Professor Eddy

Unsplash The soft rock song by Steve Miller Band on this Smooth Sailing part is followed by four mid-seventies smooth jazz tracks. And if you merge soft rock with smooth jazz, you will get pure yacht rock, according to Kenny Loggins in a TV-interview. He referred to his work with pianist Bob James on his album Nightwatch in 1978. Three years earlier saxophone player Grover Washington, Jr. also worked with Bob James on Mister Magic . The album marked the beginning of the smooth jazz movement. All four songs on the LP are quite enjoyable, but it is the title track that really caught on as a major hit. Bob James provided the colourful arrangements. “In the song I talk about how it is hard loving someone who won’t let you completely in. When we hurt, we can sometimes be hard to pity, because of our anger. What we don’t always remember though, is that anger often means hurt.” ( Jez_ebel )  So let's move gently from 2020 to 2021! Next up is a New Year's episode of Mellow Mellow F

Let’s dance around the tree and have yourself a funky Christmas! 😊 S.O.S. by Oliver Cheatham was co-written and produced by Mud guitarist Rob Davis. When Mud started to work with producers and songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman in the mid-seventies, after years of struggling, the group had almost immediately success all over Europe with a string of glam rock hits, like Dynamite , Tigerfeet and The Cat Crept In . However, when the the decade came to a close, they were not able to compete with new genres, like disco, punk and new wave. After the band had split up, Rob Davis tried to set up a writing and producing duo with George Stanley Alexander. They had some results, especially with the band Liquid Gold in the mid-eighties. The success of What She's Got in the U.S. was a very good reason for Davis to change his music direction to pop and dance music. In 1988 he met Paul Oakenfold and teamed with him in a successful series of dance anthems. He co-wrote Spiller's smash

As I told earlier, around the mid-70s pirate stations that used the AM dial on the radio, disappeared one by one, due to government decisions. The more sophisticated and technically better FM radio stations were willing to play album tracks and longer songs from bands like Earth, Wind & Fire. Those bands used the improved studio techniques and possibilities to a full extent. Eventually FM radio became the new standard, especially for the AOR sound. To journalists Steve Harley always explains that his UK number one song Make Me Smile is about the disbanding of his band Cockney Rebel. However, when you read the lyrics closely, there is only one line that may refer to that: “You pulled the rebel to the floor”. The rest of the song is clearly about a broken relationship: “Blue eyes, blue eyes, how can you tell so many lies?" In other words, Steve Harley knows how to tell a good story (he used to be a journalist himself), but I believe it was totally made up afterwards. Irresisti

The movie The Comeback Trail with Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones inspired me to make this cloudcast. One of the songs on the soundtrack is Rock The Boat by The Hues Corporation, which made me think of the European off shore pirate radio stations in the 1960s and 1970s. They were the ones that played AM pop with its powerful sound. In the mid-70s the more sophisticated sound of FM radio replaced AM radio and around the same time, due to new laws, pirate stations, like Radio Veronica and Radio North Sea near the Dutch coast, were forced to stop broadcasting. That marked the end of an era in which pop music became what it is today. The closing track is from Marvin Gaye’s soundtrack to the movie Trouble Man : “Trouble Man might not be as immediate or universally relatable as Gaye's soul-searching on What's Going On or his later sensual fixations, but a deep listen will show it's very much part of the same overarching genius that touched all of his work.” (

Unsplash The DJ in charge on this Smooth Sailing trip plays soft, slightly melancholic tunes to make you feel at ease on a sunny autumn day… Enjoy! Next up is the second part of Mellow Mellow AM Radio . Tracklist: The Shadowboxers – In the Dark (2020) Engelwood – Tasty Jam (2020) Prep – Rain (2020) Lou Rawls – Back To You (1981) Taffy McElroy – What’s On Your Mind (1981) James Ingram with Michael McDonald ‎– Yah Mo B There (1983) Eric Tagg – In The Way (1982) Brick ‎– Seaside Vibes (1981) Michael Nesmith – Rio (1977) Seals & Crofts ‎– We May Never Pass This Way (Again) (1973) Alan O’Day – Gifts (1977) Loggins & Messina ‎– Thinking Of You (1972) Brandye – You Accuse Me (1978) Bob McGilpin II – Disco Dancer (1979) Carly Simon – Tranquillo (Melt My Heart) (1978) Steely Dan – The Fez (1976) State Cows ‎– Caught In A Landslide (2020) Joe Vitale – Step On You (1974) Rudy Norman – Back To The Streets (1980) Martin & Garp ‎– Making Up (2020) Pablo Cruise – Slip Away (1981

