Robert Palmer: Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley

Continuing my list of the Top 20 albums of 1974, coming in at #17 is Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley by Robert Palmer. Long before Palmer became an MTV icon with his video for “Addicted To Love,” he was an ever-evolving artist who recorded eight albums of blue-eyed soul, rock, and Caribbean-influenced music. The first of these was Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley, a funky blue-eyed soul album recorded in New Orleans and featuring session work and compositions by Art Neville, Neville’s band The Meters, Lowell George of Little Feat, and Allen Toussaint. Palmer took a huge swing with this first solo album (after moving on from his band Vinegar Joe in the early ’70s), and he succeeded more than should have been expected. His goal was to allow the musicians to jam while he improvised his vocals over the music. The results could have been a disaster, but when the backing band is one of the original funk bands (The Meters) and a veteran of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention (Lowell George) this doesn’t actually sound like a crazy method. Every song on the album is worth a listen, but the medley created by tracks 1-3 are especially wonderful. I selected the title track, written by Toussaint, but any of those first three songs would represent the album well.

To learn more about Robert Palmer, check out his website.

To check out all of the old Faux Show Best of the Year Shows, visit The Year In Review Series page.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

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