Thomas Dolby is often described as a musical chameleon. He can seamlessly run from one genre to another and sound equally at home in most of them. I'd argue that Robert Palmer could take that nickname too. While Dolby's work is much more cerebral and satisfying, Palmer has had much more commercial success with his approach.
As I was working out this week, Palmer's "Looking for Clues" came on my iPod, inspiring this post. "Looking for Clues" is just a perfect snapshot of new wave, and it comes from a person that picked up new wave on a whim, which makes it even more endearing and cute.
Palmer's career started in the early 70s, with his first big outing as part of the British R&B band Vinegar Joe, who broke up in 1974. His solo career took off quickly afterward, with Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley in 1974, which brought him is first hit, "Sailing Shoes". His first album was more on the R&B/Blues side that Vinegar Joe started out playing, but he branched out his sound soon afterwards.
1975's Pressure Drop was a reggae album and he toured with blues-rockers Little Feat to promote the album. 1978's Double Fun was a rock album with a deep Caribbean influence to it and it featured "Every Kinda People", which has become a reggae and pop standards, and a cover of "You Really Got Me". 1979's Secrets was a straight up rock album, featuring the big hit, a cover of Moon Martin's "Bad Case of Loving You"
It was in 1980 that Palmer went new wave, with Clues, which was produced by the Talking Heads' Chris Frantz and dark electro-pop icon Gary Numan (there's a cover of Numan's "I Dream of Wires" on this album too). The disaffected and moody "Johnny and Mary" was the biggest hit on the album, but "Looking for Clues" also got some airplay, the video for which was played on the first day of broadcast on MTV.
Palmer went on to huge mainstream success as a member of supergroup The Power Station in the mid 80s, then got even bigger after "Addicted to Love" in 1986 and "Simply Irresistible" in 1988, with their iconic videos were played to death on MTV and commercial radio.
Palmer passed away back in 2003 from a heart attack.
I love the video for this song, it's so fun and cheesy. It's a perfect slice of the 80s. The song itself is really cute too, with the oddball vocal shift in the second half.
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