Paul Young chats about his latest album release

04 July 2008

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With the release of this debut album in 1983, Paul Young was immediately hailed as an intriguing synthesis of the old and the new. Twenty five years on he is about to do it all over again, with a re-mastered, two-disk album to make your eyes sing with pleasure. FemaleFirst caught up with him to find out of he thought the music would sound just as sweet the second time around.

You are about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of your debut album No Parlez, how does it feel?

Well when they first emailed me with the possibility that it might happen, I hadn’t really thought about it to be honest, and to think that it was 25 years ago sounds shocking! I really don’t know where all the years have gone, but it must mean that I have enjoyed myself for the past 25 years.

Your cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Wherever I lay my hat” came from that album and gave you three weeks at number one, do you still love to sing it?

Well I say not so much, but it’s only that song really because it’s a very simple song so there isn’t that much I can do with it on stage whereas songs such as “Every time you go away” which was my first American number one, there is a lot more that I can do with it on stage and “Wherever I lay my hat” is one of those songs which you can’t really mess around with very much so it’s just two and a half minutes then it’s over.

How would you describe your music?

It’s hard to describe because I didn’t plan it but it seems to be that back then it was a mixture of a singer who came out of a soul band teamed with a producer who loved Indie or alternative music. It was a magical mixture of putting those two things together and making a profession.

You re-released the album yesterday, do you think it will do as well the second time around?

Oh god no! I don’t think it will do anywhere near as well, for the simple reason that people don’t buy as many records anymore, id be quite happy if it did moderately well because I know that a lot of people already have it and are happy with the ones they have if they are die hard fans and would prefer to hear a proper re-mastered version with all the unreleased and rare tracks which are on CD2.

At a tribute concert for Freddie Mercury in 1992 you sang “Radio Ga Ga” with Queen, how did it feel performing alongside such an amazing band?

I was very lucky that I got to meet some of these people along the way and it was a real pleasure to be asked to take part. I met Brian and Rodger a couple of times and so the opportunity to be able to play with them was fantastic. It was a once in a lifetime chance to be offered and it felt great to be Freddie Mercury for a day, especially singing “Radio Ga Ga” as I knew they all did that hand-clapping thing and to see them doing it right in front of your eyes is absolutely amazing.

The album was re-mastered by Laurie Latham, can your fans still expect the same-sounding Paul they know and love?

Well on CD2 there are unreleased tracks from 25 years ago, which are still in the old style. We recorded more than enough songs to go on the album and we also left a couple off so it should be nice for every who hears it. I’m not releasing any new music yet, until this has passed.

Why should people go out and buy your album a second time?

Because maybe there are people out there who bought the album when it first came out 25 years ago and find it really annoying because it has all of the 12 inch mixes on, so if you just want to hear the CD you can’t. stupidly CD’s had just been invented and we thought we would give everyone maximum value for money, and put all the long tracks on so you have “Come back and stay” lasting about six or seven minutes. So in the end it just drives you up the wall, so I thought it would be nice to re-master the album so that people can listen to it the way it’s meant to be heard, with all the rarities and all that other stuff on a separate CD, which is why it’s worth getting!

If you could collaborate with any musician, alive or dead, who would it be?

There is a guitarist I like very much called Brian Tudor he made a lot of great records through the seventies and the eighties and he collaborated with a lot of different types of people. The Buena Vista Social Club album was set up by him. He is a very humble musician and a wonderful player with a fantastic taste in songs.

Female First - Ruth Harrison