Reviews

Let’s talk about… No Parlez

Alexis Petridis on Paul Young’s 1983 solo debut

By Paul Sinclair

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66

“No Parlez seems far more like a product of the adventurous early 80s, rather than the smoother, slicker era that followed”

On 8 Feb 1986, No Parlez by Paul Young finally dropped out of the UK album charts for good. It had been a fixture there since July 1983: a 112 week run, the first 99 weeks unbroken. It had been certified quadruple platinum in Britain and was huge across Europe and beyond: gold or platinum in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Holland and Spain; triple platinum in Japan. It spawned three huge hit singles, two of them among 1983’s biggest sellers, a particularly impressive feat given the sheer number of imperishable classics released that year: ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Blue Monday’, ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’, ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’ and Spandau Ballet’s ‘True’. The first, a cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat’, was so big it even made the session musician who played bass on it famous. It wasn’t the first single to feature the distinctive “sprrrroing” of Pino Palladino’s fretless bass, but, by his own admission, it was the track that, virtually overnight, turned him into the most in-demand bassist in pop, a position he holds to this day.

It’s worth underlining just how big No Parlez was, because 41 years on, it’s largely famous as the butt of a joke, an album that no one wants: “no charity shop is complete without its copy of No Parlez – we have three”, as a social media post from Oxfam in Huntingdon once put it. Paul Young’s career went into commercial decline not long after it left the charts: 1986’s Between Two Fires was another hit, but it only spent four weeks in the Top 40, as opposed to No Parlez’s 59. It wasn’t exactly a nosedive into obscurity – Young kept having hit singles well into the 90s, and there was a fleeting moment around the time of his Don Was-produced album The Crossing where it looked like he might belatedly take off in America – but it couldn’t help but look like a steep dip in the wake face of No Parlez’s success. And his work has never really been critically re-evaluated: the 80s revival has now been going for at least twice as long as the 80s did, rescuing umpteen artists from the dustbin of obscurity, but no one ever drops Young’s name as a latter-day influence. Reissues of No Parlez – a 25th anniversary 2CD edition in 2008, purple marbled 180g vinyl in 2019 – are greeted in some quarters with spluttering incomprehension. Who on earth is going to shell out for a reissue of an album you can pick up for a few quid in your local Marie Curie or Sue Ryder?

But clearly someone is, because the reissues keep appearing. The latest offers the original vinyl version on CD for the first time – the original CD and cassette replaced five tracks with their 12” remixes – alongside a second disc of b-sides, outtakes, seven-inch mixes and extended club versions, while a blu-ray features Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and instrumental mixes among its plethora of offerings. If you’re a die-hard fan, here’s more to add to your collection: if you want a luxuriously-appointed opportunity to reassess No Parlez, here’s your chance.

And No Parlez is an album that could use reassessing. It’s Paul Young’s historical lot to be viewed as part of a shift in British pop, away from the febrile post-punk experimentation of 1979-1982, which gave us 2 Tone, synth-pop and the New Romantics, to music that was less edgy and arty, more parent-friendly, more biddable. You can see why it happened – fresh-faced and suited-and-booted, Young was clearly made of more wholesome stuff than, say, Soft Cell – but it’s an assessment that doesn’t quite square with the contents of No Parlez. The first surprise is the credits. No Parlez is an album that features the work of both Jack Lee, of LA punk band The Nerves (‘Come Back And Stay’ was the second hit cover of a Lee song originally performed by The Nerves, the first being Blondie’s ‘Hanging On The Telephone’) and Dagmar Krause and Anthony Moore of prog-era experimentalists Slapp Happy and Henry Cow: Krause provides backing vocals, Moore wrote the title track (he released his own version a year later). You can construct an argument that, big-selling Motown cover or not, ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat’ is a pretty experimental single. One of the reasons it made Pino Palladino famous was that it foregrounded his playing, shifting the bass from supporting to lead instrument, an idea borrowed from the 70s jazz-fusion work of Jaco Pastorious, not the most cravenly commercial of influences. But it’s the tracks that come inbetween the hits that underline No Parlez’s exploratory strangeness.

