Partners in Crime

Rupert Holmes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 12, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B000002OOJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,455 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic album about romance in modern times, May 3, 2003

By 

John Corbett (Summerland, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Partners in Crime (Audio CD)

Rupert Holmes writes songs about love, just as many popular artists do. But what sets his style apart from the rest of the pack is his use of playful stories and insightful lyrics set in modern situations that we can all relate to. It's all the more impressive because these songs are every bit as touching and relevant today as they were over twenty years ago when the album was first released.

Partners In Crime (1979), his most commerically successful album, contains his smash hit, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". Because of its success, it has become the butt of jokes, but a close listen to the lyrics shows that it is actually a very clever song about a man and a wife, who, bored with their marriage, submit personal ads for romance to a newspaper, not realizing the other has done the same. When they finally arrange the meeting, they find none other than their better halves waiting for them, discovering that they had made the right choice long ago.

"Him" was another Top Ten hit, although this one tends to be forgotten by those who label Holmes as a "one-hit wonder". Here his character complains that his lover is not only having an affair, but doing a poor job on concealing it. Holmes's character can tell, among a number of reasons, because she carelessly leaves behind evidence of a foreign brand of cigarettes: "Sometimes the girl forgets."

If you want to impress your friends when they call you, then you should use the refrain to "Answering Machine", yet another Top Forty hit from the album. Here our hero suddenly decides to propose marriage to his lady, but she's not home. The thirty-second length capacity of the standard machine back in those days frustrates him by cutting off the most important words of his message. Unfortunately for our anxious suitor, while he is out "buying dog food for the cat", the machine does the same to her response.

Other classics include tracks such as "Lunch Hour", which details the frantic social chaos the takes place during the confines of the standard weekday lunchtime break. "The People That You Never Get To Love" is a gem written about a common feeling that rarely finds its way into song -- those fleeting moments when you match a gaze with a beautful stranger, but she disappears from your life just as quickly as she enters it. What would life have been like if you had made that gesture in the library or on the elevator?

On top of the clever and profound lyrics, Holmes's voice is deep and soothing, and the production is first-class soft pop.

Rupert Holmes is definitely the hero for the average working fellow who just wants to make enough sense out of the hectic pace of modern life to find and keep love.

"Partners In Crime" is recommended to such souls without hesitation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious!, May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Partners in Crime (Audio CD)

This album is awesome. When I bought the record I only knew the Pina Colada Song, but I had no idea the rest of it would be equally as funny. For those who are unfamiliar with Rupert, I like to think he's a cross between Barry Manilow & Weird Al.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing oldie, March 24, 2000

By 

Scott Corrales "Inexplicata" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Partners in Crime (Audio CD)

I first heard Rupert Holmes' "Him" in 1979, and although it's been relegated to the attic of campy songs, "Partners in Crime" is an audio masterpiece along the lines of a fine Steely Dan album. "Escape" and "Him" are some of the weaker tracks on the album: "In You I Trust" and "Partners in Crime" have some of the most creative lyrics penned by Rupert Holmes. I cannot recommend it highly enough.