Boombox 13 Funky Chill & Sunny Pop

-
Sam Robinson
Enjoy this 13th part of Boombox with lots of fresh tracks! Al Sunny is a young composer emerging from the French soul music scene. Soon after learning the guitar, he started composing and became involved in numerous projects and collaborations. Al Sunny is obviously a very good name for a guy who makes (soulful) sunny pop and a contemporary variant of yacht rock. His album 'Time to decide' is out now.

The wonderful closing track of this new Boombox episode is ‘Breakfast’ by The Associates. They were Billy Mackenzie (‘William’ from the song ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’ by The Smiths) and Ian Rankine. After a few singles and two albums, 1982's ‘Sulk’, was the group's definitive statement. It was named album of the year in Melody Maker. Following the LP's success, a promotion tour was set up in the US, but Mckenzie cancelled it at the very last moment. Rankine went mad and left the group for a solo career. Mackenzie retained the Associates name and teamed with producer Martin Rushent to record an album, but it remained on the shelf. A few of the songs later appeared on 1985's ‘Perhaps’. One of them, ‘Breakfast’, is perhaps the best song that The Associates ever recorded. It reminds me of the warm summer of 1985 (Live Aid!).

Next week the start of a new series!

Tracklist:

Joey Negro Feat. Diane Charlemange – Prove That You’re Feelin’ Me (2017)
Ronika – Superfine (2017)
Tuxedo – July (2017)
Todd Rundgren Feat. Robyn – That Could Have Been Me (2017)
Work Drugs – Love Higher (2017)
Garden City Movement – She’s So Untouchable (2016)
Marnie – Electric Youth (2017)
Al Sunny – Open Up Your Eyes (2017)
Oattes Van Schaik – Miracles (1985)
Cape Coral – Cruisin’ In (2017)
Nacht Und Nebel ‎– Beats Of Love (1983)
The Lotus Eaters ‎– You Don’t Need Someone New (1984)
Ice Choir – Unprepared (2016)
BC Camplight – Just Because I Love You (2015)
The Associates ‎– Breakfast (1985)

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