It’s tempting to say that, other than the beatless ballad ‘Broken Man’, they sound nothing like the songs that made Paul Young famous. As you might expect from a song written by Anthony Moore –who’d previously been dropped as a solo artist by Virgin Records for being too uncommercial – the title track is an equally curious listen: obliquely political lyrics, a chant-like chorus, a drum machine-driven coda that appears to have no melodic connection to the song that precedes it. You could theoretically have rendered ‘Tender Trap’ as straightforward mid-tempo soul, as Young and co-author Ian Kewley presumably would have done in their old band the Q-Tips: instead it’s decorated with off-key synthesizers, a spacey, echo-heavy production and a lengthy trombone solo, courtesy of Specials associate Rico. ‘Ku Ku Kurama’ is a weird cocktail of Bowie-esque vocals, courtesy of Young, and yelping, jabbering interjections from backing singers The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts: as with their contributions to Young’s version of ‘Love Of The Common People’ – which leaned towards the buoyant mood of Nicky Thomas’s 1970 reggae cover, rather than the song’s roots as a lachrymose country/singer-songwriter number – you wonder if they might not have been inspired by Kid Creole And The Coconuts, a band who shifted from hip critical cause celebre to mainstream success while No Parlez was being recorded.

With ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, Young just had the idea that it might be a malleable classic rather than a sacred text before anyone else

Alexis Petridis

And the cover of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, which caused a great deal of pearl-clutching at the time – how dare this pop artist besmirch the memory of Ian Curtis? etc – now seems oddly prescient. It might have been hallowed ground three years after Curtis’s suicide, but it’s subsequently become fair game for other artists – rendered as folk music by June Tabor, angsty emo-rock by Fall Out Boy, and into something that might accompany a New Orleans street parade by The Hot 8 Brass Band. Young just had the idea that it might be a malleable classic rather than a sacred text before anyone else: capable of supporting an impassioned blue-eyed soul vocal, some fairly abstract bursts of distorted guitar and a French language spoken-word section by Dagmar Krause.

It ends with ‘Sex’ – not a great song, but a perfect illustration of No Parlez’s freewheeling approach. There are sudden explosions of freeform piano and a hammering drum machine. The latter seems to have been inspired by the nascent hip-hop scene that had been brought to the UK’s attention at the end of 1982 with the release of Malcom Mclaren’s ‘Buffalo Gals’. The same thing also informs the 12” version of ‘Come Back And Stay’, which opened the original CD with a blast of densely-effected drum rolls, stammering samples and scratching. In fact, the 12” versions on CD 2 of this reissue transform the hits into something more akin to the rest of No Parlez: ‘Love Of The Common People’ is dubbed-out and more minimal than the familiar version, ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat’ is more straightforward, but still unspools into ad-libbed vocals and improvised synth lines.

An album that pitches vintage soul songs next to covers of Joy Division, that variously nods to dub, cutting edge New York dance music, jazz-fusion and the avant-garde of 70s rock, No Parlez seems far more like a product of the adventurous early 80s, rather than the smoother, slicker era that followed. Listening to it in 2024, you’re struck by the sense that no record label who signed an artist like Paul Young today would let him make an album like No Parlez. Confronted with a pop artist who had a voice soulful enough to carry old Motown and Stax covers – as well as ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat’, there’s a version of Don Covay’s 1966 b-side ‘Iron Out The Rough Spots’ – they would automatically break out the post-Amy Winehouse retro- soul affectations keen to underline the singer’s authenticity, their links to an august musical tradition. The result would probably be fine, but it wouldn’t be as interesting or surprising as the music here. Contrary to its latter-day reputation as an album no one wants, No Parlez is an album more people in 2024 should hear. Whether you opt for this tricked out version – which chooses to ignore demos and live tracks for a complete survey of what Young actually released at the time – or simply head to your nearest charity shop is up to you: either way, you’re unlikely to regret it.

