Professor Eddy

Unsplash Many yacht rock artists sang about boats and used them as their cover art. The genre was some kind of soulful variant of mid-seventies West Coast pop/rock. It was made popular by bands like The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and Hall & Oates who were inspired by R&B artists. Because of the soulfulness of yacht rock, quite a few black artists covered these West Coast pop songs and they did it in an even more soulful way. Most recently Thundercat made a wonderful version of Steve Miller’s Fly Like An Eagle . Greg Caz wrote about this subject in the liner notes of Too Slow To Disco Yacht Soul : "Rock and Pop artists found covering Blues and R&B songs to be a reliable source both of great material and of artistic credibility. Meanwhile, Soul and R&B artists would routinely cover current Pop-Rock songs as a way of expending their audiences and crossover potential…" Enjoy this new funky chillout sofa session ! Next up is a new show on Mellow Mellow FM . Trackl...

C-Heads Magazine Eddie Chacon used to be one half of legendary soul duo Charles & Eddie. According to Chacon, one of them was carrying a vinyl copy of the Marvin Gaye album Trouble Man , when they first met on the New York City Subway in 1990. The duo released their debut album Duophonic on Capitol Records two years later. It included the hit singles Would I Lie To You? , N.Y.C . and House Is Not A House Is Not A Home . It was remarkable that they had hits with classic soul music in a time when house and hip hop ruled the charts. They split amicably a few years later. Eddie Chacon only recently returned to the music business and signed a contract to Stones Throw Records. Holy Hell is a great comeback single and sounds a little bit like Got To Give It Up by Marvin Gaye. Hopefully he will not be sued by the heirs of the soul singer… Before Alan O'Day reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his composition Undercover Angel in 1977, he wrote hits for other artists. First there...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy one last episode of summertime radio on Mellow Mellow FM ! Just thinking of what once was… Thanks to Martijn Soetens for sending me some great authentic airchecks. According to an early promoter of the Beach Boys, Fun, Fun, Fun (on this cloudcast sung by The Carpenters) was inspired by the daughter of a radio station’s owner, who had borrowed her father's 1963 Thunderbird. Instead of going to the University library, as she promised, she went to a drive-in theatre. Mike Love and Brian Wilson of the band happened to hear the story when they visited the radio station. Eventually Fun Fun Fun became more or less the ultimate summer song. It even seemed to have inspired German electro pioneers Kraftwerk who sang “Fahr’n, Fahr’n, Fahr’n auf die Autobahn” on their American hit Autobahn , but band member Wolfgang Flür has denied that, according to Allmusic: "No! Someone else told me that they thought the way we speak in German, 'Fahren,' which means d...

Martijn Soetens When disco became a dirty word, because of its huge commercial impact after Saturday Night Fever in 1977, a more electronic, soulful equivalent rose to popularity in the early 1980s, now known as boogie. It was no longer music for the masses, but dance music for a club audience. I dug some of those tracks to show you what I mean. Enjoy this new part of Grooves From The Crates ! Next time I'm going to say goodbye to summer on Mellow Mellow FM . Tracklist: Manhattan Rhythm Feat. The Smithcox Organization – Sweet Lady (1983) Gene Chandler – Does She Have A Friend? (1980) Beau Williams – If You're Ready (1982) The Gene Dunlap Band – There’s Talk (1983) Sunrize – I Need You More Than Words Can Say (1982) The Jones Girls – Children Of The Night (1980) Josie James – Call Me (1985) Heatwave – Find It In Your Heart (1982) Gene Van Buren ‎– What's Your Pleasure (1982) Herbie Hancock – Can’t Hide Your Love (1982) Pieces Of A Dream – Fo Fi Fo (1983) El DeBarg...

Unsplash I tried to reproduce that typical mid-eighties electro sound with some songs from that period, but with some newer tracks as well that have that same electronic vibe. Contemporary singers Iversen and Roxi Drive even refer to 1985 in their lyrics. It was the twilight year when disco and new wave started to shine weaker, but were still there and new genres, like house and hip hop, came to surface. All sounds of the eighties seemed to have come together around that year. “So grab your keys to your Testarossa and head to the club, maybe pick up that special someone for a drink or cruise on into the sunset” (Into The Night With Calypso Drip FM / Gryff) Next up is a new episode of Grooves From The Crates ! Tracklist: Gryff – You’re Listening To Calypso Drip FM (2020) Roxi Drive – 1985 (2020) Oattes Van Schaik – Miracles (1985) Gryff – Into The Night With Calypso Drip FM (2020) Gladys Knight & The Pips – Ain't No Greater Love (1983) Jay Diggs Feat. Zyodara – Both Ways (2...

Enjoy the feeling of old school summertime radio ! From left to right in the picture are Olivia Newton-John, Helen Reddy, Minnie Riperton and Linda Ronstadt. Sadly enough only Linda Ronstadt is still alive. Recently Olivia Newton-John passed away. Her career took off in the early 1970s with some major soft pop hits in the US. Her record sales dropped by the end of the decade, but she suddenly became a mega-star when she appeared as Sandy in Grease . Afterwards, just like in the movie, her image changed from an innocent girl to a woman all dressed in leather on the cover of her album Totally Hot , which contained A Little More Love . She kept this more provocative image until the release of her biggest hit Physical in 1981. In the second half of the decade she could not compete with new teen stars like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany and her days as a superstar were over. The tracks by Stephen Encinas and The Dukes are from the compilation album Too Slow To Disco 4 that came out last week. ...