Customer Reviews

Double Fun

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Listen up everybody: This was the album that got Robert on the radio. You had to be alive in 1978 and into music to know the refreshing impact his style had amidst all the disco-clutter at that time. To those who knew his style from this earlier time, his commercial "peak" was more of an anti-climax. I saw him in concert 4 times up close and he was a nonstop bundle of energy. He'd move from one song to the next and each one nearly melted into the next. (no, I was sober!) The rhythms were fantastic. Such an entertainer. And whenever songs from THIS release began, the crowd broke into their wildest cheers. They knew these were the songs that started it all. The ones that introduced us to this fabulous guy. The ones remembered most.... by those who knew him.

This is the fourth of Robert Palmer's foursome of elegant,
funk R&B-tinged albums he recorded in the mid to llate 1970's and
it is yet another highpoint."Every Kind Of People" with it's
hihgly catchy steel drum melody is by far the ONLY way to start this album."Best Of Both Worlds" is an excellent Philly-style
dance number offering a welcome alternative to the Staurday Night
Fever infecting much of music at this point and on the strident
"Come Over" and the Sly Stone-style groove of The Kinks classic
"You Really Got Me" Palmer gives up the FONK!!!Think late 70's
pop was dull and shallow?Then pick this up (plus the three albums
that came before it).

I've been a Robert Palmer fan since the 70's and I have every single one of his recordings. In my opinion, this is his best overall effort if your tastes lean more towards soft sounds with a loungy, reggae groove. Two tracks here (Where Can It Go and You Overwhelm Me) rank among his very best blue-eyed soul, with string flourishes by Gene Page, giving RP a tastefully restrained Barry White-lite sound (without the grunts and groans). I also highly recommend PRIDE, RP's electronica masterpiece.

Robert Palmer's masterpiece. Of all of the white soul singers out there influenced by Marvin Gaye, you would have to put Palmer very high on the list. These are wonderful adult contemporary songs that are full of soul, heart, sass, sexiness, and intelligence. Excellent compositions, and Palmer sings them very well.

The whole vibe of this album makes this part of the 1970's look good. Loads of fun. Great album cover. This is the perfect laid back island vacation or sailboating record.

this is quite simply robert palmers greatest album. why do you think they named the greatest hits album after a song from this record? don't be a fool, buy this record now.

Despite the glamorous image of his 1980s pop videos, Robert Palmer was a serious musician who experimented with a variety of styles throughout the different phases of his career.

Double Fun, his 1978 album, has at least two classic songs that also became big hits. Every Kinda People's mellow reggae rhythm belies its serious lyric reminding the listeners that no matter the superficial differences, all people are really the same inside. Best Of Both Worlds also has a lilting reggae rhythm and remarkably mature lyrics.

The brooding Come Over has funky disco beat and emotive vocal, whilst Where Can It Go is a slow, gentle ballad. The riff and instrumentation of Night People places it firmly in the disco era but it's not the Bee Gees song!

Love Can Run Faster is another mellow reggae song with a lovely keyboard touches, a beautiful melody and catchy hook. You Overwhelm Me is a more orchestral piece with beautiful strings, whilst his cover of The Kinks' You Really Got Me has a nice chugging rhythm.

This varied album closes with the rock number You're Gonna Get What's Coming, the heaviest number on the album with its prominent guitars. Double Fun is a successful blend of many styles that Robert Palmer had expertly made his own.

It never ceases to amaze me that "fans" so frequently get it incorrect when attempting to asess their favorite artists. The process is pretty simple with the late great Robert Palmer. If you are a fan of his 80's commercial peak then you are probably going to have a struggle getting into his first four albums, where nary a power chord is heard. However, these four albums are the best that Robert ever did and this is my favorite of the lot. (although "Sneakin' Sally..." is arguably more consistent)

Fans of the inconsistent "Riptide" and the truly boring "Heavy Nova" need not apply themselves to the task of listening to his first works without an open mind. Stick instead to his somewhat inconsistent 90's work where he was searching to get the magic back with the guitars and the suave image alternating.

However, if you are interested in his artisticly more satisfying and varied roots start here. The only critisisms of this CD are that the program is varied in its approach (a positve for me) and that it is very short. I actually would dock it half a star, if I could, because of the brevity of the CD.