By Alexis Petridis

The 40th anniversary of No Parlez is released today as a 2CD set or on SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio with a plethora of mixes and versions, including a brand new Dolby Atmos Mix.

Tracklisting

No Parlez Paul Young / SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio

    • No Parlez: UK Vinyl First Pressing version with 3 bonus tracks (as below) in the following audio streams: 2024 Dolby Atmos Mix, 2024 5.1 Mix (48/24), 2024 New Stereo Mix (192/24), 2024 Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix, 2024 5.1 Instrumental Mix (48/24), 2024 New Stereo Instrumental Mix (192/24)
      1. Come Back and Stay 4:57
      2. Love Will Tear Us Apart 5:00
      3. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) 5:18
      4. Ku Ku Kurama 4:19
      5. No Parlez 4:57
      6. Love of the Common People 4:56
      7. Oh Women 3:35
      8. Iron Out the Rough Spots 4:47
      9. Broken Man 3:54
      10. Tender Trap 4:32
      11. Sex 4:49
      Bonus tracks
      1. Behind Your Smile 4.08 (B-side)
      2. Yours 5.39 (B-side)
      3. I’ve Been Lonely For So Long (No Parlez outtake) 3.39
      No Parlez: UK Vinyl First Pressing version newly remastered with no peak limiting 
      1. Come Back and Stay – 4:57
      2. Love Will Tear Us Apart  5:00
      3. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)  5:18
      4. Ku Ku Kurama – 4:19
      5. No Parlez – 4:57
      6. Love of the Common People – 4:56
      7. Oh Women  – 3:35
      8. Iron Out the Rough Spots – 4:47
      9. Broken Man  – 3:54
      10. Tender Trap – 4:32
      11. Sex  – 4:49
      No Parlez: Original 1983 CD Master
      1. Come Back and Stay 7:56 (scratch mix)
      2. Love Will Tear Us Apart  5:00
      3. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)  6:01 (extended club mix)
      4. Ku Ku Kurama 4:19
      5. No Parlez 4:57
      6. Behind Your Smile 4:08
      7. Love of the Common People  5:51 (extended club mix)
      8. Oh Women 3:35
      9. Iron Out the Rough Spots 7:28 (extended club mix)
      10. Broken Man 3:54
      11. Tender Trap 4:32
      12. Sex 6:51 (extended club mix)

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66 Comments

66 thoughts on “Let’s talk about… No Parlez”

  1. The blu-ray and US cover cds arrived today in our island in the middle of the Pacific. I listened to the 5.1 and stereo mixes and they are fantastic! Really a great album among the best of the 80’s, bring lots of memories back. Is there any plan to release it again in vinyl?

    Thanks SDE and everyone who made this possible. Keep releasing more 80’s classics, those blu-rays are being treasured.

  2. Mine arrived today. Haven’t listened to it yet, but am quite excited to.

    I read about the listening party a few weeks ago and was a bit surprised that Paul hadn’t heard the new mix at all until it was finished and shipped. Meaning, no input whatsoever from the artist himself.

    I was wondering if that’s a common thing? For many of these re-issues (especially surround/Atmos ones), are the artists not involved at all?

    I’m not sure how to feel about it. Maybe it doesn’t matter? Maybe it does? So I was curious to hear other’s reactions & insights.

    1. Paul wasn’t really available, but of course we had his blessing and he loved it! Roland Orzabal trusted Steven Wilson to do The Tipping Point without hearing it. Obviously, the ideal scenario is for the artist to hear it, but it’s not always easy to arrange, in terms of logistics.

      1. Interesting that it’s a logistics issue, Paul. Sending the files (either digitally or on a burned blu-ray) wouldn’t be a huge issue, but I guess you can’t assume the artist has access to a decent multi-channel/Atmos room?

