Smooth Sailing: Summertime & Easy Living

-
I announced this Smooth Sailing part almost 4 weeks ago on my Facebook page, but I was not satisfied with the beginning and the ending. After hearing Retiree and Ray Munnings I knew which tracks could open and close the mix. So here it is, enjoy!

Glam rock band Mud was founded by guitarist Rob Davis and drummer Dave Mount almost 50 years ago. They formed a band with bass player Ray Stiles and singer Les Gray, after placing an advert in Melody Maker. They struggled for success for years, but soon after they had been discovered by producer Mickie Most during a gig, things lightened up. They were hooked up with the most successful writers and producers of that time: Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (Sweet, Suzie Quatro). Hits followed very fast and during the mid-seventies they had several number ones all over Europe. After Mud had left Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman and started to write their own material the hits dried up. They could not compete with disco and punk and the band decided to quit in 1980. A few years later Les Gray reformed Mud as a rock & roll act with different members for golden oldies festivals. He died of a heart attack in 2004. Rob Davis is a well-known dance producer/writer nowadays. He wrote hits for Kylie Minogue ('Can't get you out of my head') and Sophie Ellis-Bextor ('Groovejet'), among others. Ray Stiles joined the Hollies and Dave Mount sadly committed suicide in 2006. A short version of Mud's 'Tiger Feet' was played at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 'I can't stand it' (with some nice percussion in it) was written by the guys themselves and the b-side to their number one 'Lonely this Christmas'. The a-side is some kind of Elvis Presley impersonation and not half as good as the b-side.

Picture Joan Smalls for V Magazine Fall Preview 2014 by MarioTestino

Tracklist:

 Retiree – Altruisme (2014)
Richard Schneider Jr. – Hello Beach Girls (1977)
MFSB – Summertime (1976)
Love Unlimited ‎– I'm So Glad That I'm A Woman (1981)
The Vast Majority ‎– Ocean's Apart (1975)
Nielsen/Pearson ‎– If You Should Sail (1980)
Breakaway – Who Was It This Time
Ahmad Jamal – Boat Ride (1979)
Side Effect – Goin' Bananas (1977)
Linda Lewis – I Do My Best To Impress (1975)
Zwol – Southern Part Of France (1978)
Steely Dan – Bad Sneakers (1975)
Bob James – Night Crawler (1977)
Barrabas ‎– Four Season Woman [The Apple Scruffs Edit] (1976)
Mud – I Can't Stand It (1974)
The Doobie Brothers – Losin' End (1977)
Sam Dees ‎– Say Yeah (1978)
Ray Munnings – Let's Boogie (1979)

Smooth Sailing: Summertime & Easy Living by Professor Eddy on Mixcloud

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disco Knockouts!

-
Image
Apart from the picture of Sharron Davies, there are two songs that inspired me to make this mix. One of them is a recent track from Duck Sauce. The repetition of the female vocals reminded me of Stars On 45 (I believe they both sampled 'Gotta Go Home' by Boney M). The other one is from Dutch singer Dee Dee. I heard ‘I put a spell on you’ on a recent episode of Tim Sweeney’s ‘Beats in space’. In the accompanying video she looks a little bit like a sex doll, but I love the song! I like the closing track from soul veterans the Drifters, but isn’t it strange to hear guys who were in their thirties at the time sing about schoolgirls? Different times, I guess, when no one had heard of R. Kelly yet... One of my personal favourites is ‘Night time’ from Maggie MacNeal. I bought the 7” which was produced by Michael Lloyd (known for his work for the Osmonds, Lou Rawls and Solomon Burke) way back in 1979. Maggie MacNeal was one half of successful Dutch duo Mouth & MacNeal. Their bigg
Read more

The Smooth Operators Present Classic Yacht Rock

-
Image
Unsplash The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) introduce you to yacht rock songs that you must have heard at least once in your life! We present some real yacht rock classics and yacht rock songs that we think should have been classics. Harden My Heart by American pop/rock group Quarterflash was written by guitarist Marv Ross and included on the band's debut album, Quarterflash (1981). The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band. Quarterflash's version became a top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1982. Guitarist and songwriter Marv Ross remembered that a friend of his had given him the title and that he came up with the lyrics very quickly. Last Monday Michael McDonald, front man of the Doobie Brothers, celebrated his 72th birthday: "Emerging from the laid-back California rock scene of the '70s, McDonald found his niche in a unique blend of
Read more

West Coast Sundown: Yacht Rock, Late Night Pop & Sunset Soul

-
Image
Unsplash Enjoy the soundtrack to a West Coast sundown! 😊 The closing track by Matt Duncan is brand new, by the way. It sounds like a lost recording from The Nightfly sessions by Donald Fagen. At the time critics sometimes called David Cassidy’s music bubblegum pop. That was simply defined  music manufactured to sell as much records as possible and it was mostly aimed at a very young audience. Bubblegum's classic period ran from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. At that point disco music took over the single market. However, David Cassidy certainly made some very good records, although in later years he found it difficult to shake off his teen idol image. “His wispiest, breathiest hit was called ‘I Am A Clown’. Poor, sweet, forlorn sexy David – marshmallows could’ve bruised this sound.“ (Bob Stanley in his book Yeah Yeah Yeah )  Midas Shadow by Al Stewart is from his classic 1976 album The Year Of The Cat . The message of this song is that when a successful businessman stops
Read more