Valotte

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Valotte" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1984-debut-albums", "julian-lennon-albums", "albums-arranged-by-david-matthews-(keyboardist)", "albums-produced-by-phil-ramone", "atlantic-records-albums", "charisma-records-albums", "albums-recorded-at-muscle-shoals-sound-studio"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valotte" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

FieldValue
nameValotte
typeAlbum
artistJulian Lennon
coverJulian Lennon Valotte.jpg
released
recordedFebruary–August 1984
studioMuscle Shoals Sound Studio (Alabama);
BearTracks Studios (Suffern, New York);
A & R Recording Studios, Clinton Recording Studios and The Hit Factory (New York City)
genreRock, pop
length
labelCharisma (UK)
Atlantic (US)
producerPhil Ramone
next_titleThe Secret Value of Daydreaming
next_year1986
misc{{singles
nameValotte
typestudio
single1Too Late for Goodbyes
single1date24 September 1984
single2Valotte
single2dateOctober 1984
single3Say You're Wrong
single3date18 February 1985
single4Jesse
single4dateJuly 1985
::

| name = Valotte | type = Album | artist = Julian Lennon | cover = Julian Lennon Valotte.jpg | alt = | released = | recorded = February–August 1984 | studio = Muscle Shoals Sound Studio (Alabama); BearTracks Studios (Suffern, New York); A & R Recording Studios, Clinton Recording Studios and The Hit Factory (New York City) | genre = Rock, pop | length = | label = Charisma (UK) Atlantic (US) | producer = Phil Ramone | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = The Secret Value of Daydreaming | next_year = 1986 | misc = {{singles | name = Valotte | type = studio | single1 = Too Late for Goodbyes | single1date = 24 September 1984 | single2 = Valotte | single2date = October 1984 | single3 = Say You're Wrong | single3date = 18 February 1985 | single4 = Jesse | single4date = July 1985

Valotte is the debut studio album by singer-songwriter Julian Lennon. The album was produced by Phil Ramone and recorded at several studios from February to August 1984. It was released in October 1984 on Charisma and Atlantic. The album was first certified gold in the United States, in the new year, then shortly afterwards being certified platinum. From the album, four singles were released, each with a music video, charting at various positions on the singles charts in both the United Kingdom and US. "Too Late for Goodbyes", the second US single, and "Valotte", the first US single, were both US Billboard Top 10 hits, the former reaching No. 5 and the latter reaching No. 9. The album peaked at No. 17 in the US and No. 20 in the UK. Lennon toured the US, Australia, and Japan in March–June 1985.

Background

Julian Lennon sent the Charisma Records label head, Tony Stratton Smith, a demo tape in September 1983. After listening to the tape and being impressed with Lennon's songwriting skills, Smith signed Lennon to the label in the United Kingdom, while Lennon was signed to Atlantic Records in the United States after its label head, Ahmet Ertegun, was also impressed with Lennon's songwriting. Lennon, with his friends Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales, started a three-month stay at a French château, Manoir de Valotte, in Saint-Benin-d'Azy, France, writing and demoing songs for what would appear on Valotte. 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". 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 in January 1984. Lennon had asked about his availability after he heard Ramone's work on Billy Joel's The Nylon Curtain album. Ramone agreed upon hearing Lennon's previous recordings. The album was recorded February–August 1984 at: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama; Bear Tracks Recording Studio, Suffern, New York; A & R Recording Studios; Clinton Recording Studios; and The Hit Factory, the latter three located in New York City. The album was mixed by Bradshaw Leigh at The Hit Factory. Lennon's father, John Lennon, had recorded at The Hit Factory four years before, on the album Double Fantasy, shortly before his death. Ramone had asked Lennon if he felt "the ghosts?"; he responded "They feel good for me. The vibes feel good and I want to be here!"

Lennon said that his father's album, Imagine, had influenced Valottes writing, but he was not "trying to carry on tradition, except maybe in the simplicity of Dad's writing". The title track is named after Manoir de Valotte, Lennon said it 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: "My girlfriend came up [...] 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!"

Shortly after the cover photo was taken, Lennon fell 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 nearby. "Jesse", was offered to Lennon by China Burton, as Burton thought it would fit Lennon's voice. 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" and four days later on the 19th on Atlantic in the U.S. The album peaked at No. 17 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 chart, and at No. 20 in the UK. reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. and No. 75 in Australia. 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, 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. In the U.S., "Too Late for Goodbyes" was released in January 1985, peaking at number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart, and No. 11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A remixed version of the track did chart on Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles and their Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales charts at Nos. 14 and 49, respectively. "Say You're Wrong" was released as the last UK single on 18 February 1985, and the third U.S. single in April 1985. The song peaked at No. 75 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 3 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, No. 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 21 on the Hot 100 chart in the U.S., and No. 31 on the Australian singles chart. "Jesse" was released as the album's final single in the U.S. in July 1985, peaked at No. 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 13 March by the RIAA, having shipped one million copies in the US. Also receiving a nomination for Best New Artist at the 28th Grammy Awards. Originally saying that he would not 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 U.S., visiting Australia and finishing off in Japan.|group="nb"}} 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 for 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 her son's behalf.

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 characterised 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 contemporary conventions such as synthesisers. 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".

