I guess the combination of Leo Sayer’s background/discography and this L.A session all-stars line-up is one to make all the West Coasters sit up and take notice.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Leo Sayer
ALBUM: World Radio
LABEL: Chrysalis
SERIAL: CDL1345
YEAR: 1982
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Leo Sayer – vocals, guitar, harmonica * Ralph Hammer, Steve Lukather, Dean Parks, Steve Khan – guitars * David Hungate, Abraham Laboriel, Will Lee – bass * Michael Boddicker, Robbie Buchanan, Bob Christianson – keyboards, synths * Sammy Figueroa – percussion * Jeff Porcaro – drums * Robin Beck, Steve George, Richard Page, Lani Groves, Marcy Levy – backing vocals * Harry Bluestone, Gene Orloff – concert master
TRACK LISTING: 01 Heart (Stop Beating In Time) * 02 Paris Dies In The Morning * 03 Have You Ever Been In Love * 04 Rumours * 05 Heroes * 06 Til You Let Your Heart Win * 07 End Of The Game * 08 Wondering Where The Lions Are * 09 We’ve Got Ourselves In Love * 10 World Radio
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
As some of you have seen on this site as of late, we’ve been making inquiries about this album. I guess the combination of Leo Sayer’s background/discography and this L.A session all-stars line-up is one to make all the West Coasters sit up and take notice.
Leo Sayer’s career is populated with hit singles all throughout the 70’s (you know the ones: ‘More Than I Can Say’, ‘How Much Love’, ‘When I Need You’ and ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing’), the mans voice quite superb actually, despite the undue attention paid to his pop/disco leanings.
Well, that has been corrected on this ‘west coast/rock’ effort from 1982. Just look at the line-up above to know that this is a huge deviation to the American radio-rock/AOR market, despite having worked extensively with American based musicians for his prior albums as well.
The Songs
Leo Sayer has written four tracks of the album with songwriting partner David Courtney, though there are a couple of notable covers. The lead-off track ‘Heart (Stop Beating In Time)’ is a Bee Gees track, while ‘Have You Ever Been In Love’, a Sinfield/Hill co-write, has been covered by the likes of Celine Dion and Peter Cetera (‘Solitude Solitaire’ LP), but this version is just as impassioned as both of those.
With a track like ‘Paris Dies In The Morning’, it is reason enough for us to get excited, a superb example of where Leo was heading down the west-coast/AOR route. ‘Rumours’ is a racy track not unlike his other hit ‘Thunder In My Heart’, it has that same edge about it.
‘Heroes’ is another mid-tempo number, the drawn-out slow verses given a burst of energy on the chorus. You can hear strains of David Roberts filter through on ‘Til You Let Your Heart Win’, the ballad sitting comfortably in the west-coast camp, but it is overly light admittedly. ‘End Of The Game’ starts out promisingly though the reggae flavoured chorus spoils it somewhat.
‘Wondering Where The Lions Are’, a track written by Bruce Cockburn is harmless pop, much better is the punchy ‘We’ve Got Ourselves In Love’, pitching itself again at west coast/AOR, mainly due to the synth stabs and that atypical L.A sesion Groove. The title track ‘World Radio’ finishes up, with a sound similar to AOR-era Air Supply, who themselves produced a slew of excellent albums from 1985 onward.
In Summary
‘World Radio’ despite being pigeon-holed in the west coast/AOR categories, is still a light album by comparison. Lovely to hear that Leo Sayer is back on the charts again. During early 2006, a remake of his hit ‘Thunder In My Heart’ was released by DJ Meck, and reached No#1 on the charts in Britain. Also, Sayer is now living in Australia and is still touring and recording busily as ever.
His latest album ‘Voice In My Head’ has just been released as a digipak. With the dearth of quality releases worldwide, I think it is time for everyone to rediscover Leo, and invest a little time and money in his discography. Fans of west coast/AOR, and in particular, those who enjoyed albums from Air Supply like ‘The World Is..’ and their 1985 self titled release might find something to get excited about.
Leo Sayer on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
