With looks, style and soulful pipes, Paul Young was a force to be reckoned with, and it was little surprise that the former Q-Tips frontman became a teen idol upon the release of this, his debut album in 1983. The first of three consecutive chart-toppers, it featured no less then eight cover versions and it was Young’s take on the Marvin Gaye B-side ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat’, the third single release from the album, that catapulted him to stardom, making its way to the summit of the singles chart for three weeks in July and August of that year. It was duly followed by top five showings for ‘Come Back and Stay’ and ‘Love of the Common People’ and success in continental Europe and beyond, with platinum sales for No Parlez in multiple territories. “When the dust settles from the latest British invasion, Paul Young probably still won’t have worn out his welcome in America,” concluded Rolling Stone magazine in their review of the album. “A better singer than any of those other smooth, carefully coiffed Englishmen who’ve been crooning atop synth washes in the last few years, Young mixes cool technopop and warm soul.”
