Rupert Holmes: Partners In Crime CD Track Listing

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Rupert Holmes Partners In Crime (1979)
Originally Released 1979\nCD Edition Released October 12, 1993\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Before the release of this successful 1979 album, Holmes released four albums that failed to capture him at his best. Shortly before this, Holmes made his mark as songwriter. He penned the kitschy cannibalism tale "Timothy" for the Buoys. From his 1976 effort Singles came "The Last of the Romantics" which was covered to great effect by Engelbert Humperdinck. Partners in Crime finds Holmes more focused with pop savvy and a great batch of songs. The effort's biggest hit, the ingratiating "Escape" (The Pina Colada Song)," though skilled, is cutesy enough to make some people's eyes roll. Despite the nature of that track, Holmes was also willing to tackle more interesting issues. With the slightly disco-fied title track, he deftly examines the male/female dynamic as business deal. Throughout the song, Holmes is having a lot of fun with every salacious detail. "Nearsighted" has him going the power pop route and all but wringing tears out of seeing "slightly out of focus." As Partners in Crime goes along, what becomes striking is some of the tracks' subtle use of R&B flourishes. "Him" depicts Holmes as the cuckold and has a beautiful string arrangement, a great hook, and strong, vivid lyrics. The album's best ballad, "The People That You Never Get to Love" has Holmes again giving a warm and confident vocal and is poignant rather than weepy. Although there are a few waste cuts, on the whole Partners in Crime is a thought-provoking and polished album. -- Jason Elias\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nbrilliantly tuneful music & devastatingly witty lyrics, November 1, 2004\nReviewer: Dave "missing person" (United States) \nRupert Holmes' "Partners In Crime" was originally released in/ around September of 1979, and it's where you'll find the huge/ notorious #1 hit "Escape" aka "The Pina Colada Song". Although the song is sly as well as well-crafted & insanely catchy, its whimsical nature might lead listeners to think this 1979 album is some kind of wacky late '70s relic that's best forgotten. That couldn't be less true. Like usual, Rupert wrote every song on this album himself, & he displays his boundless songwriting creativity by unleashing one astonishingly well-crafted, inspired gem after another. "The Pina Colada Song" starts the album off in great fashion, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. The title track makes great use of a galloping drum line, features mind-bogglingly crafty lyrics, and has a deathless chorus. "Nearsighted" is a sentimental, melodic ballad and a solid example of Holmes' knack for writing lyrics that are at once humorous & moving. "Lunch Hour" has an off-kilter verse melody, a hilarious chorus, & an extended salsa-flavored instrumental coda. The reggae-flavored "Drop It" is about wanting a girlfriend to just lighten up & not be so serious & it features some laugh-out-loud humorous lyrics. "Him", another big hit, is a haunting song about a cheating girlfriend and features a punchy, dramatic chorus. "Answering Machine", like "Escape", is another highly whimsical song & unsurprisingly was released as a single (it reached the top 40)--with its mockery of the 30-second time limit of "old-fashioned" answering machines, the lyrics are, in a sense, quite dated in today's high-tech world, but the song is lots of fun nonetheless. He delivers another splendid ballad with the wistful "The People That You Never Get To Love", & song that neatly points out how certain people you casually pass by each day could have been "the one". The album ends with the ultra-catchy minor-keyed "In You I Trust" which is about the comfort of being able to depend on/ have trust in your companion in an otherwise devious, ever-changing (for the worse) world--it's also got a cool, Genesis-y instrumental break. If you're looking for an album that's loaded with catchy hooks, you've come to a great place--it's simply incredible how consistently super-catchy this album is. The production values are absolutely first-rate as well, as are the performances--aside from a Chrissy Faith vocal part on "Answering Machine", Rupert does all the vocals on here & plays all the keyboards, & guitarist Dean Bailin does masterful work playing all the guitars on the album. Rupert's vocals are loaded with personality & he gives just the right vocal treatment to suit each song. To make some comparisons, Rupert's songwriting fluency along with his ease of incorporating various styles brings to mind early Joe Jackson, but without the anger. At the same time, his combination of seedy