WILLIE ALEXANDER - Perfect Stranger

SINGLES WILLIE ALEXANDER Perfect stranger / Lonely Avenue sp 1983 New Rose wav
After Alexander's relationship with MCA ended, many of his albums were released in France on the New Rose label. "Gin" (45, Varulven, 1980), one of his best singles from this period, seems to have been more popular in Europe than here. And M. Howell reported that, locally, W.A. pretty much dropped out of sight. About the time Alexander released "Solo Loco" (LP, New Rose, 1981), he told Ed Slota of Boston Rock (Issue 23) that he was taking better care of himself. "You can't kill yourself forever, you'll wind up dead." Words to live by. Dean Johnson contributed an important full-page article to Issue 32 of Boston Rock.

During a tour of France, as Johnson's account goes, a kid played Alexander his own cover of "At the Rat." Fans approached the American and asked him to autograph their copies of the Bagatelle album. And concert-goers requested songs that he had released on obscure singles. We get stories of French rock fans who spoke hardly any English but long ago mastered the two essential words, "Willie Loco." When people on the other side of the Atlantic value this guy's music so much, we might wonder whether we Americans fully appreciate our own native talent... Source