May 11, 2022

Martin Briley - One Night With A Stranger (1983)

Martin Steven Briley (born 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist. He was born in London and has recorded with and written for a variety of well-known musicians, as well as releasing several solo albums.

Briley began playing and writing music when he was ten years old. Arthur Brown was his events teacher.

At the age of seventeen, Briley and his band "Mandrake Paddle Steamer" (later shortened to Mandrake) signed their first record deal with Parlophone/EMI, and subsequently recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. However, the group's published output during their lifetime was limited to two singles, one of which was released only in Sweden.

Briley was later signed to George Martin's AIR group of companies and went on to become an important part of the London studio scene as an arranger, vocalist and sought-after session guitarist. He also had a brief stint as bassist/guitarist of the British progressive rock band Greenslade, touring with the group and playing on their 1975 album Time and Tide. During live performances with the group he played a double-neck combination bass and guitar.

One Night with a Stranger is the second album by English singer-songwriter Martin Briley, released in 1983. The album peaked at #55 on the Billboard Album chart, after debuting on May 7, 1983. This album featured the hit single "The Salt in My Tears", (No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100).

Perhaps feeling the influence of the new wave, Martin Briley simplified the guitar lines and speeded up the tempos on his second album. He also simplified his lyrics, which may have helped him get his first and only Top 40 hit with the lead-off track, a characteristic put-down song called "The Salt In My Tears" (as in "you're not worth...") Still complaining about love gone wrong, Briley was more often casting his tales of romantic wrongdoing in the third person and increasing the humor content on songs like "She's So Flexible" and "Dumb Love," which recount unusual, if not unlikely encounters, as well as the story song "One Night With A Stranger," which revealed the dangers of one-night stands. Briley still wasn't creating a distinctive musical persona -- sometimes he sounded like Sting, sometimes like Phil Collins -- but his writing showed enough promise that you hoped he would yet do so. And the surprise hit seemed to give him the opportunity. 


Track listing

  1. The Salt in My Tears (3:27)
  2. Just a Mile Away (4:06)
  3. Put Your Hands on the Screen (4:33)
  4. Maybe I've Waited Too Long (4:04)
  5. She's So Flexible (3:52)
  6. A Rainy Day in New York City (4:47)
  7. I Wonder What She Thinks of Me (3:52)
  8. Dumb Love (4:58)
  9. One Night with a Stranger (3:42)

All songs written and arranged by Martin Briley.

Personnel

Production

  • Producer: Peter Coleman

Companies, etc.
Credits

Notes
Released:  1983
Recorded and mixed at:  MCA Whitney Studios, Glendale, California October 82 - January 83
Mastered at:  Future Disc Systems
Genre:  Power pop, pop rock
Length:  37:45

Label - Mercury Records

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