Valotte

Untitled

Valotte is the debut album by singer-songwriter Julian Lennon. The album, which was recorded at several studios during February–August 1984, was produced by Phil Ramone. It was released in October 1984 on Charisma and Atlantic. The album was first certified gold in the US, in the new year, then shortly afterwards being certified platinum. From the album, four singles were released, all of them having music videos produced for them, charting at various positions on the singles charts in both the UK and US. The album itself peaked at number 17 and 20 in the US and UK, respectively. However, the album was not received well critically. In early 1985, a few months after the release of the album, Lennon went on tour.

Background

Julian Lennon sent the Charisma Records label head, Tony Stratton-Smith, a demo tape in September 1983. After listening to the tape and hearing Lennon's songwriting skills, Stratton-Smith signed Lennon to the label, Lennon also got signed to Atlantic Records in the US after its label head, Ahmet Ertegun, was also impressed with Lennon's songwriting. A month later, on 17 October 1983, Lennon, with his friends Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales, spent a three-month stay at a French château named Manor de Valotte in Nevers, France, writing and demoing songs. In an interview with Rock Bill magazine, Lennon said that he "had a lot of the material" before embarking to the château. About the songs, Lennon said that half the songs on the album had "already [been] written on the piano" in short pieces, about "a year or two before". Lennon also said that before he went to the château, "Most of the songs were in tune form" without any lyrics, that in an interview for No 1, "weren't for an album", with a few of the songs being "written several years ago, some are new". The lyrics were added only a few years prior to recording the songs for the album.

Recording and content

The album was produced by Phil Ramone due to Lennon asking about availability of working with him, in January 1984, after he heard Ramone's work on Billy Joel's The Nylon Curtain album. Ramone agreed upon hearing Lennon's recordings up to that point. The album was recorded between February and August 1984 at: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama; Bear Tracks Recording Studio, Suffern, New York; A & R Recording Studios, New York City; Clinton Recording Studios, New York City; and The Hit Factory, New York City. The album was mixed by Bradshaw Leigh at The Hit Factory. Lennon's father, John Lennon, had been recording at The Hit Factory a few years previously, for sessions for his Double Fantasy album, before for his death. Ramone had asked Julian if he felt "the ghosts?", Julian responded "They feel good for me. The vibes feel good and I want to be here!".

Lennon said that his father's Imagine album had influenced Valotte's writing, but he wasn't "trying to carry on tradition, except maybe in the simplicity of Dad's writing". The title track is named after Manor de Valotte, Lennon said that the Manor was a "kind of dream house [...] so that's what started off the whole song". "Space" originally started out as a music piece on bass guitar, Lennon said that his girlfriend helped him expand the idea: "My girlfriend came up [...] and she said, 'Oh well, that sounds like either underneath icebergs [...] or space, like drifting in space' [...] [I] worked overnight and just came up with that." Lennon's reply to his girlfriend was: "well I'll forget the icebergs and give space a go!" "Well I Don't Know" was written about his father: "It's about looking for signs of the afterlife from Dad".

Shortly after the album cover was taken, Lennon had a fall out with his then-girlfriend and "Too Late for Goodbyes" was written, halfway through the recording of the album. "Lonely", which dates from 1982, is about when Lennon moved to London, without having any of his friends or family near by. "Jesse", was given to Lennon by China Burton, after Burton thought it would fit Lennon's voice. "Big Mama", a non-album B-side, has been described by Lennon as "semi-hard rock". "Bebop", also a non-album B-side, has been described by Lennon as "almost like a Soul Jackson song". Overall, Lennon commented that "all of the songs [...] are from experience or feelings or relationships" in "real life situations" with "a feeling of neither knowing which way to turn nor what to do next".

Release and aftermath

"Too Late for Goodbyes" was released as the first UK single, a month before the release of the album, on 24 September 1984 in the UK, peaking at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also released as a picture disc in the UK. The album was first released on 15 October 1984 on Charisma in the UK, and four days later on the 19th on Atlantic in the US.</ref> The album peaked at number 17 in the US on the Billboard 200 chart, and a few places lower at number 20 in the UK. The album's title track, "Valotte", was released as the album's first single in the US, in October 1984, reaching number 2 on the Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 4 on the Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, and number 9 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Upon the album's release, Paul McCartney sent Lennon a telegram, with the message: "Good luck, old fruit". McCartney thought the album was "great!", also saying that he found it "very surprising". "Valotte" was also the album's second UK single, released in December 1984, peaking at number 55 in the UK Singles Chart. It was also released as a shaped picture disc in the UK.

Music videos were produced for the singles "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes", directed by Sam Peckinpah, and produced by Martin Lewis. Two versions of a music video for "Say You're Wrong" were directed by Tim Pope. A concert video recording is used as a music video for "Jesse", which aired exclusively on MTV. Lennon said in an interview with Music Express, that the album was his "way of getting a foot in the door" with the songs "in entirely different styles". In the US in January 1985, the "Too Late for Goodbyes" single was released, peaking at number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, number 5 on the Hot 100 chart, and number 11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A remixed version of the track did chart on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles and their Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales charts at number 14 and 49, respectively. "Say You're Wrong" was released as the last UK single on 18 February 1985, and the third US single in April 1985. The song peaked at number 75 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 21 on the Hot 100 chart in the US. "Jesse" was released as the album's final single in the US in July 1985, peaked at number 54 on the Hot 100 chart.

