Robert Palmer
Pride

THE REVIEW

A decade after his premature passing, Robert Palmer's entire catalog has finally been reissued. For years, his records were only available in their original vinyl versions or in increasingly rare old budget reissues from Island. "Pride" is perhaps the least remembered album of an already little-known artist; released in 1983, it is an album of musical exploration following the previous "Clues," delving further into contemporary electronics but seasoning it with Caribbean and Arab flavors, giving it less conventional shades. You can start with the last track, the very unique "The Silver Gun", where Palmer sings in Urdu, an Indo-European language, over a very sophisticated and ethereal electronic melody which is enhanced by a precious sitar contribution. The beginning with the reggae and calypso-tinged "Pride" takes a jab at the video for Olivia Newton-John's "Physical", "Hey Olivia Newton John what you say?", and the hedonistic philosophy of the early '80s in general. "Deadline" and "Dance for Me" continue the electronic explorations with a Caribbean twist, and Palmer's soul-inspired voice emerges in "You're in My System" and "Say You Will". "It's Not Difficult" is a more '80s pop-oriented track with an easy-listening synthesizer pattern.

As happened with "Clues," the album didn't top the charts, it didn't even have a  "Johnny and Mary" to appeal to the singles charts, and the only track to enter the top 40 was "You're in My System". This is not surprising because the album is hard to access with its artificial sounds dominated by synthesizers and electronic rhythms. At the time, critics didn't appreciate much this continuous search by Palmer and his predisposition to never identify with a well-defined genre, instead effortlessly spanning his musical tastes. After "Pride," it would be the turn of Power Station, and the return with "Riptide" in 1985 to more traditional sounds would bring Palmer to the conquest of MTV.