        I guess it also comes down a bit to trusting who’s making the mix.

        If there’s anything Peter Gabriel’s i/o release showed us, though, it’s that the mixing can vary widely with different mixers. So maybe some artists chalk it up to leaving it to someone else’s creative vision?

        Either way, thanks for the insight.

  3. Just got my bundle yesterday of the #17 BluRay & US cover 2CD 7″ packaging…love it, the album retains its freshness, Pino’s fretless playing is so great & distinctive that at that time, I would buy ANY album his name was on…and Paul’s vocals & anything-goes approach on NP makes this a classic album…great essay that puts things into proper perspective…love CD2 just as much as the album itself…I used to have the US vinyl with that cover on Columbia Records…I bought it in 1983/1984 as his Nerves cover of “Come Back & Stay” (one of the very few instances where the cover is better than the original) was a US hit single, hitting #22 on the Hot 100…”Wherever I Lay My Hat” was also a minor hit, peaking at #45 I think…paling next the UK massiveness I know, but even making a small dent in the US for a record this cool, unique & underrated still says something…and been a fan since “Come Back & Stay” hit the US top 25…hope “The Secret of Association” is next…pretty cool that the BluRay has, what, EIGHT programs in full!! My one quibble is no essay like this article…I may print it & include it in the packaging…love the pics though & Paul’s humourous comments/nicknames on each…

  4. Very much enjoying this Blu-Ray. The Atmos mix is very well separated, and the rears are really put to work. The backing vocals really shine next to Paul’s wonderful voice, but Palladino’s bass remains one of the big selling points of this album for me. Simply stellar! Brings back happy memories of Paul’s live performance at the 1985 Werchter festival;Depeche Mode, Joe Cocker, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, R.E.M., The Ramones, The Style Council, U2, and Paul Young and the Royal Family, … now those were the days :) By then Paul had also released The Secret of Association, which was such a good follow-up … would be nice in Atmos too.

  5. Paul, I received the blu ray Monday (thanks for the quick fulfillment to the U.S.) and consider it one of the better 5.1 mixes I’ve heard. Lots of separation and action in the rear speakers. I wish, however, that the extended remixes had been included in 5.1 and Atmos. The CD was how I first experienced the album, and I particularly enjoyed the extras on “Come Back and Stay” and “Iron Out the Rough Spots.” Was it a bandwidth issue or another issue that precluded multi-channel mixes for the extended tracks?

    Once again, thanks for making this available and for offering listeners such a well-done product.

    1. Thanks David. There was no multi tracks for any of the extended mixes, so there was nothing we could do, I’m afraid. Even if there were it would have most likely been cost prohibitive due to the time it would take.

    2. Mine has been stuck at LAX for 4 days after being shipped out and getting to LAX in 2 days – WTF DeJoy (US Postmaster General)! I am so looking forward to this jam-packed Blu-ray and the 2CD version coming with it.

  6. Pino Palladino ranks in my top 3 of bassists (with Mick Karn and Chris Squire) and I still insist that it was dominating appearance on Gary Numan’s I, Assassin that launched his career — whence I assume Paul Young discovered him? I agree that it was with Young that Palladino became known worldwide. My mother played No Parlez to death back in the day so I could just enjoy that melodic bass playing (and the songs weren’t have bad either!)

    2. Could have been Numan but Paul Young himself two weeks ago said that it was because Maz Roberts, one of the Fabulous Wealthy Tarts (Paul’s backing singers) took home the music for Wherever I Lay my Hat and her Boyfriend rearranged it with his bass line. Paul liked what he did and brought him in to the camp. The boyfriend and now husband of Maz Robert’s is Pino Palladino. Maz and Pino met whilst working with Jools Holland and his Millionaires. There are a couple of tracks on YouTube featuring the Tarts and Pino.

  7. Good to read all the positive feedback so far. I’m one of those who purchased the blu-ray in the Wham! bundle so I’m going to have a good listening party this weekend.

