Professor Eddy

Unsplash I wish I could roller skate… 😉The tracks by State Cows and Mamas Gun are brand new. The latter is a tribute to Bill Withers and written on the day he died. Enjoy this new part of Smooth Sailing ! Until this day Evie Sands remains a very underrated singer/songwriter, although she has received more appreciation in recent years, especially in the English Northern Soul scene. Evie Sands began recording as a teenager in the mid-1960s. After a rocky start and having trouble with unreliable record executives who stole her songs, she finally had a hit single with Any Way That You Want Me in 1969. Her debut album, also named Any Way That You Want Me , was released several months after the single had peaked. It took five years before Estate of Mind saw the light of day. Produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, the album marked her continued output as a first class songwriter. The very sensual Love In The Afternoon is one of the tracks on the album. In 1980, You Might Need Somebody...

Pixabay Feel the exclusive disco vibe! 😊 Some of the tracks can be called lounge disco or orchestral disco . Dimitri From Paris labelled it cocktail disco for his same titled compilation album, some years ago: “Cocktail Disco has that ubiquitous 4/4 beat and flying open high hat, complemented by rich orchestrations, campy over the top vocals, and an often tropical Latin vibe.” Tracklist: Edwin Starr – I Just Wanna Do My Thing (1977) Miami ‎–  Chicken Yellow (1975) Moses – Something About You (1978) Silver Convention – I Like It (1975) Steve Marshall – Do What You Will (1978) Tony Valor Sounds Orchestra ‎– Love Has Come My Way (1978) John Davis & The Monster Orchestra – Up Jumped The Devil (1977) El Chicano ‎– Baretta's Theme (Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow) (1975) Eumir Deodato – Whistle Bump (1978) Tommy Stewart – Fulton County Line (1976) Silvetti – Sun After The Rain (1978) Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band ‎– Cherchez La Femme (1976) Chailo – Let’s Ska...

Unsplash Can you believe it? This year 40 years ago… 1982 was probably the last year of disco. The following year electronics took over and the first house records were played in clubs (Nucleus, Cybotron). It was time for change, to quote Barry White. To salute disco, I selected some of the greatest R&B hits of 1982. Enjoy the 700th one on Mixcloud, being there since the 3rd of September 2009! 😊 George Benson’s Turn Your Love Around was written for his greatest hits album The George Benson Collection . The song was composed by Grammy winners Bill Champlin (Chicago), Steve Lukather (Toto) and producer / guitarist Jay Graydon. Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro programmed one of the first Linn drum machines for the track and synth bass was played by his bandmate David Paich. Turn Your Love Around went to #1 R&B and #5 pop. Because of its smooth sound and the musicians who play on it, the song has become a yacht rock classic in recent years. Tracklist: Earth, Wind & Fire – Let'...

Unsplash On this warm and sunny day T he Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) are leaving L.A. for a drive along the Californian coast. We have put together a selection of breezy Yacht Rock and Westcoast Pop.  Dutch musician and producer Phil Martin has always been interested in the West Coast music scene and distinctive sound from the late 1970s. Albums from Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles were on heavy rotation on his record player when he grew up. Lo van Gorp is a well-known Dutch backing singer and saxophonist and has worked with artists such as Paul Carrack, Roger Hodgson, Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau. We selected Martin & Garp's latest single Not Into You . Enjoy the ride! Tracklist: Stylus - Live It On Up (1979) Jakata - Golden Girl (1984) Heat - Follow You Home (1981) Dusty Springfield - You Can Do It (1979) Dane Donohue - Can’t Be Seen (1978) Sneaker - Jaymes (1981) Kimiko Kasai - Mmm Mmm Good (1984) Pages - Com...

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...

Pixabay A warm welcome to 2022 and to the soulful disco sound of the 1970s, enjoy! Lou Rawls (Philadelphia International All Stars) surely will be remembered as one of the best singers of all time, but when I saw an Unsung documentary about him the other day, I was quite shocked. Although he was famous for his charity work, he wasn’t a nice person at all. He looked very relaxed when he was on stage, but he was a violent man to his family. It even got to the point that he beat up his wife for 3 and a half hours and she had to be taken to hospital. He wasn’t a pleasant man to work with either and he always wanted to be in control. In the 1980s, when his records sold very poorly, he couldn’t understand that Janet Jackson was way more successful, because he thought he made much better albums. Lou Rawls died of lung cancer on the 6th of January 2006, so exactly 15 years ago today. Peaches and Herb were known as the sweethearts of soul during the 1960s and had a string of hits, most notably ...