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...

Unsplash 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...

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...