Salient. Victoria University students' Newspaper. Volume Number 39, Issue 7. April 12 [1976]
Pressure Drop: Robert Palmer Island L 35773
Pressure Drop: Robert Palmer Island L 35773
Never give an inch goes the old adage, but Robert Palmer swears its exactly the opposite. In American parlance he could be termed a 'sharp cookie'.
He popped out of Vinegar Joe, a mediocre English band who enjoyed moderate success emasculating soul music, and brought himself to the notice of one Lowell George, erstwhile Little Feat leader and, two, a wardrobe of snappy Italian suits.
Updating his style, he scored a minor masterpiece, Sneaking Sally through the Alley. 'Give Me an Inch, Girl' which blows the lid off Pressure Drop also settles the argument that strings can't be used constructively within the rock milieu.
In fact, here they enhance the music creating a vortex that pulls its hearer into a sculptured sound wall. All the more surprising when you remember that the manipulator of those string charts was previously noted only for burying Barry White's synthetic smegma.
With assistance from Little Feat and Muscle Shoals, the overall effect isn't half bad. And when the amazing twist at the end arrives, the realisation suddenly dawns that it's Bobby - and not Be Bop Deluxe - who should be viewed as this year's English projectile for a serious assault on to the American market.
In Kingston, Jamaica, it's considered that a guy called Toots Hibbert is reggae's primal force after the dismal lapse of Cliff and Marley's progressively slicker stylings. Now, I mean, what caused Palmer to lift his Pressure Drop as a title?
It would be tedious to run through the tracks, pointing out reasons for and against. Suffice to say that 'Which of Us Is The Fool' - I know it's not him, and I'm sure it's not me (perhaps he's thinking about someone else) - or 'Here With You Tonight' could persuade even the most hardened.
Patrick O'Dea