  8. Did anyone else spot that the left/right channels are reversed on the CD mix..? Before anyone complains, that’s the same as the original CD..

    Given that everyone has something to complain about, mine would be that the CD version didn’t amalgamate any tracks from the “remixes and rarities” remastered disk, which should have allowed a fully remastered CD version as well as a remastered LP version.
    As a cassette buyer in that era those long versions are burned in my memory much more than the shorter LP release, so I will still be creating my own album variant from multiple sources to take advantage of the modern remastering.

    I would congratulate however, apart from that minor gripe there’s a whole lot to recommend in this new version, the sound is amazing and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that there is an appetite to do the same treatment for “Secret …” sometime soon (and hopefully we’ll get those CD/cassette versions in remastered form there).

    1. I did notice that and thought about reversing the channels on the original CD mix but I wasn’t 100 percent confident that EVERY track was like that, so in the end decided to leave well alone.

  9. Alexis Petridis’ in-depth reviews are extremely well written and entertaining. I had the album when it was released, but his analysis gave me a an insight I never had 40 years ago!

  10. I have a stupid question. What exactly are the lyrics to Ku Ku Kurama and what is the song about?? I’ve searched for lyrics on the internet, and it may be my lying ears, but they don’t sound like what’s being sung. For example I hear things like “sodium lights” mentioned….(and no evidence of “choke it down and I’ll tell you a lie”)
    All this time has passed and I’m still unfulfilled!! Am I just dysfunctional, or do others have this problem? Definitely first world problems, but this is the only site that seems suitable…..
    Paul Young, help me!!!! (failing that, SDE)

    1. I’ve checked 5 lyric sites and they ALL say the same thing, so it might be time for a hearing test! ( sorry lol). Can’t find my OG vinyl with the lyric sheet inner to check what they say..

    2. For that bit, I’m hearing “She’s sodium light every night”, and on the following line, “Tell the dawn and tell the night”, but of course when I search for that text, as you’ve pointed out, there are zero results.

  11. For me, No Parlez and An Innocent Man sum up 1983, they were everywhere. It is unfortunate that I have probably seen more copies of the vinyl in charity shops, (not as much as Geoff Love’s Big Movie Themes though) but the more you sell!

    Echoing others, I love Laurie Latham’s kitchen sink production, the Fabulous Weathy Tarts BVs and Paul’s great talent as a selector of songs. I’m very much looking forward to the reissue.

  12. This was one of my favourite albums of the 80’s, I had it on cassette as I went everywhere with my pockets full of cassettes listening to music on my Walkman. Thankfully the ‘man-bag’ became ‘acceptable’ ;)
    As for Paul Young…I enjoyed his next album and a few later singles but it was his dalliances with the Conservative Party during the Thatcher years (and beyond) that put the nail in his chart coffin. ‘Love of the Common People’ never sounded the same again to me. Though I’m now happy to rediscover this classic album.

  13. A lot has been said and shared about the No Parlez album so I didn’t think another review could add anything interesting. How wrong I was. I’m pleasantly surprised by this excellent write up. It is really refreshing and gives us a lot to think about and listen to again. To me “Come Back And Stay” is total pop perfection. There was a lot of pop perfection in the 80’s but this is at the top. It sweeps you up and doesn’t let go. I’m particularly excited about the instrumentals. I loved the Soft Cell instrumentals on the Nonstop….blu-ray and I know I will love these as well. This album is 80’s pop history at its finest. You simply cannot go wrong with buying this album (again).

    Paul, can you add any of the sales figures of the No Parlez blu ray? I’m curious to know how it did (with the eye on Secret Of Association).

  14. This sounds intriguing. Like much of America, I mostly missed the boat on Paul Young – he was just the singer behind that mushy lighter-waver of a hit “Every Time You Go Away”, which could’ve been Foreigner for all the young me knew or cared. Or that snoozy remake of “Oh Girl” from some 1990s romance movie or other, during a pretty bland period of American chart music. I have lately come to love his version of “Love of the Common People”, and the review here makes it sound like there’s lots of similar gems on this album. I really have to check it out, so thanks for the review.

