Valotte
| Valotte | ||||
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| Studio album by Julian Lennon | ||||
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Publication |
1984 |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
38:17 |
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Studio (s) |
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Valotte is the debut album of the singer Julian Lennon . It was released on October 15, 1984 by Atlantic Records in the USA and Canada and by Charisma / Virgin Records worldwide. It has remained Lennon's most successful album to this day.
Emergence
Shortly after the murder of his father John Lennon , Julian Lennon was in the public eye. His father had taught him to play the guitar when he was a child, and when he was a teenager, Lennon played in the amateur band "Lennon Drops", where he worked as a drummer, guitarist and singer. In early 1981, Lennon stated that he “will definitely start my career in the music business. However, I don't want to upset the world as a solo singer. First of all, I want to learn everything you need to be able to produce records. ”There was a time in the gossip columns of the sensational press before it went quiet around him. He tried to gain a foothold as a sound engineer, but "couldn't stand it behind the mixer [...], I had to make music."
He began to write his own songs, but they were too complicated at the beginning. “Then I listened to my father's solo albums again. That opened my eyes. The songs were so direct that there was feelings behind them, character, ”Lennon said in an interview in 1984. The first tracks were created in collaboration with his school friend Justin Clayton and his musician friend Carlos Morales.
The first demo recordings and a record deal with Atlantic Records followed . Lennon then went to the village of Valotte near Nevers in France , where he wrote more titles in a shabby chateaux. His debut album bears the name of the village. On the black and white cover, Lennon is sitting on a chair and looking straight into the camera. The cover photo was taken by the photographer David Michael Kennedy (* 1950).
Lennon wrote the most successful track on the album, Too Late For Goodbyes , in his apartment in London at the time . He describes an argument between Lennon and his girlfriend at the time in March 1984 that led to a brief separation.
Looking back, Lennon was critical of the making of his debut album in 1989: "Today I think that I was steered on the first [record] - by the industry, the record company, by everyone."
title
- Valotte - 4:15
- OK For You - 3:38
- On the Phone - 4:42
- Space - 4:22
- Well I Don't Know - 4:35
- Too Late For Goodbyes - 3:30
- Lonely - 3:50
- Say You're Wrong - 3:25
- Jesse - 3:48
- Let Me Be - 2:12
All tracks were written by Julian Lennon, who also plays bass, keyboard, Simmons drums and percussion on the album. Exceptions are Valotte , written by Julian Lennon, Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales, OK For You , written by Julian Lennon, Justin Clayton, Carlton Morales and Carmello Luggeri, and Jesse , written by China Burton.
On some singles artists can be heard in guest appearances. The saxophone solo on Lonely is by Michael Brecker , while Toots Thielemans recorded the characteristic harmonica solo on Too Late For Goodbyes . The music video shows Julian Lennon playing the harmonica.
Chart successes
| year | album | Chart placements | annotation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
| 1984 | Valotte | - | - | - | 20th | 17th | US chart entry: February 23, 1985, 36 weeks on the US Billboard charts, platinum for over 1,000,000 albums sold |
| year | Single release | Chart placements | annotation | ||||
| DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
| 1984 | Valotte Valotte |
- | - | - | - | 9 | Chart entry: January 12, 1985, 19 weeks on the US Billboard charts |
| 1984 | Too Late For Goodbyes Valotte |
26th | 22nd | 30th | 6th | 5 | US chart entry: March 23, 1985, 17 weeks on the US Billboard charts, No. 1 on the US Adult Contemporary Charts |
| 1985 | Say You're Wrong Valotte |
- | - | - | - | 21st | US chart entry: June 1, 1985, 12 weeks on the US Billboard charts |
| 1985 | Jesse Valotte |
- | - | - | - | 54 | US chart entry: August 24, 1985, 6 weeks on the US Billboard charts |
criticism
The youth magazine Bravo wrote after the release of the album and the debut single that Lennon “musically lives up to a big name. The 21 year old is an excellent songwriter, singer and musician ”. The magazine Musikexpress stated that “even if this were a blind date, on which one has no more information than that it is the debut album of a 21 year old Englishman, [...] one has the striking vocal resemblance to a certain ex -Beatles [would] immediately catch the eye / ear. "The album is" an all-round solid production [...], with pleasing, if not yet too profiled, songs by a very talented musician and composer. "
Davitt Sigerson compared Lennon's style with Harry Nilsson's in Rolling Stone magazine and saw stylistic connections to works by John Lennon from his solo years such as (Just Like) Starting Over and Jealous Guy .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julian, John's likeness . In: Bravo, February 19, 1981, p. 5.
- ↑ a b Manfred Evert: Julian Lennon. Father's son . In: Musikexpress, November 1984, p. 69.
- ↑ Margit Rietti: His father was murdered. Julian Lennon, the son of the dead ex-Beatles, made it into the charts on his own . In: Bravo, December 18, 1984, p. 69.
- ^ Sylvie Simmons: Interview with Julian Lennon . In: Musikexpress, May 1989, p. 36.
- ↑ a b Chart sources: Billboard Hot 100 , musicline.de ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , everyhit.com
- ↑ Julian Lennon: Now the son of the dead Beatle is singing . In: Bravo, November 8, 1984.
- ↑ a b Bernward Meier: Julian Lennon - Valotte . In: Musikexpress, 12, 1984.
- ↑ Davitt Sigerson: Julian Lennon: Valotte . In: Rolling Stone, January 17, 1985 ( online ).
