|
Post by Platypus on Apr 10, 2016 14:06:12 GMT
Leo Sayer is an artist that people probably either like or absolutely loathe, possessing what you might call a "distinctive" voice. I'd like to feature his 9th studio album, World Radio. This might be his most mature collection of his own and others' songs, including from the the Gibb brothers and Bruce Cockburn.
The list of capable session musos behind him includes Robbie Buchanan, David Hungate and Jeff Porcaro.
Sayer became an Australian citizen in 2009, and has still played the club circuit here at times.
As an addition, Leo and his writing partner David Courtney provided Roger Daltrey with his first solo hit "Giving It All Away, performed here by Leo and Roger on the Leo Sayer Show:
|
|
|
Post by queenofthehours on Apr 10, 2016 18:11:49 GMT
I'm behind on this month's reviews because I've been a bit preoccupied with a curly haired fellow in shades but I will catch up!
I particularly want to hear this selection because Platypus has chosen something I find very challenging. Leo Sayer you could say is a bit of a Jeff Lynne character: a lot of people think he's cheesy. In fact the way I feel at this moment about Leo is the way I used to feel about Jeff before I discovered him. I hope to discover Leo in the same way.
|
|
|
Post by Chippa on Apr 11, 2016 19:48:03 GMT
Most of the links say "video not available".
|
|
|
Post by jrmugz on Apr 11, 2016 21:51:48 GMT
01. "Heart Stop Beating in Time" - Like the protagonist's nice passionate plea for the love of his life. 02. "Paris Dies in the Morning" - His voice sounds in it's best natural sound with a song like this, reminds me of Jon Anderson. 03. "Have You Ever Been in Love" - Lots of feel to it, great bridge. Nice vocal performance. 04. "Rumours" - Decent gritty pop song, seems like the music should have been slightly edgier to match the vocals a little better. Nice gritty vocal performance. 05. "Heroes" - Video doesn't work, and can't find it. 06. "Til You Let Your Heart Win" - Decent ballad with nice vocals, that needs to take off a little better. 07. "End of the Game" - Interesting reggae-ish chorus, for a song that doesn't do much for me. 08. "Wondering Where the Lions Are" - Video doesn't work, and can't find it. I imagine he did this famous Canadian song, and very good song by Bruce Cockburn, due to his best-selling album having gone double platinum in Canada, and to try to shore up their support for this album. 09. "We Got Ourselves in Love" - Kind of sleazy about meeting some chick in a hotel to keep an illicit relationship secret. Why not a song about not giving into temptation, and remaining faithful and chivalrous? (Since clearly I'm the best person to ask that question after inundating everyone with The Knack. ha ha) 10. "World Radio" - Really like this one. Nice theme and chorus. He sings it well. 11. "Giving It All Away" (song given to Roger Daltry) - Great song performed by two great singers. Like this one a lot. Star Rating: 4.1 out of 5 Prime Cuts: "Have You Ever Been in Love", "World Radio", "Giving It All Away" Bottom Line: Non-flashy tracks; but from a guy who really loves crooning, and it shows. His lyrics need to be more than one-dimensional, instead of about being in love, about the deeper meaning of what love is all about. It seems like sometimes his good vocals are owed lyrics of better substance, like they are provided with the good lyrics of "World Radio" and "Giving It All Away", for instance. Needs to evolve from John Ritter to Jimmy Stewart. Maybe some of his later music has. It's fitting he would perform a duet with Roger Daltry, since they both are great singers who love to sing. Thanks for sharing, Platypus; it was enjoyable. Got you marked down for next open spot in a couple months or so. For the two or so tracks I couldn't find, I really did give them an honest look. If you have any MP3s of them to PM me, go for it. Jim Adding updates in red, since Platypus sent me "Heroes" and "Wondering Where the Lions Are", for which videos I did not have available when doing my review above.
05. "Heroes" - Best song, love the vocal performance. Good substantive lyrics, love the "can't break it back" part and the chorus that yearns for a role model to look up to. 08. "Wondering Where the Lions Are" - Love the song and the edgy vocal performance, and the jungle effects added to one of my favorite songs by Bruce Cockburn! (And the song ranked 25th best Canadian song, on a list I saw.)
I'll add these songs to the Prime Cuts above, and the CD gets a bump up to 4.3 stars.
Thanks for sending those over to me to check out, Plat!
Jim
|
|
|
Post by jrmugz on Apr 11, 2016 21:53:28 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Platypus on Apr 13, 2016 12:27:00 GMT
I'm assuming difficulties with unavailable videos are region based, as I sometimes experience. As far as I can make out, all except the video clip are YouTube's own provided by Warner. I don't really see why that would only affect some of them though - mystery.
I agree with the observation that there is a degree of naïvete to Leo's material - naïve art of course has its own validity.
And incidentally, if it slips past folks' radar, the reggae-ish "End of the Game" certainly seems to be modeled after old-school computer game and microprocessor based pinball machine sound.
|
|
|
Post by 88keys on Apr 16, 2016 18:46:58 GMT
I was able to find most of the songs. From those, the only ones that really made my ears perk up were End Of The Game, Paris Dies In The Morning (what a sadly appropriate title), Giving It All Away, and World Radio.
