Small of frame and squeaky of larynx, LEO SAYER could well be seen as the Alan Ball of pop and easily dismissed as a 70s aberration, partially responsible for encouraging footballers to indulge in bubble perms.
However, we all tend to forget that he was actually mega successful for a lengthy spell in the mid to late 1970s and for a while threatened something like (mild) chart domination with a series of slick, unashamed AOR singles.
RPM's extensive re-issue catalogue focusses on this period when Sayer was an LA resident and being groomed by his mentors Adam Faith and producer Richard Perry as a true-blue US chart superstar.
Between them, "Endless Flight" (1976) and "Thunder In My Heart" (1977) yielded five hit singles. Not bad going by anyone's standards. Of the two, "Endless Flight"(6/10) is probably the superior and in its' way is a triumph of slick Hollywood-style music production.
Typically, the album features the cream of the US sessioneers of the time, including guitarists Lee Ritenour and Ray Parker Jr, not to mention late TOTO drummer Jeff Porcaro, who - in true 'SPINAL TAP' tradition - really DID later succumb to a bizarre gardening accident when he was poisoned by pesticide he was using to spray his roses.
Some of the album's just mulch: not least the intensely annoying "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" - although its' massive success blasts me out of the water - and mawkish, sultry sub-ballads like "Magdalena", although it must also be said that there's some relatively decent stuff lurking within.
Opener "Hold On To My Love" is jauntily effective; ditto "No Business Like Love Business." "How Much Love" contains a ridiculously infectious groove and chorus; yet the best track by some way is the title song, which - like "How Much Love" - utilises a fine string arrangement by ex-STONES collaborator PAUL BUCKMASTER and - for once finds Sayer stepping out of the standard boy flirts with girl lyrical cack to create something much more substantial.
|
"Thunder In My Heart" (4/10) pretty much follows the same path, although it does open in a particularly dramatic fashion with the title track - this album's major hit single - and demonstrates that Leo really could open his lungs with the best of them. For once, the arrangement really gets through here, too.
Unfortunately, the fireworks cut out around this point. "Easy To Love" again benefits from some potent orchestral blasts, but generally Leo's balls-in-a-combine harvester vocals begin to grate after a while, and while "Thunder In My Heart" is probably the heavier and more impressive - sonically - of the two albums (tracks like "It's Over" have nagging, histrionic grooves), the overall effect is of trying too hard to garner commercial success, which - coupled with a number of fairly execrable attempts at cod-funkiness ensure that the album dates badly in retrospective terms.
"Endless Flight" also includes a conversation about the making of the album between Leo and producer Richard Perry, where Leo cites HARRY NILSSON'S "A Touch Of Smilsson In The Night" as one of his major influences. If only Leo's story had the notorious edge of danger that the late Harry's had and we'd have reason to really celebrate these re-issues. As it is, Leo's legacy is one that requires only sporadic excavation.
|
