I always thought of Leo Sayer as being huge in the disco era, and that songs like the aforementioned dancing song and the ballad "When I Need You" were later than this ... apparently I was wrong. Funny that. I have memories of Leo Sayer on those late night music shows, and I guess it just all sort of ran together. Anyway, back to my active dislike of all things Leo Sayer. It really wasn't based on anything other than he wasn't rock, and I didn't like how he sang.
Fast forward many decades and I was in the basement listening to Roger Daltry's first solo record, simply titled Daltry, and guess who co-wrote almost all of the songs on the album? That's right Leo Sayer. Ah shit, there goes my childhood. Many of those songs were really good. It was then that I said to myself, "Self, I need to look for some Leo Sayer records. No, don't you dare throw up in my mouth ... choke it down. We're doing this."
Myself was good to my word, and over the course of a few months I picked up Endless Flight, which from where I sat was the peak of his commercial prowess. Then in short order I found his 1977 follow up Thunder in My Heart, that I didn't know anything about ... and then his 1978 release simply titled, Leo Sayer. I was already sharpening my knives and trying out pithy zingers imagining how these would play out. I had packed a lot of baggage, and I wouldn't have to change my underpants for at least a week, so I was good to go. I had cleaned up the records, and replaced the inner and outer sleeves and filed them for processing. Then a year went by ... I just couldn't get myself to spend time with not one but three albums by Leo Sayer.
I saw them sitting there looking all lonely, and figured I had a fair amount of bookkeeping to take care of, so why not just play one record at a time and then when a side is over write down a couple of snarky remarks.
Yeah, I could do that.
Ah shit, this was really good. How did that happen? Leo Sayer is a hell of a singer. He actually has a rock and roll voice, the first track "Hold on to My Love" caught me off guard as I was expecting a disco assault, but the album starts off with a straight ahead pop song with some teeth. On most of the tracks he reigns himself in and yes, there was the falsetto on "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" where he duets with himself using two vocal styles. He doesn't employ it very often which was a blessing. I had to remind myself that in 1976 disco, as a genre, was just starting to exert itself so here it was just a flavour added to the pop songs. It was really good. Surprisingly good. I know I'm shitting on my childhood prejudices, but that's okay ... I did say I'd packed more than one change of clothing. The first side contained the two gold singles, the other being the uber syrupy ballad, "When I Need You" that really is a great slow dance song. Again, I was really surprised by this, and the performances were so good. I'm going to have to go and get the liner notes and see if there are any credits. I'd be remiss if I didn't at least take a small dump on "No Business Like Love Business" a song that just smells like old cheese and mouldy socks. That being said, it's done with so much aplomb I can't tell if it's tongue in cheek and taking the piss or if it's serious. You're either in on the joke or you're not. I must be a dullard.
This was more straight ahead pop, and the combination of orchestration with good old fashioned rock and roll guitar solos was right up my alley. All of the songs were really quite good, and I am likely going to play this a few more times. "How Much Love" is another song that caught me off guard. It's very much in the same vein as the verboten dancing song, and hearing it now I feel like I heard it on the radio. The album closes with the title track written by Andrew Gold, and it's one of the standout songs the first time through. It's almost like an Elton John song, at least that's the sense I got from the vocal delivery but you know how first impressions are, it may not hold up to repeated listens.
So this didn't go quite as planned. There's still a part of me struggling to assert dominance at least when it comes to "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and I can concede that the falsetto is so overdone that it is still irritating, but the whole album was so much better than I expected.
The other surprise to me, and one I'd have had no idea about back in 1976 was the appearance of a young Jeff Porcaro on drums, who was maybe 22 at the time. Nigel Olsson, from Elton John's band played drums on "Endless Flight" which may have been part of the reason it had that Elton John vibe. The guitar players used is a who's who of the best: Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Ray Parker Jr. and Dean Parks. Leland Sklar and Willie Weeks show up on bass, and on keyboards there's Michael Omartian, and James Newton Howard. It's tempting to just copy out the names. It's an impressive list.