lyrics & musically sophisticated, at times jazzy, soft rock strongly brings to mind Steely Dan. If you're a Dan fanatic, I can't imagine not loving this. By all means, this is complimentary! One thing about this album though is that his one of a kind knack for humorous-yet-charming romantic lyrics isn't very strongly in evidence. And that's the only thing that makes me hesitant in recommending this album as an ideal place to start discovering Rupert--his smile-inducing, sweetly romantic and tender side is in relatively low abundance on here. It's by no means absent--"Nearsighted" is a solid example, & in a way, so is "Escape", yet "Escape" feels more like a comedy skit-ish song than a heart-tugging romantic one. His 1981 album "Full Circle", as well as his brilliant 1994 "comeback" album "Scenario" both feature his tender side much more strongly on such terrific tracks as "Loved By the One You Love", "You Remind Me Of You", "One Born Every Minute", "The Eighties Never Happened", & "The Hurting Part". Admittedly, this album ends up being pretty low in the `heart-tugging' department--if you`re afraid that might turn you off, try starting with his "Full Circle" album. That's not an actual complaint though--"Partners In Crime" is a unique, brilliant, & irresistibly fun album that any serious music listener will get a blast out of.\n\n(P.S. The standard MCA Records CD version of "Partners In Crime" does feature printed lyrics for each song & thorough album credits, but the sound quality overall is very disappointing, plus certain tracks fade out quite early--considerably earlier than they do on the original vinyl on Infinity Records.)\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nClassic album about romance in modern times, May 3, 2003\nReviewer: John Corbett (Summerland, California United States) \nRupert Holmes writes songs about love, just as many popular artists do. But what sets his style apart from the rest of the pack is his use of playful stories and insightful lyrics set in modern situations that we can all relate to. It's all the more impressive because these songs are every bit as touching and relevant today as they were over twenty years ago when the album was first released.\n\nPartners In Crime (1979), his most commerically successful album, contains his smash hit, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". Because of its success, it has become the butt of jokes, but a close listen to the lyrics shows that it is actually a very clever song about a man and a wife, who, bored with their marriage, submit personal ads for romance to a newspaper, not realizing the other has done the same. When they finally arrange the meeting, they find none other than their better halves waiting for them, discovering that they had made the right choice long ago.\n\n"Him" was another Top Ten hit, although this one tends to be forgotten by those who label Holmes as a "one-hit wonder". Here his character complains that his lover is not only having an affair, but doing a poor job on concealing it. Holmes's character can tell, among a number of reasons, because she carelessly leaves behind evidence of a foreign brand of cigarettes: "Sometimes the girl forgets."\n\nIf you want to impress your friends when they call you, then you should use the refrain to "Answering Machine", yet another Top Forty hit from the album. Here our hero suddenly decides to propose marriage to his lady, but she's not home. The thirty-second length capacity of the standard machine back in those days frustrates him by cutting off the most important words of his message. Unfortunately for our anxious suitor, while he is out "buying dog food for the cat", the machine does the same to her response.\n\nOther classics include tracks such as "Lunch Hour", which details the frantic social chaos the takes place during the confines of the standard weekday lunchtime break. "The People That You Never Get To Love" is a gem written about a common feeling that rarely finds its way into song -- those fleeting moments when you match a gaze with a beautful stranger, but she disappears from your life just as quickly as she enters it. What would life have been like if you had made that gesture in the library or on the elevator?\n\nOn top of the clever and profound lyrics, Holmes's voice is deep and soothing, and the production is first-class soft pop.\n\nRupert Holmes is definitely the hero for the average working fellow who just wants to make enough sense out of the hectic pace of modern life to find and keep love.\n\n"Partners In Crime" is recommended to such souls without hesitation.