Search - Leo Sayer :: Silver Bird

The original life of Leo Sayer

10/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most people familiar with Leo Sayer know him for his pop hits like You Make Me Feel Like Dancing and When I Need You. While well constructed, and fine for what they are, these decidedly pop, radio-friendly, rather saccharine Top 40 tunes are relegated to their time and beyond that not especially insightful or memorable. But before all this there was a whole other side to Leo Sayer, and this is what you find in Silverbird.Silverbird is his first album, originally released in 1973, quite a few years before his metamorphose to the popster that most know, and whatever fame and success he achieved later. In the beginning, starting with this album, he was a melancholic intriguing figure in pop/rock music, arguably ahead of or outside of his time. In these early days he performed in clown persona, complete with costume and makeup. The image was androgynous, and when combined with the music, created a dark aura of irony, isolation, vulnerability and emotional depth that was at once highly personal, in some ways relatable, and powerful enough to make him, as an artist, songwriter and performer, an intriguing figure that seemed to be verging on nightmarish. Set to a backdrop of mournful, eerie string arrangements and a sparse piano based band, the songs on this album are dark, strange and disturbing, and ultimately captivating. The themes are isolation and loneliness; a youthful cocktail of depression, separation, failure and angst, with an underlying desperation for love and connection. The album opens with a rocker, Innocent Bystander. The lyrical image of "running down the track, trying to reach the end, but the train never comes..." work as a metaphor for unfulfilled hopes and dreams; time going by with nothing accomplished to the point of near insanity. Goodnight Old Friend comes across with the same feeling of Robert Johnson's Hellhounds. You get a sense that the "old friend," may well be his personal demons or the devil himself. Drop Back has a chorus set to an incessant pleading string arrangement reminiscent of Eleanor Rigby, with a lyrical storyline about being rejected by a rather upset, almost shocked love interest. You hear a sense of frustration and misunderstanding that leads to unhealthy introspection and confusion. The title track Silverbird is a brief, haunting, wordless vocal and piano piece that evokes both a circus sense and a haunting echo that reveals again, a sense of isolation underlying this deceivingly somewhat happy tune. The Show Must Go On was a Top 40 hit for Three Dog Night, and as a result perhaps the most, if not the only, familiar song to the early Leo Sayer uninitiated. His version is starker, more sideshowish, almost vaudevillian, and more foreboding with the mixed image of the happiness of a circus clown and the reality that he has somehow angered his audience. The Dancer is a mournful tale about a tragic fall for a high wire dancer. Tomorrow (Is The First Day of the Rest of Your Life) is a thumping rocker, which turns this clichéd ironic phrase on its head with a sense of being less purely optimistic as encouraging, yet aware of the difficulties and challenges of life. For the most part these are the themes and images of the entire album (I am going by the original record and these comments don't relate to bonus tracks since I have not heard them). This is the kind of music that should appeal to fans of artists like Nick Drake, Love's Forever Changes, The Zombies Odyssey and the Oracle and Roger Daltry's first solo album, Daltry (most popular track Giving It All Away), which is Daltry performing songs written by Leo Sayer in that period. It probably will not appeal to the fans of Sayer's disco era Top 40 music. To them this will be startlingly different. But for those who appreciate the artists and albums mentioned here, this will probably be a satisfying experience, not to mention for those unfamiliar with Sayer's pre-hit life - a fascinating, almost mysterious look into the abandoned direction of an artist who once upon a time made some very self reflective, dramatic, and in this reviewer's view, artistically intriguing, honest, revealing music. I for one, can't wait to get this CD."

Total agreement!

Gary Morrow | Ventura, California USA | 01/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can add absolutely NOTHING to "A Music Fan's" review other than to say I wore the record out listening to it back in 73/74. My son, who is now 31 years of age, could sit for an hour with the headphones on listening to it seemingly mesmerized rocking back and forth on the sofa.I couldn't wait for his subsequent recordings but ultimately found them wanting as it seemed he sidestepped his roots and original soulful stylings to appeal to a broader audience. Unfortunate. This, his first album, was without a doubt his best. I had the good fortune to see him perform on a late night TV program around the time this album was released. He was dressed in his clown personna. I was absolutely captivated. The showman's, showman. Again, congratulations to "A Music Fan" for his or her ability to put down in words what so many of us feel toward Leo Sayer's first and best effort."

Leo Sayer Rocks 100%!

rocky-o | 08/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Leo is a pimp, he is the shiznit. I hope that he reads this & I can tell him how much I love him. This cd rocks. My friend JJ has it. His parents are like so into Sayer you will not believe. They have a shrine dedicated to Mr. Sayer. Mr. Sayer I love you,

I don't have this cd, but i want to get it. i'm a poor child.

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