Cheap Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley (Music) (Robert Palmer) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley

A Great Band Can't Save this One
The CD version of this LP has no liner notes. The Meters, New Orleans Funk Masters and pre-cursors to the Neville Brothers, had toured with Palmer and their sound is distinctive on several tracks. Most notably, the syncopated, funky groove they set up on the medley of Sailin' Shoes (A Little Feat tune) and Sneakin' Sally through the Alley (first recorded by Lee Dorsey)sounds distinctively Meters. Lowell George (from Little Feat) also contributes on guitar. Much of this recording sounds like a Little Feat/Meters collaboration--on the face of it not a bad idea. The only problem is that Robert Palmer is a second-rate R & B vocalist. His sound is whiny and, particularly on "Through it all there's You", comes across as distant and weak, as if he ingested way too many pain killers, gin and tonics, or both. "Through it all there's You", really is a highlight of the album--in spite of Mr. Palmer's annoying gurglings. Bernard Purdie is the drummer on the tune and, as is customary when he drives a band, the downbeat is defined so clearly that even Methodists would know when to clap. Most of the rest of the album sounds like second-rate Little Feat. Get it if you are a fan of Robert Palmer. He's never sounded better.

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Mellissa, don't you like anything?
Sorry Mellissa, you don't seem to like anything...especially odd when considering Robert sold more LP's of Sneakin' Sally in the DC area than all other area's combined (she's from DC)! Yes, it is essentially a Little Feat record, along with help from The Meters...and by the by, the LP didn't have liner notes either, that was the fun of it--who WAS making this music!!

For a 1974 release, it was a gem in it's day, and it still is.

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Best beginning to an album ever!
The first 3 tracks of this one: Sailing Shoes, Hey Julia, and the title-track blend all too well together therefore starting off an album like no other that I've ever heard. I'm so surprised this isn't heralded more among music listeners in general. It should be classic! Very jammy, with a Dead/Little Feat/reggae feel to them, these opening tracks let forth enough momentum to push straight through the much slower 'Get Outside' onto the soulful/upbeat again (though not nearly as much as the first three) tracks 'Blackmail' and 'How Much Fun'. The final two tracks is where the album slows down once again, this time for good. 'From a Whisper to a Scream', at 3 and a half minutes, and 'Through it All There's You' (OVER 12) is where the listener simply chills out, taking in the psychadelia. And to think that this would end up progressing over 10 years later to 'Addictive to Love'. Yes, it was a hot track for its time (MTV and all - the 80s!), but to me 1974's 'Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley' STILL stands; especially its first three tracks!