Songoftheday 6/21/14 - Airmail cassettes postcards telex, drop me a line need my grapevine...

Power Station - "Communication"
from the album Power Station (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 3

Today's Song of the Day is by the modern rock "supergroup" Power Station, who were a side project for Duran Duran members Andy and John Taylor along with Chic drummer Tony Thompson and singer Robert Plant. They scored back-to-back top-10 pop hits in America with their first two singles, "Some Like It Hot" and their cover of T. Rex's "Get It On (Bang A Gong)". Their third single was the song that Palmer was originally hired on to record, which led to him singing on the whole album. Written by the band and produced by Bernard Edwards, "Communication" was a funky slice of album dance/rock that rode the coattails of their other singles up the charts...

"Communication" climbed to the top-40 on the American pop chart in October of 1985, while stalling down at #75 in the Taylors' and Palmer's native Britain. It would be their last time on the American pop chart. Palmer had left the band before this single had peaked, and Michael Des Barres joined as the new lead singer for their tour and their appearance at Live Aid. Ten years later, with Robert Palmer back on board the group recorded a second album, Living In Fear the following year, but that album tanked badly, with only one minor hit in the UK with "She Can Rock It" (#63). With John Taylor in rehab, and producer Edwards passing away before the release of the set from pneumonia, the Power Station didn't last much longer than that. While John regrouped with Duran Duran, and Andy and Robert continued their solo career, Tony Thompson almost hooked up with Led Zeppelin as their "reunion" drummer, though both he and Palmer died in 2003.

Up tomorrow: The rockin' sisters from Seattle are back at no occasion.