{"id":7394,"date":"2011-06-03T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=7394"},"modified":"2011-06-03T10:05:58","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T14:05:58","slug":"listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen But Don\u2019t Look: Leo Sayer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7426\" style=\"width: 247px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7426\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7426\" title=\"sayer1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/sayer1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"237\" height=\"233\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7426\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Close your eyes...<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Remember <strong>BigSteve<\/strong>&#8216;s <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S2o2kdd_Veo\" target=\"_blank\">Listen But Don&#8217;t Look Principle<\/a><\/em>? It&#8217;s an official <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/category\/rth-glossary\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rock Town Hall Glossary<\/a> term, if you ever need to cite it in your own works of rock criticism, but I was reminded of it tonight, when I went searching for some vintage <strong>Leo Sayer<\/strong> videos\u2014solely for the purpose, or so I thought, of laughing at how the guy looked!<\/p>\n<p>I found the following clip and expected a hearty belly laugh:<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S2o2kdd_Veo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>However, after clicking PLAY I was distracted for a few seconds and found myself accidentally hearing the song without watching Sayer in his clown get-up. Just listening to the song I realized it wasn&#8217;t bad. Hell, if someone told me this was a <strong>Ronnie Lane<\/strong> solo track from his post-Faces days I&#8217;d be down with it.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s Sayer from that same Sad Clown performance doing a song I think I&#8217;d previously only known from <strong>Roger Daltrey<\/strong>&#8216;s solo version:<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6OEarewzmwI?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Honestly, how much worse is it than Daltrey&#8217;s minor hit version\u2014or his version of Sayer&#8217;s &#8220;One Man Band,&#8221; for that matter! Think about it, one of rock&#8217;s greatest vocalists turned to Leo Sayer when he needed a break from <strong>Pete Townshend<\/strong>. Did Daltrey have the ability to look past the inherent humor of Sayer&#8217;s Look, or did he identify with the little guy&#8217;s curls?<\/p>\n<p>I look forward to the knowledgeable Townsperson who blows me out of the water with his or her insight on the surprising talent of Leo Sayer, but meanwhile I will continue to follow my own path of discovery. Let&#8217;s examine Sayer&#8217;s breakthrough hits in the US, with a Look that presaged 1980s inspirational fitness guru <strong>Richard Simmons<\/strong>.\u00a0(Think Simmons watched old Sayer videos and thought to himself, <em>That&#8217;s the weight I need to get back to!<span style=\"font-style: normal;\">?<\/span><\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V3E2-6aj-oc?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I won&#8217;t kid you, in my glorious AM youth I dug &#8220;You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.&#8221; Disco wasn&#8217;t cool in my school, but neither was I. This song was more like the uplifting, white-boy soul of <strong>The Bee Gees<\/strong> than that soul-numbing stuff that would be influenced by Giorgio Moroder&#8217;s productions for <strong>Donna Summer<\/strong>. <em>That<\/em> stuff (ie, the runners-up disco that landed on the\u00a0<em>Thank God It&#8217;s Friday<\/em> soundtrack) deserved to be burned, not this hand-holding, lollipop-licking goodness. The problem with Sayer was\u2014and publicly I couldn&#8217;t get past it even when I was 13\u2014he looked ridiculous! I wanted to give him a wedgie or something, how about you?<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kk4cKLMGabE?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Even his hit ballad, &#8220;When I Need You,&#8221; wasn&#8217;t bad in a &#8220;Miracles&#8221;-era <strong>Jefferson Starship<\/strong> kind of way. Who produced these videos, by the way, <strong>Rick Moranis<\/strong> in his pre-SCTV days?<\/p>\n<p>I know it&#8217;s asking a lot of you to listen to any of these clips while watching the guy. Try closing your eyes and tell me if it&#8217;s any better when you&#8217;re not watching the BEFORE version of Richard Simmons. Next is a clip that will be of special interest to my man and yours, <strong>2000 Man<\/strong>. <em>Looking<\/em> at this clip won&#8217;t be quite as bad, but you may want to turn the sound down.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HjOf1nzTQFk?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But let&#8217;s face it: this examination was initially motivated by my need for a laugh. Enjoy!<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3LF8H57R6Q8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/4\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">4<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/5\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">5<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remember BigSteve&#8216;s Listen But Don&#8217;t Look Principle? It&#8217;s an official Rock Town Hall Glossary term, if you ever need to cite it in your own works of rock criticism, but I was reminded of it tonight, when I went searching for some vintage Leo Sayer videos\u2014solely for the purpose, or so I thought, of laughing <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/listen-but-don%e2%80%99t-look-leo-sayer\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342,17],"tags":[61],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}