No Parlez is the debut solo studio album by English singer Paul Young. Released in 1983, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart (for a non-consecutive total of 5 weeks) and remained in the UK Top 100 for 119 weeks. The album has been certified quadruple platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 1.2 million copies.

Release

Initially, the first two singles, "Iron Out the Rough Spots" and a remake of "Love of the Common People", had no success, but the third, a cover of the Marvin Gaye song "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)", was No. 1 in the UK singles chart for three weeks in July and August 1983, and the first of Young's 14 UK Top 40 singles. Similar success followed in continental Europe. In the UK, the follow-up single "Come Back and Stay" reached No. 4, and the re-release of "Love of the Common People" made it to No. 2 in late 1983. The album was released the year after the introduction of CDs with their potential for a longer playing time. The CD edition of No Parlez featured one extra track (Behind Your Smile) not on the vinyl release. Additionally, five of the other 11 tracks were extended versions compared to the vinyl edition. The album featured eight cover versions alongside two tracks written by Young and keyboard player Ian Kewley and one written by the guitarist in Young's band at the time, Steve Bolton. Three of the cover versions were written by Jack Lee who also wrote "Hanging on the Telephone" which was a big hit for Blondie. The album was released with a different cover with 2 tracks ("Come Back and Stay" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart") shorter in length in North America, and a new video for the single "Come Back and Stay" was made.

Track listing

Original UK vinyl edition

Original CD edition

Production

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

2008 re-release

The album was re-released on 30 June 2008 in the UK and worldwide on 5 August 2008 as a 25th-anniversary edition. It contains the original 11 tracks as well as a bonus 10-track disc with a combination of B-sides, remixes and live tracks. Although the booklet claims that this is the original vinyl album on CD, three songs are shortened from their UK vinyl release; "Come Back and Stay", "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Love of the Common People", all of which use the respective single edits found on the original US and Canadian pressings of the album. The original UK vinyl versions of these tracks remain unreleased on CD. The Extended Club mixes of "Wherever I Lay My Hat" and "Sex", the full version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and the Scratch Mix of "Come Back and Stay", which were all included on the original CD and cassette release, were not included on the 25th anniversary edition. However, In 2013 they were all included on the compilation album Remixes and Rarities.

Track listing

Bonus Disc track listing

How the different editions compare

Tracks are the same versions unless stated in the notes column. It is possible to create the original vinyl version of the album by using a combination of the original UK and US CD releases together with the 'Full length' version of Come Back and Stay which is included on the 2015 Tomb of Memories career-spanning box set.