As for Mr. Smith from California, I hope that you got a really good price for your copy on Ebay because as I write this review the only one Amazon has available would set you back about $150.

"Double Fun" catches Robert Palmer in strong form. Opening with Andy Fraser's (Former bassist and one of the songwriters in Free who co-wrote "Alright Now" among other gems) "Every Kinda People" and closing with Palmer's "You're Gonna Get What's Coming"(a hit for Bonnie Raitt but, curiously, not for Palmer), "Double Fun" proves that Palmer could dabble in any musical style and make it sound like he owned it.

Covering a wide variety of styles from reagge ("You've Really Got Me" an unusual approach to The Kinks classic and Palmer's "Best of Both Worlds")to a slice of New Orleans R&B (Toussiant's "Night People")and pure rock, Palmer slides in and masters each style with his soulful vocals.

The 2012 reissue on Culture Factory USA features a remastered version (although it touts that its a 24 bit remaster, keep in mind this isn't an SACD and the sound is rendered in 16 bits like a traditional CD)of the album in a miniature replica of the original artwork including the inner sleeve with the original lyrics. The CD looks like a miniature vinyl record (the CD is like the reissue of "Born to Run" completely black and features a replica of the Island label from the time).

The remaster has nice detail and sounds clear as a bell however be aware that this is mastered louder and compressed when compared to the original CD version. It's also brighter than the original CD. Having said that, this may not be audiophile CD but the average fan will probably enjoy it.

"Double Fun" is a terrific album from Palmer just be aware that the remastering is brighter and louder than the original CD. I love the miniature replica of the LP packaging and the obi included is a nice touch. The album itself deserves 4 to 5 stars, the remaster 3 stars and the packaging 5 stars.

Robert Palmer's musical career can safely be divided into two periods: his New Orleans/Caribbean inflected R&B-funk period circa 1974-78 to his more experimental electronica and rock flavored period from 1979 through.....well the end of his life really. This album fits squarely into that first period of his musical journey and actually rather winds up as a conclusion to it. Ever since Sneakin Sally Through the Alley Palmer had been working through his Nasseau derived mix of reggae,funk and pop R&B while refining it different ways from album to album. And one thing that could be said about him that made him a unique artist was his ability to understand how to perform funk well. Not only by maintaining connections with Little Feat and The Meters but by his ability to interpret,both vocal and as a writer/musician the polyrhythms and varying tempos of the genre. If one would want to refer to him as "blue eyed funk" he was one of the people involved who understood funk and R&B interpretation and,even if he's by and large not a household name that is why by his following he's so revered. "Every Kind Of People" is justly the best known songs from this album and something of a signiture song for him up until this point. With it's funky soul rhythm and steel drum hook the song intelligently breaks out bigotry of all sorts by acknowledging while our physical bodies have similarities that we have differences that must be celebrated and that "every kind of people make the world go 'round". In my own words about a certain type of funk this is literally "people music" in the highest degree. Of course there are a number of more streamline R&B songs here with lusher orchestrations such as those found on albums like Pressure Drop in "Where Can It Go" and "You Overwelm Me". Overall though this is an extremely groove centered album with a lot of alternating moods and textures such as the New Orleans disco-funk styling of "Best Of Both Worlds",which is actually where the title of this album is derived as well as the hefty stomps of "Come Over" and a cover of The Kinks early hard rock classic "You Really Got Me". It's amazing how well that song translates,both lyrically and musically into a hardcore funk jam. "Night People" is not only the most powerful funk piece on the album but a general highlite of it as well-with it's stop-n-start funk-jazz beat and mini moog bass burbles it's from the exact same school as something you'd find on a Herbie Hancock album such as Man-Child but endowed with tons of Palmers unique,swampy flavor as well. The album also looks to Palmer's soon-to-arrive future as a rock n roller with "You Gonna Get What's Coming";with it loud guitars and heavy rhythm it's a strong preview of his musical coming attractions.So from beginning to end this album follows two different "track of the tears" of Robert Palmer so to speak,while he was ending a very creatively fullfilling period of his career and entering into a more commercially satisfying one. Even so during no period of his career was Robert Palmer ever conventional or predictible,even in the 80's when he was getting big hits and that quality of his is on display on albums like this perhaps more so than in other places.

I am so glad this cd was available. It is his best ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very Hard to find.