Bloody hell, that's come as a bit of a shock! And he died five years ago!

As ever, I am up to speed with every aspect of popular culture.

But this aside... back to your point.

I totally agree... the albums Robert Palmer made in the 1970s from "Sneaking Sally...' through 'Clues' were uneven but contained several moments of great invention and imagination.

He did have a great voice, was innovative at times and had great taste when it came to the musicians he worked with.

I saw him in concert in 1990 or thereabouts, and it was a stunning show. All the songs in the set were segued together seamlessly and moved from blue-eyed soul to funk to rock to reggae without missing a trick. It was seriously impressive.

I think his image as 'lothario irresistible to women' didn't do him any favours, but this was the 1970s, and he was certainly not alone in coming across as something of a twat in that regard.

But ignore all that and the fact is that pre-'Addicted To Love', Robert Palmer made some fine, fine records.

...I am fairly indifferent to Robert Palmer. His stuff never really filled me with ire. I haven't heard the early albums but I think the first one had Little Feat on it, right? I used to have a VHS of Whistle Test stuff on it and on there, he was in a band called Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks.

The two early albums with Little Feat are excellent, the third album barely drops the quality, and the fourth, "Double Fun" is simply brilliant.
At the time, and for some time afterwards, at my gaff it was THE album to put on loud just before heading out for a Friday night on the razz.
A fantastic artist, who chose his collaborators and his material with great aplomb. Sadly missed.

...always seemed like a bit of a poor man's Bryan Ferry to me.

...made some great records, not least "Johnny and Mary".
A couple of months ago I went to a dinner party and sat next to one of the women in the video above. You're tempted to say "a woman who used to be one of the girls above".

His early stuff with the Feat was excellent, and my personal daily listening for yonks was a cassette with "Pressure drop" on one side and "Double fun" on the other. Funnily enough the other day I unearthed a CD single I found somewhere with 4 mixes of "Every kinda people" on it - all different, all great. He succumbed to whatever was in the water in the 80s to turn capable musicians into something slightly less so, but even so I have time for "Riptide". Guy Pratt's excellent book "Travels with my bass" talks at length and with great affection about RP.

They were a great live band but as is often the case didn't translate the live experience well onto vinyl. Robert Palmer made a great foil for Elkie Brooks (who remains in my memory for wearing probably the shortest mini-skirt I ever saw).
The trouble with much of his solo material was that much of it was just a tad dull.

...'Every Kinda People' was actually used as a theme tune for some awful ITV game show in the 90s, possibly featuring Michael Barrymore or Brian Conley.

Must re-listen to some of my Palmer collection. He went to the same Sixth Form College as me. I loved his cover of "Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You" and "She Makes My Day" is a beautifully constructed song. I'm going to listen to Bob now. Thanks for the reminder.

If there's a better throwaway line to describe the pursuit of a good looking woman than..

"she's so fine there's no telling where the money went"

I've yet to hear it. One of the very best singers of his generation, no question. Play 'Give Me An Inch' off 'Pressure Drop', just beautiful, effortless singing. Very funny as well, 'Pride' is plain daft, as is 'Housework'.

Our man once sang with the Alan Bown Set, and the highly regarded book about said combo has been "unavailable" from Amazon for some time now, except at stratospheric prices from chancers with second hand bookshops to fund.

Happily, the publisher has put the title on sale direct, and it's going out at a reduced price. More details may be found here: http://www.banlandpublishing.com/cardpages/alan_bown.html

I have no connection with this lot, honest guv.

PS The publisher's marketing department obviously have no idea of whose recommendation blurbs might carry weight, and whose might be off-putting...

This is one of his later albums, one which, as a "double" in the old money, one is legally obliged to describe as "sprawling." In this case the word is apt: it's one of the worst-sequenced albums I've ever heard, in that its five least appealing tracks are tracks 1 to 5. Skip those, and you have many pleasures, including a great illustration of Palmer's knack for writing memorable songs that sound like standards. Happiness is the one you'll hum along to, wondering who wrote it.

Then there are the covers. The idea of him re-imagining [ahem] Bob Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight in a reggae-lite style backed by already-into-crap-phase UB40 sounds atrocious, yet somehow it works. And there's a delightful Mose Allison tune, Top 40.

As to him being a poor man's Ferry, well, I can't hear it - hear being the operative word. Yes, there was a regrettable cultivation of a lounge lizard aesthetic in the visuals, but musically they diverge hugely, especially early on. While Palmer was never involved in anything as dazzling as the first four (or is it five, I'm sure that's a discussion that rages on the Roxy message boards...) Roxy Music albums, as a singer I'd rate him above Ferry. He was far more versatile.