On 9 January 1985, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was certified Platinum on March 13 by the RIAA, having shipped one million copies in the US. Also receiving a nomination for Best New Artist at the 28th Grammy Awards. By February 1985, Valotte had reached 1.5 million worldwide sales. Originally saying that he wouldn't be touring until he had a second album out, Lennon relented and between March and June 1985, he staged his first tour, starting off in the US, visiting Australia and finishing off in Japan. The tour setlist consisted of songs from Valotte, two rock 'n' roll songs ("Stand by Me" and Slippin' and Slidin'"), the Beatles' "Day Tripper",</ref> and the B-side, "Big Mama". The music video for "Valotte" was nominated for MTV's "Best Video by a New Artist" award in July 1985. On 13 September 1985, "Too Late for Goodbyes" was nominated was MTV's "Best New Artist" award, but lost to 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry". Just over a month later, on 23 October 1985, Lennon's mother, Cynthia Lennon accepted the "ASCAP Award for Publishing", on Julian's behalf. A video featuring footage from Lennon's tour, titled Stand by Me: A Portrait of Julian Lennon, was released on MCA Home Video on 28 November 1985. Producer, Ramone, and engineer Bradshaw Leigh, both later worked with Lennon on his next album, The Secret Value of Daydreaming.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for Saturday Review magazine, music critic John Swenson gave Valotte two out of five stars and critiqued that Lennon's voice lacks the "tortured cynicism and urgency that characterized his father's and, consequently, Valotte sounds like languid outtakes from Imagine." In a three-star review, Davitt Sigerson of Rolling Stone said that it is both "exciting and irritating". He found the album's similarities to John Lennon's later work strange, observing "a middle-aged sensibility, reinforced by Phil Ramone's elegant but often stodgy production, applied to unashamedly youthful themes." Robert Christgau, writing for The Village Voice, gave Valotte a "C" and panned it as "bland professional pop of little distinction and less necessity—tuneful at times, tastefully produced of course, and with no discernible reason for being". Christgau found Lennon's vocal resemblance to his father "eerie" and viewed him as "more Frank Sinatra Jr. than (even) Hank Williams Jr."

In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave Valotte three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote that it is "by any measure the debut of a gifted pop melodicist." He viewed that on the album's highlights, Lennon exhibited a strong sense for "Beatlesque pop songwriting, drawing equally from [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney", and at his worst, he drew too often on tacky contemporary conventions such as synthesizers. Paul Evans, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), gave the album two out of five stars and remarked that Lennon "settles for clean but modest stuff—high-end MOR," while finding all of his albums "pervaded with a sort of listlessness, a free-floating pathos."

Track listing

All songs written by Julian Lennon, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Valotte" (Julian Lennon, Justin Clayton, Carlton Morales) – 4:15
2. "O.K. for You" (Lennon, Clayton, Morales, Carmelo Luggeri) – 3:38
3. "On the Phone" – 4:42
4. "Space" – 4:22
5. "Well I Don't Know" – 4:35

Side two

6. "Too Late for Goodbyes" – 3:30
7. "Lonely" – 3:50
8. "Say You're Wrong" – 3:25
9. "Jesse" (China Burton) – 3:48
10. "Let Me Be" – 2:12

Personnel

Musicians

• Julian Lennon – Lead vocals
• Justin Clayton, Carlton Morales – Guitars
• Julian Lennon, Barry Beckett, David Lebolt, Peter Wood – Keyboards
• Julian Lennon, Roger Hawkins, Steve Holley – Drums
• Julian Lennon, David Hood, Marcus Miller, Carmine Rojas – Bass guitars
• Julian Lennon, Ralph MacDonald, Steve Holley – Percussion
• Rory Dodd, Eric Taylor, Julian Lennon – Background vocals
• Jon Faddis, Joe Shepley – Trumpets
• Michael Brecker, George Young, Lawrence Feldman, Ron Cuber – Saxophones

Additional personnel

• Michael Brecker – Saxophone solo on "Lonely"
• Jean "Toots" Thielemans – Harmonica on "Too Late for Goodbyes"
• Martin Briley – Guitar on "Too Late for Goodbyes"
• Dennis Herring – Guitar on "Jesse"

Production

• Michael Somers Abbott, Michael Alliare, Michael Barry, Bobby Cohen, John Davenport, Pete Greene, Scott James, Bradshaw Leigh, Peter Millus, John Penzotti, Bill Straus – Engineers
• Bradshaw Leigh – Mixing
• Ted Jensen – Mastering
• David Michael Kennedy – Cover photo
• Bob Defrin, Julian Lennon – Sleeve design

Charts

Chart (1984)	Position
German Albums Chart	60
Swedish Albums Chart	15
New Zealand Albums Chart	15
UK Albums Chart	20
US Billboard 200	17

References

Footnotes

Citations