The one Leo Sayer song I know well is More than I Can Say. That's a great song!
|
|
|
Post by unomusette on Apr 16, 2016 20:36:37 GMT
In the mid 1970's Leo Sayer was everywhere, usually in the top 10 with quality pop songs. He's born entertainer, maybe a bit over-cheesey but very energetic and undoubtedly talented. He disappeared for a while during the 80's and '90's then suddenly popped up again in the UK with a reality TV show and a made-over version of Thunder in My Heart which did well in the charts. I think he's appreciated by his fellow musicians, I know he's worked a lot with Albert Hammond and of course there's his collaboration with Roger Daltrey which would give brownie points to any artist. "Heart Stop Beating in Time" - Not available, but found a different version. Don't like the very 1980's keyboard sound but of it's type it's OK. Reminds me of that kind of smooth Lou Rawls type song which was popular around then. "Paris Dies in the Morning" - Not available, found another version. Nice boppy song which puts me in mind of ELO around the Balance of Power era. "Have You Ever Been in Love" - This song I know, it was a single. Unfortunately it has that horrible '80's piano which puts my teeth a bit on edge, but despite that it's a really good love song which suits Mr S very well. "Rumours" - Not available, found another version. Great vocals, very stereotypical of the times but a nice listen. "Heroes" - Not available, found another version. Sounds like a filler to me, but most albums have them so no shame there. "Til You Let Your Heart Win" - Not available, found another version. Ew, those keyboards! Not really for me, this one, it's a bit uneventful. "End of the Game" - Not available, found another version. Moody bass intro, reminds me a bit of a late era Queen song. Then it goes all Eurovision, very bouncy and catchy. Interesting, it might be a grower. "Wondering Where the Lions Are" - Not available, found another version. Who can resist a title like that? Shades of Jungle with the animal backing track. Michael McDonald-alike backing too. I rather liked it. "We Got Ourselves in Love" - Not available, found another version. Interesting lyrics, shades of his old song, Moonlighting, about secret love, but overall the song didn't do much for me. "World Radio" - Not available, found another version. Wow, keyboard overload! I stuck with it though, honest. Bit of vocoder there, no ELO fan can criticise that. Nice big sound but it does plod a bit for me and it's a mite too long. "Giving It All Away" - When I first found out Leo Sayer wrote this it made perfect sense, great song and different from his usual ballady style. I did enjoy listening to these songs, although my famed aversion to that chimey '80's keyboard sound did spoil it at times. He has a really good voice, still does I believe, and deserves his place in the Hall of Fame as an accomplished singer/songwriter. This is not entirely my kind of usual listening but I'd give it a solid 6 out of 10, thanks for sharing Platypus
|
|
|
Post by Platypus on Apr 17, 2016 13:16:26 GMT
Thanks for the comments and assessments! World Radio is on my playlist maybe a couple of times a year, and there are other of his songs I enjoy too, originally from vinyl. He's hard to beat if you're feeling a bit maudlin - More Than I Can Say, When I Need You, Have You Ever Been In Love, Orchard Road...
I think my favorite is End of the Game, then Wondering Where the Lions Are probably ties with Have You Ever Been in Love?
|
|
|
Post by jrmugz on Apr 17, 2016 17:46:21 GMT
I've been reminded of all his cool hits from this thread, so will probably download a best of collection in the near future.
Jim
|
|
|
Post by queenofthehours on May 16, 2016 16:39:20 GMT
1. Heart Stop Beating in Time - A perfectly good track. Nothing especially special about it but it is decent quality, nothing bad about it.
2. Paris Dies in the Morning – I like this but the music reminds me of somebody else or another band or bands not a bad track. I like this more than I thought I ever would like a Leo Sayer track!
3. Have You Ever Been in Love – It’s a perfectly nice song but it doesn’t do anything for me. I wouldn't switch off the radio if it came on but I wouldn’t switch it on either. That said it’s a masterpiece compared to the current chart "hits".
4. Rumours – I like this, quite rocky. My favourite so far.
5. Heroes – Another good one I'm surprised again to actually like a Leo song!
6. Til You Let Your Heart Win – Perhaps my least favourite so far. It sounds exactly how I was worried Leo would sound to me.
7. End of the Game – Slightly better than the last. I wish I could like it more but I can’t.
8. Wondering Where the Lions Are – Just when I was despairing of Leo he comes up with this this is great! Nice and jangly and happy. A great song.
9. We Got Ourselves in Love – Perfectly acceptable. This might be excellent as background music
10. World Radio – I thought for some reason this would be more upbeat so getting over my expectation is rather hard but this is still rather a decent track.
11. Giving It All Away - This seems to be a theme here that Leo songs are all ballads which is all well and good if that’s his style. I’m not keen on that style but Leo seems to excel at it and that's all that maters.
I've never really listened to Leo Sayer so this collection has been a revelation to me. I'm really glad I tried him. I didn't know much about his music in fact I thought of him how I used to think of Jeff Lynne before I loved him. My moral is - always try something new .
|
|