  16. I’ve received the set today. It looks and sounds amazing! I’ve started with the new 2024 mix. It sounds very clean and clear. I love it :-)

    Thanks again for this set and the possibility to finally be able to listen to the original LP version in the best possible way without combining different cd’s to create a decent playlist with variable sound qualities ;-)

  17. Alexis. Thank you so much for that , spot on, excellent review

    Personally, as a spotty little young man, I used to go to my Uncle’s house, who luckily entrusted me to use his B&O System, this was an astounding album, Yes, the singles were fantastic, but the album tracks ( as they were then called, not “Deeper cuts” were also fantastic ) & to hear them on that system, great songs on a great system , was spellbounding which still clearly impacts me today. I also saw PY live a few years back & he has charisma by the bucket load so this is an album which really means a lot to me with great memories. I bought the 2 CD thing a few years back & at the moment do not have the sound capabilitiy so play this Blu ray so will not buy this, but if i did … I would! It’s a fantastic album.

  19. This article has some of the most delicious writing you’ve ever published. I’m bookmarking it to “borrow” from later. :)

    I admit I’m late to the party on the full story of the album, but I at least had the good sense to purchase “Come Back and Stay” on 45 when it came out. This article does an amazing job of describing a musical lynchpin, the pivot on which pop music turned. It’s funny how the purveyor of such mighty influence can be lost in time.

    Anyway, short story long, an excellent read. Kudos!

  20. I fall in that age group where Joy Division wasn’t on my radar as I would have been 10 or 11 years old when they were formed. I would only be listening to commercial radio in the morning and during the day and of course ‘Top of the Pops’ every Thursday night. Joy Division never appeared on TOTP.
    The first time I heard ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ would be the Paul Young version and like others thought what a great record. It’s only when the record charted that radio stations started to play the original version and I found out it’s a cover version.
    There may have been some knockers for Paul Young covering the song but he also brought the song to a wider audience who may not have heard it until years later since it has become a classic floor filler at Indie discos.

  21. I received my Blu Ray today.
    Wow. What an amazing mix. Kudos to David Kosten for the 5.1 and Atmos mixes. They’re quite brilliant.
    I was hesitant when ordering because my goto man, Steven Wilson, wasn’t involved, but Kosten did such a great job with Tubular Bells and he’s done it again with No Parlez.

    I haven’t heard this album properly since I bought, played and wore out the cassette in 1983.
    I’m hearing things like it’s the first time. It sounds as fresh as a daisy.

    So glad I bought it.

    Thanks Paul for another SDE blinder

  24. I’ll hide behind my location and say that I have also never seen this album in a second hand store bin in the US.
    To me, this was an album of a “trio”:
    Paul – the Tarts – Pino. Without the latter two, the sound would be drastically different and we may not be talking about it. It was interesting to see Pino Palladino explain how he borrowed the opening bass line of Wherever.. from Stravinsky https://youtu.be/TRjiMN2qJHI?feature=shared

    Eagerly awaiting the two successor albums on blu-ray!!

    1. In more positive news, the Royal Mail email was telling porkies and it arrived yesterday. Also, Mrs P. is headed out soon so it will be getting played this afternoon at an unsociable volume. Haven’t heard the full album in decades, as I didn’t actually own a copy until yesterday. My old cassette went in the bin years ago and I never replaced it…

    1. You’re aware that ‘Senza Una Donna’ is originally a song written and performed by Zucchero (Fornaciari), aren’t you?

      Its original version with only him on vocals was on his 1987 album ‘Blue’s’ (which also is worth a listen).

      The version with Paul Young as guest vocalist came out about three years later and has not much to do with Paul Young’s earlier releases except for his voice on it.

