''Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley'' is the debut solo album by Robert Palmer, released in 1974. It was his first effort after three album releases co-fronting the band Vinegar Joe. Palmer is backed by The Meters and

Lowell George Lowell Thomas George (April 13, 1945 – June 29, 1979) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who was the primary guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and founder/leader for the rock band Little Feat. Ear ...

of Little Feat. Multiple reviewers have commented that Palmer sang confidently on this album, despite being backed by more accomplished musicians such as Lowell George,

Art Neville Arthur Lanon Neville Jr. (December 17, 1937 – July 22, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist from New Orleans. Neville was a staple of the New Orleans music scene for over five decades. He was the founder of the funk band ...

and New Orleans singer-songwriter Allen Toussaint. The album peaked at No. 107 in the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

. "Get Outside", which was released as the B-side to "Which of Us Is the Fool", a single from Palmer's next album ''

Pressure Drop Pressure drop is defined as the difference in total pressure between two points of a fluid carrying network. A pressure drop occurs when frictional forces, caused by the resistance to flow, act on a fluid as it flows through the tube. The main de ...

'', bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 105. Neither the album nor its singles charted in the UK however.

Songs

While most of the songs on the album were originals, the album also contained a few covers: * The title track was originally sung by

Lee Dorsey Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24, 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were "Ya Ya" (1961) and "Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, with in ...

, and was included on his 1971 album ''Yes We Can''. Ringo Starr covered it for his 1977 album '' Ringo the 4th''. In 2011 it was used in the video game '' Driver: San Francisco''. * "Sailin' Shoes" was written by Lowell George, and originally performed by Little Feat. It was initially recorded on their 1972 album of the same title. * "From a Whisper to a Scream" was written and originally performed by Allen Toussaint on his 1971 album '' Toussaint''.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Robert Palmer, except where noted.

Personnel

''Per sleeve notes'' Musicians * Robert Palmer – vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (1–3, 8), guitar (8), bass guitar (2), percussion (2),

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

(2) *

Vicki Brown Vicki Brown (23 August 1940 – 16 June 1991) was an English pop, rock and contemporary classical singer. She was a member of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways and was the first wife of fellow singer and musician Joe Brown and mother o ...

– backing vocals (1, 2, 4) *

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

– horns (4, 8) * Mongezi - flageolet (6), horns (8) *Jack Vance – strings (8) *

– guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7) *

Jim Mullen Jim Mullen (born 26 November 1945) is a Scottish, Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum. Biography Jim Mullen was guitarist with Pete Brown & Piblo ...

– guitar (2) *Richard Parfitt – guitar (5) *

Chris Stainton Christopher Robert "Chris" Stainton (born 22 March 1944) is an English session musician, keyboard player, bassist and songwriter, who first gained recognition with Joe Cocker in the late 1960s. In addition to his collaboration with Cocker, St ...

– acoustic piano (7) * Steve Winwood – acoustic piano (8) * Onaje – electric piano (8) *

Jody Linscott Jody Linscott is an American session musician and percussionist who resides in England and maintains an extended discography. She has two daughters Kachina Dechert and Coco Linscott and has written two children's books which were published by D ...

– percussion (2, 3, 6) * Gasper Lawal – percussion (4, 8) *Steve York – harmonica (3) * The Meters (1, 3, 6, 7) **

– keyboards **

Leo Nocentelli Leo Nocentelli (born June 15, 1946) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the funk band The Meters. He wrote the original versions of several funk classics such as "Cissy Strut" and "Hey Po ...

– guitar ** George Porter Jr. – bass guitar **

Ziggy Modeliste Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste (born December 28, 1948), also known as Zigaboo, is an American drummer best known as a founding member of the funk band the Meters. He is widely considered an innovator in the funk genre and New Orleans style drumming. ...

– drums *New York Rhythm Section (4, 5, 8) **

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", " Sl ...

– keyboards **

Cornell Dupree Cornell Luther Dupree (December 19, 1942 – May 8, 2011) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis and Steve Gadd, appeared on David Letterman,

– guitar **

Gordon Edwards Gordon Edwards is a Canadian scientist and nuclear consultant. Edwards was born in Canada in 1940, and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1961 with a gold medal in Mathematics and Physics and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. At the Unive ...

– bass guitar ** Bernard Purdie – drums Production * Producer: Steve Smith *

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Phill Brown Phill Brown (born 1950) is an audio engineer who has worked with a number of well-known musicians, including: Traffic, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Bob Marley and Talk Talk. He is also the younger brother of Terry Brown. Career Brow ...

, Ken Laxton, Alan Varner,

Rhett Davies Rhett Davies (born 1949 in London) is an English record producer and engineer. Davies' father was trumpet player Ray Davies (no relation to Ray Davies of The Kinks). Davies became a studio engineer at Island Records studios in the early 1970s, a ...

*Photography: Graham Hughes

References

http://www.robertpalmer.com/sneaking_sally.html {{Authority control Robert Palmer (singer) albums 1974 debut albums Island Records albums

Songs

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References