Bootleg City: Robert Palmer Double Fun

Greetings, citizens of Bootleg City! Today's a travel day for me, which means now is the perfect time to yield the lectern to Mayor Matt Wardlaw so he can treat us to the latest bounty of goodies from the city's overflowing treasury of unofficially released recordings. Today he must be feeling extra generous, because this is a Bootleg City two-fer — a double set of live performances delivered by the mighty Robert Palmer, one from 1980 and one from 1991.

If you know your Robert Palmer, you know these sets offer a glimpse of the man on either side of his big mid-'80s commercial breakthrough. When the 1980 set was recorded, he was touring on the back of his just-released Clues album, then the latest in a string of middling chart performers. But by '91, Palmer was several years removed from the string of big hit singles he enjoyed from his Riptide and Heavy Nova albums, and was already starting to burn that capital on a couple of LPs that dabbled in an increasingly creaky blend of hard rock and big band. But that's just the background information — the only thing you really need to know is that he was a tremendous live performer, and no matter which record he happened to be schlepping, he blew the roof off every joint he played.

Enough of my jibber-jabber. Take a look at these track listings and hit the download link below!