      You should at least give ‘No Parlez’ and ‘The Secret Of Association’ a spin as both are top eighties pop albums.

      1. Senza una donna was and still is dreadful and a perfect example of German radio pop at its worst. I can hear it being followed by Tina Turner’s The Best and You can leave your hat on by Joe Cocker on so called Rock Radio. Und abends Wetten, dass….

        1. Well… It’s just a matter of taste. But this wonderful song with the terrific Adelmo Fornaciari (Italian singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. His music, which he performs in Italian and English, is inspired by gospel, blues and rock music. To dismiss him as the “father of the Italian blues”) and the vocally outstanding British singer and songwriter Paul Young to call as “dreadful” is something I personally don’t think is more accurate. It´s a smooth and rhythmic ballad. And the two singers complement each other perfectly. The song describes the emotions and thoughts of a man who has just experienced a breakup. The title means ‘Without a Woman’ in Italian. The singer talks about his new independence and how he tries to live his life without his partner. – Alles andere als ein schnöder Schlager.

  27. We all have phases in our life. Phases which, whether we like it or not, can inform our love (or hate) of particular artists, songs or albums.

    I’d be willing to put money on many of us having similar influences and phases. With different tastes coming from that.

    i) influence of parent / elder sibling or sibling’s partner – My parents had no love for music at all but my elder sister (16 to my 10years old) had a boyfriend who influenced me with his love of progressive sounds where my natural 10 – 13 was more Abba / Kate Bush. But he got me in to all things Oldfield / Jarre / Tangerine Dream / Genesis etc.

    ii) Finding your own feet – 13 to 16 – as you expand your love of music and find things for your self. This bought me to the door of Japan.

    iii) Sixth form – 16 to 18 – and oh boy, this is where you feel really free to love what you love. You are SO grown up (in your own head).

    No Parlez (Along with others like Wham / Tin Tin etc.) sat four-square in the middle of so many lives in 1983. I borrowed the album off a girl I really fancied (Failure) I loved it and bought it myself that weekend and that was that. A lifelong love of Paul Young’s music which took me back to the brilliant Q-Tips and even the very misunderstood Streetband. It was *THE* Sixth Form album.

    The lyrics are a giveaway to how much any albums are burned in to our psyche. At last week’s unveiling of the Atmos mix, I found myself word perfect in an era of not being able to recall what I did last Monday. Not only word perfect, but ooh perfect, ah perfect and shriek perfect.

    Next phases are University / first job (work) / Marriage / Kids / kids leave home. Nothing, in my life anyway, to match what 10 to 16 provided me with during those later years.

    But for me this sixth form phase is my first true self-expression without external influence. And right there is No Parlez. Do I prefer the follow up? The Secret of Association. Very hard question, ask again when the SDE Blu-Ray of that album is released.

    3. When my best friend and I get together we re-live our memories over and over again. The same old stories never tire. Musical memories are much the same – I can pinpoint where I was during my youth – what school year it was, what radio station or tv show the music was on.

      Having older siblings opened my musical horizons at an early age, in a similar way to you Chris, and that started a life long love of music.

      Radio was the most important outlet for new music and the ability to tape the charts was huge. I still have memories of the DJ’s comments in between songs. No money meant no LP’s, and so borrowing them and recording them was everything.

      Having access to everything for todays youth, via the likes of Spotify or You Tube would have been a dream come true all those years ago, but equally there was something memorable about striving to find things out and to get access to music. The albums I managed to acquire were played to death, loved, and memorised encyclopaedic style. I imagine it is harder for todays youth to love things as much when they have such easy access to everything, but that may be a load of rubbish.

      Paul Young has arrived this morning, so it’s time re-live my youth once again.

      1. Re part one, influences, my mum was into soul music and played keyboards in a band before I was about. Dad was more into rock, so I grew up with a mix of stuff going in my ears. She was Marvin Gaye, Four Tops and Stevie Wonder, he was Bob Seger, Eagles, Thin Lizzy etc. They also bought me a second hand record player when I was only 4 or 5 and the fella they bought it off threw in lots of 45s, so I had stuff from the 60s and very early 70s in my ‘collection’. I no longer have them but there were things like Duane Eddy, Bobby Darin and George McCrae in there.

