Robert Palmer - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, Paris Theatre, London, Britain, 4-14-1976

This is the first Robert Palmer BBC album I've posted, but in a way, it's the fourth one. That's because the second BBC volume for the band Alan Bown featured him on lead vocals, then he was one of two lead vocalists for the band Vinegar Joe, and I've posted two BBC volumes from that band. 

Kudos to the BBC for featuring Robert Palmer in 1976, because he'd had very little success in Britain up until that point. He released his first solo album, "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley," in 1974, then his second one, "Pressure Drop," in late 1975. "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" almost scraped the bottom of the Top 100 album charts in the U.S., but didn't even do that much in Britain, and "Pressure Drop" fared worse in both countries. It would be a slow climb from this point until he became a big star in the 1980s.

At this point, his musical style was fairly different from his 1980s style. For his first two albums, he was heavily influenced by the funky sounds of Little Feat and the Meters, and was backed by both bands on his albums and also went on tour with them. Even his appearance was different, as you can see from the cover photo, with his wearing casual clothes instead of a suit. But just because his music wasn't well known at the time didn't mean it was bad. In fact, if you look at his entry at the crowd-sourced rateyourmusic.com, his first two albums have the highest ratings of all his albums.

Unfortunately, he was only given a half an hour time slot. (This album is 29 minutes long.) I considered adding in more music, but I couldn't find anything else BBC related from this time period. If he did some studio sessions too, I couldn't find them. So I just left this as it is.

01 Here with You Tonight (Robert Palmer)
02 Gotta Get a Grip on You (Robert Palmer)
03 Which of Us Is the Fool (Robert Palmer)
04 River Boat (Robert Palmer)
05 Pressure Drop (Robert Palmer)
06 Sailing Shoes (Robert Palmer)
07 Hey Julia (Robert Palmer)
08 Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley (Robert Palmer)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15942233/RobrtPalmr_1976_BBSessonsVolum1InConcrtPrisTheatrLondnBrtain__4-14-1976_atse.zip.html

I couldn't find any good color photos of Palmer in 1976. So I used one from a concert in Utrecht, Netherlands, in 1977.