Unsplash The French have always been in the front row of disco, ever since its beginning in the 1970s. Artists like Cerrone, Patrick Juvet and Sheila B. Devotion set the pace. And later on, dj’s like Martin Solveig, Dimitri From Paris and Bob Sinclar took over. For this cloudcast I selected songs that all have a French connection, in production, language or nationality of the artist. For instance, three years ago Australian band Parcels released their single Overnight , which was produced and co-written by Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The father of the latter, Daniel Vangarde, wrote songs and produced for Ottawan, which I selected as well. English singer/songwriter Peter Godwin, who lives in Nice (France) nowadays, is best known for his hits Images Of Heaven and Emotional Disguise in the 1980s. Before going solo he was a member of Metro, together with Duncan Browne (known for his classic Wild Places ). Songs Peter Godwin wrote were recorded by D

When they recorded Lexicon Of Love with producer Trevor Horn in the early 1980s, Sheffield’s band ABC created a symphonic pop sound. Although the album was a big commercial success, frontman Martin Fry and his men decided to switch to a guitar based rock sound for their next album Beauty Stab . After disappointing sales ABC changed lanes again, this time to electro pop, which resulted in How to Be a...Zillionaire! . Released in early 1985, Be Near Me from the album became a hit single in Britain, climbing to number 26. The song came out overseas a few months later and it became the group's first Billboard Top Ten hit. Due to the single's success, How to Be a...Zillionaire! reached the Top 30 on the album charts in both the United Kingdom and United States. The Munich Disco mix of Be Near Me with a Silver Convention sample is on this cloudcast. The opening and closing track are from Saturday Night - South African Disco Pop Hits - 1981 to 1987 , which will be released on Cultu

Enjoy the golden years of West Coast pop on Mellow Mellow FM Radio !  Swedish singer, songwriter and musician Ted Gärdestad was one of Sweden's most popular artists in the 1970s. In 1977 he went to Los Angeles to record Blue Virgin Isles . The West Coast rock oriented album featured contributions from the best American and English musicians at the time, like Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, Jim Keltner, David Hungate, Jay Graydon, Dr. John and John Mayall. Although Blue Virgin Isles is now considered as a yacht rock classic, it did not sell well internationally, when it was released in 1978. His representation of his country in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Satellite was unsuccessful as well. He ended in the lower regions. Soon after he left the music business to join a religious group, but he started making music again in the 1990s. After suffering from depression for many years, Gärdestad committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in 1997. The sound of Dutc

Enjoy this new Mixcloud Exclusive !  The opening quote of this cloudcast is from the online series Yacht Rock, which was invented by J.D. Ryznar in the mid-2000s. He made up the term yacht rock, after he had noticed quite a few connections and similarities between Steely Dan and groups like the Doobie Brothers and Toto. All of them seemed to share members and collaborate frequently with each other and Californian artists like Kenny Loggins and Carly Simon. A lot of the music of the era featured albums with guys on boats on the cover and songs about sailing. Ryznar thought that this type of music sounded really good on a yacht, “ because it’s good for relaxing, sitting back and drinking .” And so yacht rock was born.  Speaking of Steely Dan, their main members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker played on Rosie Vela's 1986 debut album Zazu, which was produced by Gary Katz, who had previously worked with them. Though the album was critically acclaimed, it went largely unnoticed in the U.