        Always had a mixed bag of tastes for some reason.

  28. Just come across the following from mc7t on the Steve Hoffman forum :

    “Ok, I’ve been playing this most of the morning and so far the original 1983 stereo LP version on the disc definitely isn’t.
    Track 1 Come back and stay is some strange hybrid mix of the 12″ and album version… It starts with the rolling drums and the middle section is extended… Definitely not on my original 1983 vinyl.
    Track 2 Love will tear us apart has the extended intro…. Not the version on the 83 vinyl.
    That’s as far as I’ve got on that section of the disc .
    Also the Atmos/5.1 mix of track 1 doesn’t relate to the timings on the cover… It’s still the hybrid mix… I was really hoping they’d got it right this time… They didn’t.
    I hope these mistakes haven’t been repeated on the cd version that I know a lot of people are hoping is a carbon copy of the original vinyl.”

        1. A Discogs comment states that the original UK pressing with white CBS labels has the 4:57 version on it. If that was the original release of the album then there you go…

  29. Bought the cassette way back in winter of 83. Love the 12” mixes on the cassette which everyone was doing at the time. Best track on the album was behind your smile which was the bonus track. Got the 25th anniversary edition a while back so ain’t getting this cos there’s nothing new to entice me.

  30. As an American who is aware of the name Paul Young but little else, I can admit I’d never listened to this album until today, based upon your recommendation. And what I can say is – I definitely can hear where the experimentation with the arrangements and production is very early 80’s – lot of non-cheesy keyboards, plenty of breathing space, the backing vocals are uniquely arranged, but some of the stylistic choices remind me a lot of Bowie’s Let’s Dance album. The first side of this album is fantastic – all the way through ‘Common People’ is very listenable, but only ‘Rough Spots’ on side 2 is (for me), any good. The remaining tunes remind me too much of mid-80’s soul-funk. Still, that’s 7 out of 11 songs that are actually pretty good. And of course I don’t have the childhood associations with Christmas tunes and whatnot that all you English people will have, so there’s no nostalgia factor skewing my relationship to the tunes. So, good? Yes. Not enough to make me want a deluxe edition, but definitely enough to make me buy a used copy at a used record store should I stumble upon a copy. Thanks Paul!

  31. Great article. Paul Young is seriously under rated. I didn’t have No Parlez at the time but everyone around me seemed to. I bought it on tape in 1990 and grew to love it. I bought the CD in 1994 and know it inside out. I think his version of Love Will Tear Us Apart is unfairly berated. And I’ve never seen it in a charity shop (although I only look for CD’s).
    And Royal Mail have informed me that my Blu Ray has been delivered. Back to 1983 for me tonight.

  33. Must admit I’ve never seen it in a charity shop.

    I think its appeal is that it was an album that had its own sound (Love Of The Common People IS the sound of Christmas to me) with that bass, the drums all pinned together with THAT voice.

    And while not as sleazy as Soft Cell, “Sex” still made this young teenager blush.

    1. Likewise I don’t recall seeing No Parlez in any chazza near me (certainly not on CD). The same cannot be said for Madonna’s Music, or for that matter Robbie Williams’ complete back-catalogue.

      1. It sounds like you might live near me, Steven. I regularly see the entire Robbie catalogue on CD in local charity shops for about £2. Other “favourites” are Susan Boyle, Westlife, Daniel O’Donnell, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

        I actually picked up a ‘No Parlez’ CD for about 30p in a secondhand record shop in New Zealand one time, though like yourself I’ve never seen the LP in a charity shop. I guess the LP is much more likely to be more prevalent than the CD, as I’m pretty sure that the CD didn’t arrive until later and the format was still in its infancy.

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