Okay, I'm sort of primed now. Or numb. Take your pick. Thunder in My Heart came out third quarter 1977, which made sense because they were still pulling singles off Endless Flight through the first half of the year. I honestly have no idea what to expect.
I know you can't judge an album by it's cover, but with Leo all pensive and coy with a microphone you get the sense we were supposed to infer this album was going to be a serious musical endeavour.
A decent first side, that started off really strong with the title track. The obvious single here was "Easy to Love" a string infused disco song with a solid beat. It also featured Leo providing falsetto, and an affected rough voice (sounded like a Muppet) and then his regular voice. He sure did like to duet with himself. It was a weird but catchy song. Not the best song on the first side, just the obvious single. The song I liked was the closing song "It's Over" which was a really strong song with Leo using his rock voice. I liked it. I'll admit I was a little more distracted while this played, so unless my ears pricked up it sort of just went along as background noise ... I mean, music.
Flipping it over, here we go, without further ado, side two:
Having read through the credits on Endless Flight, there were a lot of familiar names. Jeff Porcaro was again present on drums on all the tracks, and he was also credited with playing Syndrums as well. David Hungate played bass on several tracks, as well as Abe Laboriel who anchored the title track. Lee Ritenour and Ray Parker Jr. played guitar on most of the the songs, and Larry Carlton added lead here and there. Michael Omartian and James Newton Howard added keyboards. Heck the closing track "We Can Start All Over Again" featured Bobby Kimball and David Paich on backing vocals. How cool was that?
*Yes, this definitely got better with a couple plays. Although "World Keeps on Turning" may take a few more ... dang that odd Muppet voice.
Finally rounding out the trilogy.
Considering, at least from where I'm sitting all these years later, I find it strange that Leo didn't try chasing success by repeating himself trying to rewrite his big dancing hit. Sure there was some carry over with respect to the disco strings and dance elements on Thunder in My Heart, but on his self titled album he seemed to re-invent himself again this time as a pure pop artist. No bells and whistles, just strong songs and a big voice. Heck on the first side you could hear a lap steel, and a fiddle (provided by David Lindley), and Leo had a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You (Though I Try)" a song I first heard by The Outlaws back in 1980 on their Ghost Riders album. The first side was really engaging, and I was really surprised by how good this was. Heck even the goofy "La Booga Rooga" was fun. This was a big surprise.
Getting to the end of the line now, as I venture into side two of my third Leo Sayer album of the day.
The second side opens with "Something Fine" a sparse acoustic guitar and vocal song, written by Jackson Browne and featured Lindsey Buckingham on guitar that really caught my attention. The songs were more straight ahead pop. "Don't Look Away" was probably the closest thing to an outright rock song on the album, and featured Elton John's lead guitar player Davey Johnstone. It was really good. The side closes out with the intimate "No Looking Back" a really nice piano and strings ballad. The whole album was a showcase for Leo's singing voice, and the weird falsetto and Muppet growl were nowhere to be found here.
One of the things I really enjoyed not only with this album, but all of these albums was how meticulous the credits were. The calibre of the musicianship is jaw dropping. I'm also far more knowledgeable now, than I was back then ... but even as a kid I would scour the credits.
This was the most cohesive of the three albums, and it was probably the most commercially disappointing. It's also the one I've played the most since my initial binge. I have to give props to Leo here, this was really good.
It's a weird thing to go back and rediscover artists I had written off, especially artists who I had taken pains to actively dislike. Leo Sayer was the poster boy for all the things I didn't like about the mid to late '70s. I thought he was a hack who peddled disco to people who should have known better.
I'm older now, and I know better ... and this was far better than I ever expected.
This was his golden era, it was a score to find all three of his Richard Perry albums. I know he released albums before, and a bunch after this run and no doubt if I were to find any they'd come home with me.
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