Soft boogie only on this second funky chillout sofa session , enjoy!  Véronique Sanson began her career in the 1970s and became well known in France soon. Her world turned upside down when she met Stephen Stills of Crosby Stills & Nash. One day, during a recording session in Paris, she left the studio pretending to go buy cigarettes, but never came back... She flew overnight to the USA, where she married Stephen Stills. In LA, she recorded new material with famous R&B musicians, such as Ray Parker Jr. and Harvey Mason, which resulted in her album Hollywood in 1977. Next up is a Mixcloud Exclusive , followed by a new part Mellow Mellow FM Radio . Tracklist: Andrew Jackman – Planes Boats And Trains (1978) Mr. President Feat. Sabba MG – Teasing Me So Bad (2020) Tommy Stewart – Fulton County Line (1976) Ju-Par Universal Orchestra – Is Anyone Listening? (1976) Los Retros – New Humanity (2020) Aldorande – Summer Body (2020) Rotary Connection – Sea And She (1971) Sp

Unsplash From the early to the mid-seventies American singer and bass player Suzi Quatro was undoubtedly the first lady of rock, although she stayed under the radar in her home country. She then moved away from her typical glam rock sound, firstly to a style more infused with funk, soul and jazz, in an attempt to crack the US market. It did not bring her success, but the album Your Mamma Won't Like Me, which contains Can't Trust Love , still stands today. She would finally break big in the States in 1978 with a more pop-oriented single, Stumblin' In . Eventually Suzi Quatro became mostly known in her domestic country for her role as Leather Tuscadero in the TV hit series Happy Days .  This Time I'll Be Sweeter was recorded by Angela Bofill for her 1978 debut album, Angie. Bofill's producer Dave Grusin knew of the song due to his acquaince with its composer Gwen Guthrie who he had frequently asked as a session singer. The single would reach #23 on the Hot Soul Sing

When the 1970s turned into the 1980s quite a few household names could seemingly effortlessly survive in the new decade, like Hall & Oates and pop veterans Graham Gouldman (10cc) and ‘lonely boy’ Andrew Gold, who formed Wax. Both acts sold their old instruments in the mid-eighties and started to use only state of the art electronics to compete successfully with their contemporaries. Even sixties rock icon Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith) reached #1 on the Billboard pop chart in 1986. As the decade came to a close, a musical revolution took place and the biggest names at the time had to struggle to reach the next decade. House and hip hop wiped away eighties pop like it had never existed. Even the hit factory of Stock, Aitken & Waterman had a quick meltdown when the 1990s started and euro dance became the next big thing. The house was blown down, to paraphrase Living In A Box. That said, eighties pop has created a legacy that still exists today. Just l

Enjoy this first funky chillout sofa session! It's music that sounds best in those small hours just after midnight. “The Swedish singer and producer Thea Gustafsson’s latest EP creates a singular, cosmopolitan pop mood that is at once stylish and vulnerable.” (Pitchfork about Becky & The Birds) Recently Lana Del Rey has annoyed some of her fans because of fake face mask at a book signing in California. At the event, she wore a glittery, mesh face mask that she'd previously used in a cover shoot for Interview magazine. It would appear that the mask provided no protection to the spread of Covid-19. Her sister, who livestreamed the poetry reading on Instagram, said the singer had "tested negative" and was remaining six feet away from her fans, but taken pictures from the signing don't prove she did ( BBC ). Blue Jeans is from her excellent debut album with songs about "the dark side of the American dream". Tracklist: Lo Artiz – Kick Back (2020)

Enjoy the best years of West Coast radio ! Music never sounded as sunny as in the late seventies and early eighties on the Californian airwaves. I tried to recapture the feeling with this brand new Mellow Mellow FM radio episode. Fallen Angel was originally recorded by British soft rock band Rogue and released as a single in 1975. It came to #12 on the Dutch Top 40 in early 1976. It also charted minorly on Billboard, reaching #108. The version of the former frontman of the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli, who was picking up his career at the time, was a hit in both the United Kingdom and United States. It peaked respectively at #11 and #36, but failed to chart in the Netherlands. On the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the song even reached the top 10. It was featured in the very successful Broadway musical Jersey Boys about the career of the Four Seasons. Modern day yacht rock band State Cows just released a brand new track, called Caught In A Landslide .  Tracklist:  Peabo Bryson

