Smooth Sailing: Slowdown Sundown

-

Unsplash
23 sunset melodies to enjoy at a late night beach party! 😊

The big hit from the Year Of The Cat album by Al Stewart was the title track, except in South Africa, where Sand In Your Shoes was released as the first single and went to #6. The singer explained on a CD reissue of the album that he wanted the song as the first single, but the record company only released it in South Africa:
“I always try to write one short song with a nice tune in an effort to get played on AM Radio. And it never works! It’s supposed to sound like a 1966 Bob Dylan track, although it probably doesn’t.”

Although he kept on recording for more than 40 years, singer Albert West from the Netherlands was most successful in the mid-seventies. He had a string of hits inside and outside the Dutch borders and he was even some kind of teen idol at the time. In 1975 he came second in the Dutch round of the Eurovision Song Contest, just behind Teach-In. The latter one would win the grand final of the festival, a year after Swedish representatives Abba did. 

Who is going to win the grand final of Eurovison this Saturday, you think? My personal favourites are funny guys Subwoolfer from Norway! 😊

Happy birthday to Steve Winwood who turns 74 today! Next up is a new part of Eddy's Eighties Grooves.

Tracklist:

Engelwood Feat. Iamalex – Fly Away (2022)
Four Tops – Still Water (Love) (1970)
August Red – Sunset Melody [Isla Del Sol Edit] (2021)
Albert West – Simone (1974)
Al Stewart –  Sand In Your Shoes (1976)
Con Funk Shun – California 1 (1981)
Starbuck – Moonlight Feels Right (1976)
Ace – How Long (1974)
Todd Rundgren – I Saw The Light (1972)
Daft Punk Feat. Todd Edwards – Fragments Of Time (2013)
Jerry Corbetta – Caribbean Lady (1978)
Nohelani Cypriano – Island Boy (1979)
Jeanie Greene – Only The Children Know (1971)
Tim Maia – Verão Carioca (1977)
New Birth ‎– Hangin’ Out (1982)
Steve & Teresa ‎– Catching A Wave (1983)
Jorge Santana – We Were There (1978)
McGuinn, Clark & Hillman – Long Long Time (1979)
Yasuko Agawa – L.A. Night (1984)
Creative Source – Magic Carpet Ride (1973)
El Chicano ‎– Viva Tirado (1970)
Steve Winwood – Slowdown Sundown (1980)
Claude François – De La Peine Pas De Chagrin (1973)
 

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