Robert Palmer

DM) Looking back on your career, there seems to have been a major transition in styles with the advent of the album, Riptide. On that album, there were tracks like, "Addicted to Love" and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," which were a bit different in style than your older work, which was much bluesy-er. How different would your career have been if that album had never been as successful -- would you have stayed more in that bluesy vein?

RP) I guess since it does span, you could call it a career. There's an aspect to that where you try to make logic to yourself in retrospect, but it's anybody's guess, really. You hope that if you're sincere enough and devoted enough, you keep going. It's not like I was looking for hits, I don't know why one takes off, and the other doesn't. Maybe it's the weather.
Even though you get famous for one peak or kind of thing, it doesn't delineate everything you've done. And, since I've gotten the opportunity for the first time to have access to all of the materials that I've recorded, this is a great way to have it all in one package. On the first disc, there are no hits on that, but yet, in retrospect, they're on major play lists representative of the item.

DM) Why was there such a change of your style on the Riptide album?

RP) What changed there was where I used to rely on existing rhythm sections and write according to that style, when the second disc starts (on the Anthology CD), I've taken over by that point. I'm writing, arranging and doing everything. So that slant reflects the change from: "I kind of meant something like that, but I was working with other people," to where if it gets more "pop-y" well, that's my tendency. Again it's difficult to judge merely from the point of view of retrospect, it's hard to tell really. Personally, I think it has more to do with being at the right place and the right time than anything else.

DM) Do you think some of these songs would have succeed better or worse if released at a different time?

RP) Well, that's even further complicated because once you finish the thing, you've got to print it, distribute it, advertise it, whatever. Why one thing takes off against the other, you have no idea. At least in a period over the past 25 years, things pop out at the right time and capture the public's attention and become international recognizable songs that people know. I know that because I do international tours and everybody seems to recognize the tunes. Frequently in shows, you'll see people nudge each other and go, "Oh, he does this one, Oh, he does that one."

DM) Does that ever frustrate you?

RP) On the contrary, the celebrity does not intrigue me at all. I say that because I know enough people who are more interested in celebrity then they are in music. You know the distinction between an introvert and an extrovert? Well, I'm an introvert. It's a means to an end. I've got a muse; I make music. I have to go up there and do it, and I love it, but I don't go up there and do it because I want to show off. And in fact, I have the same feeling about dancing; I love to dance but I don't like to dance. I think you'll find that most performers are introverts.

DM) I would think that a musical performer by nature would be an extrovert.

RP) No, no, that's an actor. Singing, you don't have to see them to appreciate them. My main thing for example, is inventing songs, arranging them, and recording them. After that I have to go through the rigamarole. I can't say I don't enjoy it, but it's not necessarily my thing. I'm not one of those people like, "When can we make the video?"

DM) Do you not have an interest in that?

RP) Not at all.

DM) That being the case, how did you feel when doing the videos for "Simply Irresistible?"

RP) Well, I was set up. This guy made this video behind me. He said, "You stand there and mime." I know it's become an icon -- that series of three great videos he made -- but it's nothing to do with me. I don't regret it. They looked fine. It had an extremely fun and humorous tongue-in-cheek elegant humor about it. And as the French say, "What is the use of audacity without grace?"

DM) Do you feel then that those songs wouldn't have been as big if it wasn't for the video?

RP) Oh, definitely. I think it was a package rolled into one that had to do with the timing, the sounds... everything fell into place. It struck a fashion note in all directions. And I don't think any one aspect was more important than the other. It just rang a gong so to speak.