Enjoy this new episode of Eddy’s Eighties Grooves that brings us back to the days of pure vinyl and oldschool mixtapes! Next up is a new part of Mellow Mellow FM Radio .  Tracklist: I.N.D. ‎– Every Body Likes To Do It (1981) Oliver Cheatham ‎– Get Down Saturday Night (1983) Con Funk Shun – A Song For You (1981) Kwick – I Want To Dance With You (1980) Systematic – Soul To Soul (1988) Peaches & Herb – One On One Situation (1983) The Apx – Your Touch (2019) Jody Watley ‎– Looking For A New Love (1986) Dayton – Meet The Man (1982) Grandmaster Flash – The Adventure Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel (1983) Chic – Good Times (1979) Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight (1979) The S.O.S. Band ‎ – The Finest (1986)

We’ve said goodbye to the summer in a seventies style last week, so let’s welcome the autumn in the same way on this exclusive Mixcloud Select Smooth Sailing trip! 😊  Born in California on 22 September 1944 and the daughter of actor Johnny Green, Kathe Jennifer Green appeared in a number of television series at the start of the 1960s. She made her first serious involvement in show business in 1968 when she dubbed the singing voice of Mark Lester in the film Oliver! , for which her father was musical director. The same year Kathe appeared in the Peter Sellers film The Party . She recorded her debut LP the following year, Run The Length Of Your Wildness, for which she wrote ten of the album's thirteen tracks. In 1975 Kathe Green signed with Motown, with producer Frank Wilson assembling a stellar cast of session players (James Jamerson, Jeff Porcaro and Ray Parker Jr.). However, the record company lost interest along the way and the album was banished to the Prodigal label. Afterw

Unsplash Enjoy your time in the floating hotel and wave goodbye to the summer of 2020 in a seventies style!  Montreal City by Azymuth (or Azimüth as they were called at the time) is from Bob Stanley’s excellent new compilation 76 In The Shade , out on Ace Records . The Brazilian trio started out as a cover band in the early 1970s, but switched to their own material in 1973. Their debut album was released two years later and featured Montreal City , a tribute to the city that would host the 1976 Olympic Games. It marked the beginning of their own ‘crazy samba’ style, a melting pot of Latin, jazz-funk and electronics.  Tracklist: The Alchemist – The Flaoting Hotel Intro Angela Bofill – Under The Moon And Over The Sky (1978) Lulu ‎ – Take Your Mama For A Ride (1974) April Fulladosa – Tell Me (1978) Summer – Transcendental Airline (1979) Fleetwood Mac – Sugar Daddy (1975) El Chicano ‎– Tell Her She's Lovely (1973) Azymuth – Montreal City (1975) Batteaux – High Tide (

Enjoy my tribute to (mostly) the hit sound of AM Radio (1960 - ±1975)! It's music I don't usually play on Mixcloud, so this might be one episode only ;-) During the 1960s and early 1970s, AM radio was by far the most popular format. Bubblegum pop’s syncopated, catchy rhythms and singalong lyrics, like the songs from Motown, sounded best on portable mono radios. In Europe AM pop was mainly played by pirate stations, which made it even more exciting to listen to. Around the mid-70s stereo hifi-equipment replaced the transistor radio and pirate stations disappeared one by one, due to government decisions. FM radio stations were willing to play album tracks and longer songs in better sound quality. They pushed back the inferior sounding AM stations that were more tightly programmed and singles-oriented. It was the end of an era. According to an early promoter of the Beach Boys, Fun, Fun, Fun was inspired by an incident involving Shirley Johnson, the daughter of a radio sta

The exotica sounds of the 1950s (Les Baxter, Martin Denny and others) make you think of tropical islands, blue seas and sandy beaches. Some of the tropical ingredients were copied by Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band and more seventies disco acts (that are gathered on Cocktail Disco , a compilation by Dimitri From Paris). And many lounge acts used the typical exotica sounds in the 2000s. Even acts of today, like Surprise Chef and Sinj Clarke, refer to classic exotica.  The closing track by Jordan Rakei is from the upcoming album  Blue Note Re:imagined that will be released on October 16. Wind Parade originally appeared on trumpeter Donald Byrd’s 1975 classic jazz-funk album  Places and Spaces , which was produced by the amazing Mizell brothers.   Enjoy part 5 of my Soft Focus series ! Next up is a spin-off episode of Mellow Mellow FM Radio . Tracklist:  Delegation – Oh Honey (1978) Marlena Shaw – Last Tango In Paris (1973) Surprise Chef – All News Is Good News (2020) Barb

