TALL STORIES of the ONLY ONES with ROBERT PALMER EP (Palmer, Perry, Kellie)

Description

Underneath Island Records HQ in St. Peter’s Square, Hammersmith lay a compact 24 track studio much favoured by cognescenti on account of its fabulous sound. Unlikely combos of musicians from Steve Winwood to Peter Tosh jammed together there.

One such evening in the summer of 1978 saw John Perry and Mike Kellie of The Only Ones record with Robert Palmer. The Tall Stories track that resulted took Palmer in a new, grittier direction. Kellie’s rock-steady beat aligned with Palmer’s own bass playing and Perry’s melodic guitar brought the sparse loping sound of Free bang up to date.

Sadly record company politics prevented the release of this track and the tapes were mislaid until 2016, when intense sleuthing by Pedro Mercedes turned up a cassette version. Careful tape transfer by Rob Keyloch and remastering by Nick Duckett has polished this performance into a jewel that does all three musicians great credit. The B-side instrumental was cut at the same session.

This record is a fitting tribute to the late Robert Palmer and to Mike Kellie, who sadly died whilst we were working on this release. Kellie told John Perry he was delighted by this record. He liked the finished product and loved the spontaneity of the session. He recalled the session as inspired and enjoyed recalling times when a high level of inspiration flowed with such ease.