Cash Box said that the third single "Say You're Wrong" "has a light salsa feel with a bouncy hook" and has a "less ponderous mood" than the first two singles from the album, "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," with its festive horn backup and strict percussion."

Cash Box said of the fourth single "Jesse" that it's "a bit more toned down than previous Lennon hits, but with its dynamic performances and involving melody and lyrics." Billboard described "Jesse" as a "cautionary tale framed in Latin/r&b rhythms."

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

  1. "Too Late for Goodbyes" – 3:30
  2. "Lonely" – 3:50
  3. "Say You're Wrong" – 3:25
  4. "Jesse" (China Burton) – 3:48
  5. "Let Me Be" – 2:12

Personnel

Personnel adapted from inner sleeve.

Musicians

Production

  • Barry Beckett and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – arrangements
  • David Matthews – horn arrangements
  • Phil Ramone – producer
  • Pete Greene – engineer
  • Bradshaw Leigh – engineer, mixing
  • Mike Alliare – assistant engineer
  • Michael Barry – assistant engineer
  • Bobby Cohen – assistant engineer
  • Lee Daley – assistant engineer
  • John Davenport – assistant engineer
  • Scott James – assistant engineer
  • Peter Millus – assistant engineer
  • John Penzotti – assistant engineer
  • Michael Somers-Abbott – assistant engineer
  • Bill Straus – assistant engineer
  • Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York)
  • Joseph D'Ambrosio – production coordinator
  • Bob Defrin – sleeve design
  • Julian Lennon – sleeve design
  • David Michael Kennedy – cover photography
  • Dean Gordon – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

::data[format=table]

Chart (1984–1985)PositionAustralia Albums (Kent Music Report)Japanese Albums Chart
8
41
::

Year-end charts

::data[format=table]

Chart (1984)PositionChart (1985)Position
Canadian Albums Chart76
Australian Albums Chart63
Canadian Albums Chart34
US Billboard 20030
::

Certifications

References

; Footnotes

; Citations

References

  1. Burianek, CJ. (October 2025). "1983 – The Making of Valotte". Heyjules.com.
  2. Giuliano, Geoffery. (2001). "Lennon in America: 1971–1980, Based in Part on the Lost Lennon Diaries". Cooper Square Press.
  3. O'Neill Jr., Lou. (December 1984). "The Ballad of Julian Lennon".
  4. Burianek, CJ. "1984 – The Debut Release Valotte". Heyjules.com.
  5. (June 1985). "Chart Climbers".
  6. (28 May 1985). "Too Late For Goodbyes The Julian Lennon Radio Special". Radio International.
  7. Walker, Jeannine. (July 1985). "The Trouble With Being Julian Lennon".
  8. Burianek, CJ. "Valotte: Valotte". Heyjules.com.
  9. Burianek, CJ. "Valotte: Space". Heyjules.com.
  10. (May 1985). "Julian Lennon – A Son That Really Shines!".
  11. Burianek, CJ. "Valotte: Too Late For Goodbyes". Heyjules.com.
  12. (13 January 1985). "Jim Ladd Hosts InnerView – Julian Lennon '84". [[KMET (defunct).
  13. Burianek, CJ. "Valotte: Lonely". Heyjules.com.
  14. "Julian Lennon – Valotte (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
  15. "Julian Lennon – Valotte (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
  16. "Julian Lennon – Valotte (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
  17. "Julian Lennon – Valotte (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
  18. Burianek, CJ. "Valotte Menu at Hey Jules". Heyjules.com.
  19. "Julian Lennon – Awards".
  20. Burianek, CJ. "Julian Lennon Singles from the 80s". Heyjules.com.
  21. "Julian Lennon | Artist". Official Charts.
  22. (2007). "Encyclopedia of American Cinema". MobileReference.com.
  23. Burianek, CJ. "Valotte: Say You're Wrong". Heyjules.com.
  24. Stoute, Lenny. (December 1984). "Julian Lennon His Own Man".
  25. "American album certifications – Valotte". [[Recording Industry Association of America]].
  26. (August 1985). "On The Road After All!".
  27. Kaye, Elizabeth. (6 June 1985). "Here Comes the Son".
  28. Burianek, CJ. "1985 – The First Tour". Heyjules.com.
  29. Swenson, John. (1984). "Rock".
  30. Sigerson, Davitt. (17 January 1985). "Julian Lennon: Valotte".
  31. Christgau, Robert. (2 April 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". [[The Village Voice]].
  32. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Valotte – Julian Lennon". [[Allmusic]]. [[Rovi Corporation]].
  33. Evans, Paul. (2 November 2004). "[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide". Simon & Schuster.
  34. (April 13, 1985). "Single Releases".
  35. (August 3, 1985). "Single Releases".
  36. (July 27, 1985). "Reviews".
  37. (1984). "Valotte". [[Charisma Records.
  38. (1993). "[[Kent Music Report". Australian Chart Book Ltd.
  39. (2006). "Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005". Oricon Entertainment.
  40. (5 January 1985). "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1984".
  41. (28 December 1985). "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1985".
  42. (September 2025). "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1985". billboard.biz.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1984-debut-albumsjulian-lennon-albumsalbums-arranged-by-david-matthews-(keyboardist)albums-produced-by-phil-ramoneatlantic-records-albumscharisma-records-albumsalbums-recorded-at-muscle-shoals-sound-studio