Reeling In The Years – Yacht Rock History 1977 (Mixcloud Exclusive)

-
Tom Rompel

Enjoy this new episode of Reeling In The Years as a Mixcloud Exclusive! In 1977 yacht rock began to take shape with two pivotal albums: Aja by Steely Dan and Livin' On The Fault Line by The Doobie Brothers. The smooth sound started to spread like an oil stain.

Photographer Tom Rompel about the Volkswagen Beetle:

"Back then this was the reminder of the Nazi regime. The California boys turned it into the Beach Buggy in 1970s. And then times changed and we all remember how good it was to run that beach buggy on the skirts of a rising tides."

Graham Nash wrote Just A Song Before I Go on a bet. David Crosby explained in the liner notes to their 1991 boxed set:

"Graham was about to go off on tour. The guy who was going to take him to the airport said, 'We've got 15 minutes, I'll bet you can't write a song in that amount of time.' Well you don't smart off to Nash like that, he'll do it. This is the result."

Going to the airport and his day of travel were on Nash's mind, so that's what he wrote about: "driving me to the airport and to the friendly skies." The "song before I go" was for his friend who made him the bet. As Nash tells it in his memoir Wild Life, the guy taking him to the airport was his drug dealer, who said, "I'll bet you can't write a song before you go." Nash then thought, "Hmm... just a song before I go," and composed it on the spot.

Next up is a new episode of Smooth Sailing for all listeners! 

Tracklist:

Pablo Cruise – Whatcha Gonna Do
Caroline Peyton – Party Line
The Waters – If There’s A Way 
Steely Dan – Peg 
Muscles – Love Is All I’ve Got 
Erik Tagg – Rendez-Vous
Doobie Brothers – Echoes Of Love
Cecilio & Kapono – Have You Ever Had That Feelin’
Mud – Slow Talking Boy
Ned Doheny – I’ve Got Your Number
Maxine Nigthingale – Get It Up For Love
Firefall – Just Remember I Love You
Alessi – All For A Reason
Innovations – Put A Little Away 
Daryl Hall & John Oates – Rich Girl
Stephen Bishop – On And On
Alan O'Day – Undercover Angel
Jennifer Warnes – Right Time Of The Night
Bee Gees – Love So Right
Atlanta Rhythm Section ‎– So Into You
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams 
Al Stewart – On The Border
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Just A Song Before I Go

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sausalito Summer Night: Smooth AOR, Yacht Rock & Sun-Drenched Pop

-
Image
Unsplash The West Coast sound was not very popular in the Netherlands at the time, but it certainly has influenced some Dutch artists, most recently Martin & Garp. As Martijn Soetens wrote on his blog some time ago: “In the Netherlands an umbrella and a sweater are necessary almost any time of year. So it's quite natural that we need sunny music to get our vitamin D.” The most successful Dutch song that adapted the Californian sound is Sausalito Summernight by Diesel. It reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981 and it even became a #1 hit in Canada. In other countries, the track is known as " Sausolito Summernight ", as a result of a misspelling on the Dutch releases of the single and the album. This was corrected on the 1981 U.S. and Canadian releases. For some reason, the song charted only modestly in the Netherlands. Eventually the single sold 600,000 units worldwide. Diesel members Mark Boon and Rob Vunderink admitted on Dutch television some years ago that t...
Read more

Best of 70s Soul: Music Is My Sanctuary

-
Image
Philly soul group The Stylistics achieved their greatest chart successes in the 1970s. They were created from two different groups, namely The Percussions and The Monarchs. All of their hits were ballads, characterized by the smooth falsetto voice of Russell Thompkins, Jr. and the slick production of Thom Bell. During the early 1970s, the group had twelve consecutive R&B top ten hits in the US, including 'Stop, Look, Listen', 'You Are Everything', 'Betcha by Golly, Wow', 'People Make the World Go Round', 'I'm Stone in Love with You', 'Break Up to Make Up', and 'You Make Me Feel Brand New'. When disco broke loose by the end of the decade, their popularity faded. The opening track by Patti Labelle is from the new mixed compilation album 'Glitterbox - Disco's Revenge', out on Defected Records. Enjoy this new part of ‘ Best Of 70s Soul ’! Tracklist: Patti Labelle – It’s Alright With Me (1979) The Stylist...
Read more

1970 Best Of 70s Soul

-
Image
Cotton Comes To Harlem One of the tracks that I selected for this cloudcast is 'Band of gold' by Freda Payne. The song. written by Holland-Dozier-Holland after their split from Motown Records, went to number seven in the Netherlands and number three on Billboard in 1970, notching Payne her only Top Ten hit. It went all the way to number one in the UK. The lyrics are about a woman who has been let down by her guy on their wedding night... Speaking of Motown, according to Jason Ankeny (Allmusic.com), R. Dean Taylor (born 11 May 1939 in Toronto) "remains one of the most underrated acts ever to record under the Motown aegis." As a singer, American audiences know him best for his 1970 Billboard Top 5 hit, 'Indiana Wants Me', about an Indiana murder fugitive that featured police sirens in the intro and an outro that included more sirens and a police officer warning the fugitive that he is surrounded and to give himself up. The single hit #1 in Taylor's nati...
Read more