I have always liked Michael des Barres. Back in the mid 1980s when I was still a student and dating the girl who was to become my first wife, I heard a band called The Power Station. Alison (my first wife-to-be) was a massive fan of Duran Duran and so being as OCD as I am, I bought loads of Duran Duran rarities and spin-off records for her. One of them was the aforementioned debit LP from The Power Station. Its vocals were by Robert Palmer, a dude whom I always admired, and I was disappointed when I discovered that he didn't want to play live and so left the band after the first album but before they had started touring.
One day we were reading the music press and my future ex-wife said: "Oooh, they've replaced Robert Palmer with some bloke called Michael des Barres".
"Who the hell is he?" I grunted bad temperedly, but I checked him out and soon became a fan. Over the years I have got hold of stuff that he did with his previous bands, Silverhead and Detective. I also got mildly OCD about Led Zeppelin at around that time and as Detective had been signed to Swansong this was an added bonus. Over the years I have heard various bits and bobs that Lord des Barres (yes, he is a member of the British peerage) has done, and I have always been impressed.
This morning I woke up feeling dreadful. Bipolar and diabetes are not a good mix, and I have not been a well man for years, but this morning I was feeling particularly yucky. My sprits were lifted, however, by an email from the big cheese himslf. It contained an MP3 of a new song by des Barres, and a picture.
"This is jolly good" I typed back. "Tell me more".
"Well, its a sneak preview of a track from the forthcoming album 'Carnaby Street' which we are putting out in the late summer or fall" he replied.
I remonstrated him for not using the Queen's English. "It is autumn, dear boy", I wrote, but asked whether I could post the aforementioned sneak preview onto the blog.
"Go for it" he replied.
So I did.
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