No Parlez [Bonus Track]

Adapters: Paul M. Young; Jimme O'Neill; Paul Young.
Personnel: Paul Young (vocals); Matt Irving (vocals, guitar, keyboards, ARP synthesizer, bass guitar); Ian Kewley (vocals, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion); Eyethu (vocals, background vocals); Fats Mogoboya, Norman Zulu, Kim Lesley, Chief Dawethi, Maz Roberts, Dagmar, Nimsa Calliza, Zundi Lekau, Ntobi Lekan, Jabu Mbato, Wally Loak (vocals); Steve Bolton (guitar, lap steel guitar); Steve Bolton (guitar); Rico Rodriguez (trombone); Mark Pinder (synthesizer, drums, percussion); Pino Paladino, Pino Palladino (bass guitar); E.T. Latham (percussion).
Recording information: Workhouse Studios, London, England.
Photographers: Simon Fowler ; Eric Watson .
Arrangers: Ian Kewley; Laurie; Laurie Latham.
With the release of this debut album in 1983, Paul Young was immediately hailed as an intriguing synthesis of the old and the new. Blessed with a classic blue-eyed-soul voice, in the Bobby Hatfield/Daryl Hall tradition, Young pays homage to R&B tradition with respectful covers of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" and Booker T and the MG's' "Iron Out the Rough Spots." Laurie Latham's sparkling, wide-screen, gimmicky production, however, is absolutely of-the-moment.
Young's originals are quirky and New Wave-influenced. His choice of covers is unexpected (to say the least), including Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and three songs by Jack Lee--of LA's pop-punk Nerves--among them the exquisite hit single, "Come Back and Stay." In retrospect, NO PARLEZ certainly sounds like a product of the early '80s. But Young's voice and those inescapable pop hooks are timeless.