Retro Spins: Leo Sayer - Cool Touch

Much like Jermaine Jackson, Leo Sayer's career seems to have the same problem. It's showing up to the party too late. By this, I mean his music seems to be a decade behind. While most artists of the 80's were adopting synthpop sounds, Sayer (and Jackson), seemed to be stuck in the 70's dance craze of disco and ballads. It's because of this that it's no surprise Sayer's 1990 released Cool Touch seems to have finally caught up to this style of music. It certainly makes it stand out as my kind of music. However, I can also see why it failed to really impact in the era of grunge. It probably didn't help that the album was only released in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.

Despite its release date, the sound of the album appeals very much to my 80's nostalgic sense of being. As far as I'm concerned, it fits right in there with anything released between 1986 and 1987. However, with that said, it doesn't get a free pass for that.

As I listened to it, I didn't hate what I was hearing. Unfortunately, I also wasn't being blown away. Of the ten tracks, only two stood out for me. What made this all the more worse was how superior they were to the rest of the album. Going Home and My Favourite easily could have been chart toppers in the 80's, but very overshadowed and ignored in the 90's.

The album intrigued me enough to want to see what else Sayer did past his prime years in the industry. However, this led to a disappointing dead end. While he did release a few more albums, the releases were limited to foreign countries, and not only that, but he appears to have reverted back to his 70's era music style. I suppose I'll be passing on those.

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Retro Spins: Leo Sayer - Living In A Fantasy

Leo Sayer is an artist who never seemed to get the credit or attention he deserved in the music industry. Even as I type this, I'm sure many of you are asking, "Leo, who?" His career seemed to hang out in the middle of the road, never garnering mainstream attention, but also finding a strong enough foothold to not fall into obscurity.

Sayer hit the scene in 1973 with his debut album, Silverbird, and with the exception of 1981, continued to release new records consecutively through 1983's, Have You Ever Been In Love. His career was not devoid of chart toppers, having two hits reach number one in 1977 alone. In fact, even from today's album, Living In A Fantasy, the song More Than I Can Say, hit the charts in September of 1980, and eventually climbed to the number two spot by December. It stayed there for four consecutive weeks, kept from the number one spot by Kenny Rogers, Lady, which held that number for six consecutive weeks before being dethroned by John Lennon's, (Just Like) Starting Over.

With all this praise I'm throwing out to the artist, I'd be lying if I said Leo Sayer was one of my all time favorites. He has some good songs, really good ones, but for me, they're sporadically spread across the above noted era of albums. Even with that said, the majority of my knowledge, and opinion, of this falls within his albums from the 70's. Because of this, I thought today would be a good day to fire up his first contribution to the 80's and have a listen.

Here's the thing. As I listen to it, it's Leo Sayer. It has his distinctive sound, range of vocal points and a decent lineup of songs. It's his voice which drew me more so to his music than anything. Leo has a range to the notes he can hit. He can hit solid high notes, keep it smooth, or even belt out a raspy scream. It's when he mixes these various styles together that his music really stands out.

However, what it lacks on Living In A Fantasy, and what pales it to prior albums, is that it has no punch behind any of the songs. Nothing really stands out as a solid track. Even his chart topper noted above really didn't leave any form of impression with me. I've definitely heard better from him.

Out of all of them, You Win / You Lose, was the only one I ended up grabbing for my shuffle mix. The rest were easily passable. I think what ultimately cripple his career in the 80's was his inability, or perhaps desire, to move past the sounds of the 70's and step into the world of the 80's. His music never really evolved to stay current. Perhaps this is why nobody would see another studio album from him until 1990's Cool Touch.

Ironically enough, it appears that in this change of the decade that Sayer finally adopted a synth style pop sound. However, to do so in the dawn of the era of grunge was definitely a boat he jumped on way too late, only adding to his irrelevance in the industry.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.