Search - Rupert Holmes :: Partners in Crime

Brilliantly tuneful music & devastatingly witty lyrics

Dave | United States | 11/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rupert Holmes' "Partners In Crime" was originally released in/ around September of 1979, and it's where you'll find the huge/ notorious #1 hit "Escape" aka "The Pina Colada Song". Although the song is sly as well as well-crafted & insanely catchy, its whimsical nature might lead listeners to think this 1979 album is some kind of wacky late '70s relic that's best forgotten. That couldn't be less true. Like usual, Rupert wrote every song on this album himself, & he displays his boundless songwriting creativity by unleashing one astonishingly well-crafted, inspired gem after another. "The Pina Colada Song" starts the album off in great fashion, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. The title track makes great use of a galloping drum line, features mind-bogglingly crafty lyrics, and has a deathless chorus. "Nearsighted" is a sentimental, melodic ballad and a solid example of Holmes' knack for writing lyrics that are at once humorous & moving. "Lunch Hour" has an off-kilter verse melody, a hilarious chorus, & an extended salsa-flavored instrumental coda. The reggae-flavored "Drop It" is about wanting a girlfriend to just lighten up & not be so serious & it features some laugh-out-loud humorous lyrics. "Him", another big hit, is a haunting song about a cheating girlfriend and features a punchy, dramatic chorus. "Answering Machine", like "Escape", is another highly whimsical song & unsurprisingly was released as a single (it reached the top 40)--with its mockery of the 30-second time limit of "old-fashioned" answering machines, the lyrics are, in a sense, quite dated in today's high-tech world, but the song is lots of fun nonetheless. He delivers another splendid ballad with the wistful "The People That You Never Get To Love", & song that neatly points out how certain people you casually pass by each day could have been "the one". The album ends with the ultra-catchy minor-keyed "In You I Trust" which is about the comfort of being able to depend on/ have trust in your companion in an otherwise devious, ever-changing (for the worse) world--it's also got a cool, Genesis-y instrumental break. If you're looking for an album that's loaded with catchy hooks, you've come to a great place--it's simply incredible how consistently super-catchy this album is. The production values are absolutely first-rate as well, as are the performances--aside from a Chrissy Faith vocal part on "Answering Machine", Rupert does all the vocals on here & plays all the keyboards, & guitarist Dean Bailin does masterful work playing all the guitars on the album. Rupert's vocals are loaded with personality & he gives just the right vocal treatment to suit each song. To make some comparisons, Rupert's songwriting fluency along with his ease of incorporating various styles brings to mind early Joe Jackson, but without the anger. At the same time, his combination of seedy lyrics & musically sophisticated, at times jazzy, soft rock strongly brings to mind Steely Dan. If you're a Dan fanatic, I can't imagine not loving this. By all means, this is complimentary! One thing about this album though is that his one of a kind knack for humorous-yet-charming romantic lyrics isn't very strongly in evidence. And that's the only thing that makes me hesitant in recommending this album as an ideal place to start discovering Rupert--his smile-inducing, sweetly romantic and tender side is in relatively low abundance on here. It's by no means absent--"Nearsighted" is a solid example, & in a way, so is "Escape", yet "Escape" feels more like a comedy skit-ish song than a heart-tugging romantic one. His 1981 album "Full Circle", as well as his brilliant 1994 "comeback" album "Scenario" both feature his tender side much more strongly on such terrific tracks as "Loved By the One You Love", "You Remind Me Of You", "One Born Every Minute", "The Eighties Never Happened", & "The Hurting Part". Admittedly, this album ends up being pretty low in the `heart-tugging' department--if you`re afraid that might turn you off, try starting with his "Full Circle" album. That's not an actual complaint though--"Partners In Crime" is a unique, brilliant, & irresistibly fun album that any serious music listener will get a blast out of.



(P.S. The standard MCA Records CD version of "Partners In Crime" does feature printed lyrics for each song & thorough album credits, but the sound quality overall is very disappointing, plus certain tracks fade out quite early--considerably earlier than they do on the original vinyl on Infinity Records.)"

Definitely Desert Island Material

Frederick Baptist | Singapore | 07/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No less a personality than Barry Manilow has once cited Rupert as being one of his favourites. His metaphors, biting satires and the ability to put his great insight on human relationships in a humourous guise are just a joy to listen to.



His writing reminds me a lot of Steely Dan in this way which by the way is another great group of musicians and songwriters. The age of the singer-songwriter has perhaps been dead for quite some time but if you want to hear great, well-written music as well as very well-crafted lyrics with tongue in cheek humour, well, you can't do much better than this.



Other than the very popular "Pina Colada Song," check out "Answering Machine", "Him" (my favourite), "Near-sighted" and "The People that you Never Get to Love." In fact, all the songs are great but the ones just mentioned do stand out.



I'm just hoping they'll remaster and release this in cardboard sleeve soon. Given the great advances in sound technology these days and the fact that almost every album released before the nineties seems to already have been remastered, this album could definitely do with the treatment as well.



Definitely one of the top 5 albums I'd take with me to a desert island; not that I'm planning on making the trip anytime soon.. : )"

Has it really been 25 years?

John Cioffi | Florida | 12/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the only Rupert Holmes album I ever purchased. Clearly, he was head and shoulders above the vast majority of songwriting peers from his generation. "Nearsighted, Him, Answering Machine, and People that you never get to Love" are the highlights.



Mr Holmes is now a celebrated writer of Broadway, Television and author who, in his day, suffered greatly from what I call "Christopher Cross Syndrome". Ruppert caught himself and all of us off guard with him his novelty tune, "Escape" (The Pina Colada Song). Unfortunately for Rupert, he was never a good looking guy. In Pop Music, especially for a solo act, you can't look like a Pharmacist or a plumber. Certainly,the depth of his lyrics were just too deep for audiences that were just emerging from the vapidness of Disco and dumb but catchy songs like "My Sharonna"



An odd and obscure note about Mr. Holmes is that he was the man behind a fictitious band called Sho-Bizz, who's only LP spawned the hard to find Disco Classic "Do it in the Dark". Rupert, the man who could never say "No" to a payday and a work experience, helped write is own Pop career Eulogy with Sho-Bizz (Which he has somehow snuck past the mass media and most of the general public), and ultimately buried with Escape (the Pina Colada Song).



To his credit, Mr Holmes has survived his five minutes of Pop Music Infamy with a significant contribution to our Pop Culture on Broadway. Rupert, we may have all been Near sighted when it came to your music career, but ultimately, it was you who Escaped."