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nCheat Happens could have been another title for this., July 9, 2001\nReviewer: Javier Moreno (Albany, CA) \nPartners In Crime" is a curious album about the continuing ironies of love, affection, and cheating. The first hit single, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" presents our narrator feeling the depressions of rutine in his relationship. Egotistically, he searchs the connections section in a newspaper for running away from the boredom of having a steady girlfriend. When he mets his connection, he finds out she's his own girlfriend, also running away from him. The funny thing is they both love Pina Coladas, and to get caught in the rain. But they were long-time lovers, and love, Rupert says, is a fading flower in a world where trust is also fading each and every day.\n\nThe journey continues with the album's title track as we follow two couples: one, a teenager hooker that doesn't tell the difference between love, need, affection and self-esteem. The other couple, a dominatrix and his slave who during office hours is her boss. They have to know that something's wrong with their lifestyles, isn't it? How an innocent girl could be treated that way and feel that need for a pimp? How come work is a great aphrodisiac, turning simple people into power and pain? This song is a funky-cheating-adult-oriented number with excellent horn arrangements, putting us in the key-city of the cheating events: New York. The center of the cheating culture.\n\nAfter a lament of being "Nearsighted" and being rejected by girls, Rupert sighs and takes the story on the Lunch Hour in Manhattan, where a girl takes the cab to visit her current lover in a hotel, just when she was supposed to have a meal. "Whatever had for lunch agrees with you", Rupert comments with her. With the fast paced rhythm, he also introduces us to a "lunch hour" of a Brooklyn businessman and the hot stewardess from Air Canada. It's the most colorful and descriptive song of the album, and Holmes proves himself as a first-level narrator. "Him" is the moment when the singer finds out he's been cheated for a while, probably the same way he's been doing it. A pack of cigarrettes, next to the window, that is not his brand proves it, and he sings with the biggest self-compassion ever present in a pop song. This guy, Holmes, must really know about love and deception, we think. And the songs' order is a good proof of that. After "Him", we can tell the broken hearted guy's is compulsevly searching for love with his "Answering Machine", he wonders about the women he'll never get to love and feels a lot of nostalgia, and goes down to the bottom of his moods. But at the near end of the album, he decides to be sincere with himself and start believing that there must me something better than the life he's been thru. "Get outta yourself".\n\nThe end of the album is a resolution, a conclusion, a bet for love. "In You I Trust" completes the circle and leaves the listener ready for another pass of that sweet and sour taste of love, need, infatuation and cheat. A must for all wives and lovers around the world.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nA dynamic of love and lust, July 9, 2001\nReviewer: Reuben (Ohio, the heart of it all!)\nRupert Holmes created a dynamic album in 1979, writing nearly all of his own material and combining disco, pop, reggae, ballads and his unique flair and sense of humour. Partners in Crime explores the intricacies of modern relationships. Side one starts off with "The Pina Colada Song," obviously the most well-known song by Holmes. It is a sample of what's to come. Featuring themes of infidelity, proposal, cheating, domination, self-image and true love, this seemingly carefree album proves to be deep and worth analysis. The spritely ditty, "Lunch Hour," is a study in quickies and one-hour stands. Other memorable tracks include, "Him" and "The People That You Never Get To Love."\n\nUltimately, the title track serves as the most haunting piece of the album, implying that daily ins and outs of love, in addition to more discreet themes, will wear us down as we become complacent and as we develop comfort zones. Illustrated by the cover photograph perfectly, the practice of trying to find love fast and furiously will only lead one to self-loathing, disappointment and eventual desensitization to love. Holmes' insightful and not unfunny portrayal of the modern condition of relationships leaves the listener informed yet confused, delighted yet unfulfilled, not unlike the modern relationship rat race itself.\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nRecorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York, New York.
This rock cd contains 10 tracks and runs 42min 45sec.
Freedb: 980a030a
Buy: from Amazon.com

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Rupert Holmes: Partners In Crime CD Track Listing

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