first in the track.) Again, astonishingly, this works like a charm, and the result is a moving and compelling song that sounds like its two components were made for each other.

And then the album changes again. The last 7 tracks are a mix of old and new jazz, with standards from Billie Holiday, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Ella Fitzgerald, and songs by Palmer himself. Palmer’s own stuff stands up fine: ‘Aeroplane’, for instance, follows the title track (originally Holiday’s) just fine. Palmer is not just messing around here: he is a superb interpreter of jazz standards.

All up, this is a tremendously varied album, and yet it’s tremendously successful for all that. It may be the best showcase there is for Palmer’s remarkably wide talents as a singer and songwriter.

Tracklist

“Your Mother Should Have Told You” (Robert Palmer, Guy Pratt) (3:41)
“Light-Years” (Divinyls, Robert Palmer) (4:27)
“You Can’t Get Enough of a Good Thing” (Robert Palmer) (4:08)
“Dreams to Remember” (Otis Redding, Zelda Reading, Joe Rock) (4:25)
“You’re Amazing” (Stephen Fellows, Alan Mansfield, Robert Palmer, Guy Pratt, Steve Stevens) (3:49)
“Mess Around” (Stephen Fellows, Robert Palmer) (4:50)
“Happiness” (Robert Palmer) (2:52)
“History” (Robert Palmer) (4:32)
“I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” with UB40 (Bob Dylan) (3:26)
“Housework” (Stephen Fellows, Robert Palmer) (3:12)
“Mercy Mercy Me” (Marvin Gaye) / “I Want You” (Arthur “T-Boy” Ross, Leon Ware) (5:59)
“Don’t Explain” (Arthur Herzog, Jr., Billie Holiday) (2:28)
“Aeroplane” (Robert Palmer) (3:04)
“People Will Say We’re in Love” (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein) (2:20)
“Not a Word” (Robert Palmer, Guy Pratt, Colin Vearncombe) (4:18)
“Top 40” (Mose Allison) (2:40)
“You’re So Desirable” (Ray Noble) (2:24)
“You’re My Thrill” (Sidney Clare, Jay Gorney) (3:58)