Music videos that feature Thunderbirds

[Basvarken]

Powerstation without Robert Palmer made no sense at all (to me at least it didn't)

[Rob]

Powerstation without Robert Palmer made no sense at all (to me at least it didn't)

True here too!

[uwe]

To be fair: Palmer didn't like to tour, was highly uncomfortable on stage and couldn't envisage himself fronting a rock circus like Power Station would have been. He preferred being in the studio and creating.

Des Barres wasn't in the same league vocally, with his slightly nasty glam rock blare he is a one trick pony. But he relished being on stage, extrovert he was/is. And I think he did well on the T. Rex cover because he comes from that same glam rock school. He actually emulates Bolan more than Palmer did who was around the time of T. Rextasy in blues and soul outfit Vinegar Joe together with Elkie Brooks and most likely deemed T. Rex a load of teeny bopper fodder. He had the status of rhythm guitarist und second lead vocals there, but with a force of nature like Elkie and her then still very expressive late 60ies vocal style (Janis Joplin beckons) he had a hard time getting across.

[Basvarken]

Robert Palmer was a genius who had the talent to excell in any style of music he wanted to play.
I'm quite sure he had absolutely no desire to emulate Bolan.

His live performances were as impressive as his studio albums.

[Ken]

Sorry if this has been posted.

[uwe]

Not this particular track, no, but would we complain if it was a repeat?

[Ken]

Not this particular track, no, but would we complain if it was a repeat?

Definitely not I.

[uwe]

Robert Palmer was a genius who had the talent to excell in any style of music he wanted to play.
I'm quite sure he had absolutely no desire to emulate Bolan.

His live performances were as impressive as his studio albums.

His singing live was excellent, no doubt, but he wasn't comfortable with putting on a performance.



Not everybody has to, but the Power Station's music wasn't exactly cerebral or deeply emotive, it was essentially a soundtrack to move your butt to - with some snazzy guitar.

[Basvarken]

In front of a camera for a video shoot he meant.
He was pretty confident with a microphone fronting a band.

[OldManC]

Robert Palmer was a genius who had the talent to excell in any style of music he wanted to play.
I'm quite sure he had absolutely no desire to emulate Bolan.

His live performances were as impressive as his studio albums.

When I was a young teen and almost exclusively into Sabbath, Alice Cooper, KISS, etc., I somehow discovered Robert Palmer and was immediately hooked. His eclectic style and quirky choices meant you could never tell what you might hear the first time you played one of his records. I loved that. As much as I loved that first Power Station album, I couldn't help but think it was a step down from him, and it bummed me out that his next few albums seemed to take some (but luckily not all) of its cues from that album.

[Basvarken]

I really like the second Powerstation album too. Very heavy.
Robert Palmer was a huge fan of Kings X, as you can hear in the title track.

[TBird1958]

 Mr.Palmer, always a fave - there's just something very likeable and appealing - simply irresistible! 

[uwe]

I liked that long forgotten (undeservedly so) second Power Station album too, but if we look at the tour performances at the time, can we then perhaps agree, Rob, that Palmer wasn't exactly a rock frontman forcefully projecting his image to even the last row in a stadium? 






Phil Lynott or Joyce Kennedy he wasn't, if you know what I mean. And I think his closing sentence in that video clip that even camera work is "easier than a nine month tour" for him, is very telling. He wasn't cut out for that and he toured very little in his life. Had he been part of a David Bowie type tour circus, I believe his music would have been even more popular.

As regards the Power Station episode, he did not seem particularly fond of it.

http://robert-palmer.over-blog.com/article-vinegar-joe-us-tour-1973-62539196.html

[Basvarken]

can we then perhaps agree, Rob, that Palmer wasn't exactly a rock frontman forcefully projecting his image to even the last row in a stadium? 

Sigh... not by your standards of leather clad men entering the stage on a Harley, No.

Palmer had swagger that came across any room he walked in. An understated coolness. He certainly did't need to do all the rock star poses to prove he was the man in charge.

That slot at Tineke 1996 would have made any bonafide musician feel uncomfortable. It was an early afternoon coffee/gossip show watched by bored housewives.
Bernard Edwards had just died a few days before. That is the reason there was no bass player in that tv performance. Plus they were jet lagged out of their minds there.

The fact that touring was exhausting to him, doesn't mean he didn't like to perform.

The interview about the PowerStation is from 1985. 11 Years before the second album.
He really liked the second album. But it was an ill fated project because of the unexpected death of Bernard Edwards.

[uwe]

Well, John Taylor, who was pivotal to Power Station too, had bowed out for the second album, not a good sign. This with all due respect to the late great Bernard Edwards (one of John Taylor's role models).

But you're right, stage entry on a Harley-Davidson with a bullwhip between his teeth would have been something! "Rob Palmer, the Nassau God" sounds better too ...

"Brrrrreaking the ... best of both worlds!!!"

Make room for a natural-born charismatic frontman!

Honorary mention of Bernard Edwards, here he is at his last gig (he already wasn't feeling well during the gig and died immediately after in his hotel room), there were bass drop outs already as Bernard would lose consciousness, he was unaware that he was practically dying on stage from pneumonia that had not been treated.