Duran Duran We set sail for probably our last boat trip this summer. Enjoy! Retro Wave (or synthwave) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominately on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s: “The genre developed in the mid-2000s through French house producers, as well as younger artists who were inspired by the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City . It reached wider popularity after being featured in the soundtracks of the 2011 film Drive (which included some of the genre's best-known songs) and the 2010s Netflix series Stranger Things ." (Wikipedia) To remix Hopium was part of a contest a few years back. The one I chose to play on this cloudcast was the first one I made. The second remix is on my Soundcloud page. I didn’t win anything, by the way… 😉 Mr. Mister Nowadays known as a yacht rock phenomenon, the band Pages was disbanded after their third self-titled album in 1981, due to disap

Unsplash Enjoy an easy way to wake up for Mixcloud subscribers only! The 70s soft rock covers on his album Some Guys sound, according to singer Jonathan Coulton himself, “exactly like the originals.” And I have to admit that they do! 😊 The original version of Arianne appeared on Johnny Mathis’ 1973 album Killing Me Softly With Her Song . Rod McKuen, who recorded the song for his album Sleep Warm two years later, once said that it originates from a French poem. Christian Roudey wrote the lyrics and music for the song, Martin Charnin made the English translation. “Arianne is April morning That comes rippling through my window She's the smell of coffee brewing On a quiet, rainy Sunday She's the purring of a kitten That has made my neck a pillow for his head…” Tracklist: Galdston & Thom – Savannah Sunny Sunday (1977) Brotherhood Of Man ‎– California Sunday Morning (1971) Johnny Mathis – Arianne (1973) Mystic Moods – The Morning After (1975) Jonathan

Unsplash Enjoy one hour of soulful eighties music! As I wrote before, Angela Bofill was initially a jazz-funk singer, but her biggest hit was a dance track, namely the title track of her 1983 Too Tough album. Other great songs on the album were Is This A Dream and I Can See It In Your Eyes , all produced by Narada Michael Walden. Her sound became even more electronic on her next album, which was supervised by electro funk duo The System, mostly known for their classic You’re In My System (covered by Robert Palmer). In the mid-eighties the musical landscape changed drastically and Angela Bofill had to struggle hard to keep her career going. Barry White started working in the music industry in the 1960s, but his commercial success came in the 1970s as one of the frontrunners of disco, creating Love’s Theme with his Love Unlimited Orchestra and solo songs like Never Never Gonna Give Ya Up , You're The First, The Last, My Everything and Can't Get Enough Of Your Love,

Unsplash It has never been as warm as in the past week in the Netherlands, so this is my answer to the heatwave… enjoy! Luckily Michael Jackson recorded Farewell My Summer Love when he was a teenager himself, otherwise the song would have sounded very creepy... It came out of recording sessions between January and October 1973. The recorded songs were reportedly lost by Motown, but rediscovered in 1984. To make the tracks more contemporary, Motown remixed them to put them on an album. The task of playing the updated sound was given to musicians Tony Peluso, Michael Lovesmith, Steve Barri and Mike Baird. The album reached number 46 on Billboard's pop album chart and number 9 on the UK albums chart and sold over three million copies worldwide. It was clear that Motown wanted to cash in on the success of Michael Jackson's best-selling album Thriller as they did 10 years earlier, when the record company suddenly released shelved recordings from Frankie Valli who re-appeared

Unsplash There are two tracks on this cloudcast from the excellent new compilation album Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room . Also a song by Elvis Presley, who passed away 43 years ago this Sunday (August 16th 1977). The first time I play an Elvis song on Mellow Mellow FM Radio ! Bronx native Angela Bofill sang with Ricardo Morrero & the Group and the Dance Theater of Harlem chorus before her 1978 debut album Angie came out. With her strong, distinctive alto, she turned out to be an outstanding interpreter of jazzy soul ballads. Between 1978 and 1984, Bofill had consistent success on the R&B charts, with six albums making the Top 40, including two that made the Top Ten. During this period, seven of her singles reached the R&B Top 40 as well. Bofill's career cooled off after 1984, when she was dropped by her record company Arista in favour of Whitney Houston, who could enter the pop market as well. In 2006 and 2007 Angela Bofill suffered two

Taylor Simpson Slowing down is always the best advice in days of heat and humidity. Let’s go to the pool to sunbathe near the water, put up some sunscreen and listen to soft soulful music! Probably one of the most tragic pop stars that has ever lived is Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni. At only ten years of age, she was the youngest person in history to have an album, Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me) , in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart. Later she starred in her own television series, made numerous TV guest star appearances, and appeared on stage. In her teenage years, the singer suffered from anorexia nervosa and during this time she also developed clinical depression. She blamed this on the pressure placed upon her to fit into costumes, while at the same time "developing as a woman." Following an operation to cure her depression, Zavaroni died at the age of thirty-five from pneumonia on 1 October 1999. I once saw an interview with her in a BBC documentary and she clea

Unsplash Enjoy this fictional soundtrack to a non-existing seventies movie! 😊Some of the tracks are actual songs from a soundtrack, but most of them certainly could have been. This cloudcast is an exclusive one for Mixcloud Select subscribers only. Tracklist: Aldorande – Summer Body (2020) Rice & Beans Orchestra – Love Is On My Mind (1977) Limoncello – Con Tu Amor (2020) Los Retros – New Humanity (2020) Nat Dove & The Devils – Zombie March (1977) B-Movie Orchestra – Sexy Girls (2012) Dianne Mower – The Secret Sign (1980) Marlena Shaw – Last Tango In Paris (1973) Love Unlimited Orchestra – Brazilian Love Song (1976) Norman Harris – In Good Faith (1980) Werner Baumgart's Big Band Baden-Baden – Long Island Sound (1980) Lani Hall – No Strings (1980) Silver Convention – San Francisco Hustle (1976) MFSB – Plenty Good Lovin’ (1976)

Jabob Repko An episode filled with “sea, salt & caramel”, to quote Dent May! 😊 Although his song is brand new, Dent May is undoubtedly inspired by classic American songwriters from the 1970s, like Harry Nilsson, Carole King and Randy Newman. The track by the mysterious Bobbie Gentry is on the new compilation album Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room , which will be out on Ace Records tomorrow. Enjoy this mid-summer part of Smooth Sailing ! Tracklist: No Vacation – August (2015) Bobbie Gentry – Thunder In The Afternoon (1978) Seals & Crofts – Summer Breeze [Philip Steir Tsuper Tsunami Remix] (2004) Robert Palmer ‎– Every Kinda People (1978) Dent May – Sea Salt & Caramel (2020) Jim Croce – Thursday (1973) Lloyd Cole And The Commotions ‎– Rattlesnakes (1984) Brenda Russell – Way Back When (1979) Triumvirat ‎– Waterfall (1978) The Brothers Johnson – In The Way (1981) James Taylor ‎– Woman's Gotta Have It (1976) Stephen Bis

Unsplash Enjoy this seductive soul hour! Donna Summer, once crowned as the Queen of Disco, desperately needed a musical makeover in the post-disco/post-Moroder years of the early eighties, when her career seemed to fade out. No one was better qualified for the job than Quincy Jones, who could combine soul and pop to a state of perfection. Her 1982 self-titled album turned out to be some kind of final rehearsal for Thriller a year later. The all-star choir on State Of Independence returned on Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Startin’ Something , for instance. Although the album was not a huge commercial success, it delivered great singles like Love Is In Control and Woman In Me . "It mostly reaffirmed that Summer was back in stride.” ( Allmusic ) Tracklist: The Originals – California Sunset (1975) Angie Jarée – Wrap Myself Up In Your Love (2020) Donna Summer ‎– Woman In Me (1982) Foxy – Mademoiselle (1978) Millie Jackson ‎– Hurts So Good (1973) Lynda Carter – All Nig