Professor Eddy

To end the year I want to present you a Cashbox list, instead of one from its main competitor Billboard , for a change. Enjoy America's best 30 soul singles in the last week of 1981! A big thank you to all my listeners in the past year and I hope to see you all in 2024. What is striking about this list is that a large number of songs sound like they come from the mid-1970s instead of the early 1980s. It would take another year or two before electronic instruments would dominate the soul sound. In 1981 English synthesizer bands like Soft Cell and the Human League had already become very popular in the pop charts, but the electronic revolution had not reached the soul charts entirely yet. Surprisingly enough Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit and restraining order against John Oates last month, according to British newspaper the Guardian. It concerned a dispute over Oates’s reported plan to sell his share of the pair’s publishing to Primary Wave Music, the company that has acquired numerous

My Christmas present to all my subscribers is this Sunshine Radio 's Mixcloud Exclusive. It contains the 20 best soul tracks of 1975’s final week, according to Billboard Magazine . It’s almost impossible to find a list without Donna Summer in it between 1975 and 1980, so she’s on this cloudcast as well 😊  Merry Christmas to all of you! Tracklist: K.C. & The Sunshine Band ‎– That's The Way (I Like It) Donna Summer – Love To Love You Baby Pointer Sisters – Going Down Slowly The Dells – We Got To Get Our Thing Together Dionne Warwick – Once You Hit The Road Tavares – Free Ride Diana Ross – Theme From Mahogany Soul Train Gang – Soul Train “75” Gladys Knight & The Pips – Part Time Love Margie Joseph & Blue Magic – You & Me (Got A Good Thing Going) [B-Side] Norman Connors – Valentine Love Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing O’Jays – I Love Music (Part 1) Staple Singers – Let’s Do It Again The Miracles – Love Machine Part 1 Al Green – Full Of Fire Earth, Wind

Ron Lach We all need some sun in these dark days of December, enjoy! 😊  The song by Patti Labelle is from the outstanding compilation album Yacht Soul 2 . The other two best compilation albums of 2023 are, to my humble opinion, Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night (Brooklyn Disco 1974-5) , which contains the Al Foster Band track, and Disco Giants 18 , which I played tracks from earlier. American Gypsy are best known for their song Inside Out , which has been sampled by DJ Shadow, Jazzanova, Groove Armada and others. The band began club performances in Los Angeles in 1971, followed by a two-year tour of Spain. Because of the language advantage the group settled eventually in The Netherlands in the mid-1970s. The line-up then was: Joe Skeete (bass guitar), Michael Hamane (lead guitar), Lorenzo Mills (vocals), Richard James aka Ricardo James (drums), David Harrell (vocals, guitar, sax, flute) and Steve Clisby (vocals, keyboards). During their American period, individual members recorde

Unsplash The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) selected some sweet sunshine pop from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Dream away on such a winter's day, to paraphrase California Dreamin' . Enjoy! Tracklist: The Love Generation ‎– Love Is A Rainy Sunday (1968) The Zombies ‎– Care of Cell 44 (1967) Tommy James & The Shondells ‎– Crystal Blue Persuasion (1968) Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends ‎– The Drifter (1968) The Lovin’ Spoonful ‎– Do You Believe In Magic (1965) Triste Janero ‎– Rene De Marie (1969) Brewer and Shipley ‎– Dreamin’ In The Shade (1968) Dennis Yost & The Classics IV ‎– Pick Up The Pieces (1970) Joe & Bing – Come And Bring The Sun Again (1971) Erasmo Carlos – Sorriso Dela (1972) Claudine Longet ‎– Who Needs You (1968) The Everly Brothers – Bowling Green (1967) The Four Seasons – Watch The Flowers Grow (1967) Del Shannon – Colour Flashing Hair (1968) David McWilliams – I Love Susie In The Summer (1969) Sérgio Mendes &

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

A few soul ballads, but mostly soulful disco in this week’s Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart from 1978, enjoy!  Chanson were not a French, but a American R&B duo, consisting of guitarist David Williams, and bassist James Jamerson II, the son of the legendary Motown bass player James Jamerson. The two built a reputation via their extensive session work before recording their own LP. Jamerson met Williams while on the road with the Temptations, Williams, at the time, was on tour with the Dells. On their self-titled debut album Earth, Wind & Fire's horn section and members of Toto (Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro and David Paich) played as session musicians. One of the tracks is their hit Don't Hold Back, which peaked at #8 on the Hot Soul Singles chart this week in 1978. It went to #21 Pop. Strangely enough, none of their other songs did anything, so they returned to studio work and playing with major artists on the road. Next week we are heading back again to the West Coas

Pexels Enjoy this week’s Billboard Disco Action Top 25 ranked from 25 to 1, as published in Billboard Magazine on the 4th of December 1976. Around that time disco somehow sounded like sped up soul and danceable funk. The next year it would all change when Donna Summer introduced the electronic beat with I Feel Love . Disco became a different genre from then on. It took months before Cherchez La Femme by Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band reached the Dutch charts (May 14th 1977), but it eventually became a big hit and stuck at number 3. The band was formed by brothers Stony Browder Jr. and Thomas Browder (aka August Darnell/Kid Creole) in 1974. They started with singer Cory Daye, drummer Mickey Sevilla, and percussionist Andy Hernandez (Coati Mundi). The concept of the group was the re-creation of a 1930s jazz-swing band à la Cab Calloway, with witty lyrics, a disco beat and lush disco arrangements and orchestrations. DJ Dimitri From Paris later named their style 'cocktail d

Pexels I usually pay tribute to AOR radio , but this time I put the spotlight on eighties R&B and pop radio. Drive back in time and enjoy the sunlitted sounds of retro FM! “There is a Japanese term: Mono no aware. It means basically, the sad beauty of seeing time pass - the aching awareness of impermanence. These are the days that we will return to one day in the future only in memories.” (The Midnight) The track by Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel is from the upcoming compilation Jon Savage's 1983-1985 - Welcome To Techno City , out on Ace Records on January 26th 2024: “By the end of 1984, the true action throughout this period was to be found in electronic, black American and club music.” One of the most remarkable characters in pop history is singer Green Gartside. He started Scritti Politti as a political punk band, but changed his style after hearing Off The Wall from Michael Jackson. He became more R&B oriented and developed a very distinctive way of singing. It ca

Pexels Enjoy the “quiet storm” mood of this funky chillout night session! The track by Esther Phillips is from the new Too Slow To Disco compilation Yacht Soul 2 . To be honest, I think the term yacht soul is quite ambiguous and most of the times it is used to play pure soul or disco tracks, like Shalamar, which has nothing to do with the original concept of yacht rock at all. The term has become blurry, if there is no “yacht” connection. However, DJ Supermarkt has found that connection by selecting soul covers of well-known yacht rock songs: “The pure Yacht Rock fans sometimes don’t appreciate the black music part. That’s why I never used that expression on our compilations, instead went for Yacht Pop. To me that integration of soul, jazz, funk is the essence of the part of YACHT music I like. That soulful vibe was already all over the other TOO SLOW TO DISCO compilations. So for me it wasn’t a big step. But for some it is….” (DJ Supermarkt / Westcoastsoul.de) On February 2, 2024 th

Enjoy the 40 best of this week's Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart from 1979! It was all in there: soul, funk, disco and with the early hip hop from Fatback and Sugar Hill Gang you could catch a glimpse of the future in it as well. The eighties were definitely not far away. "The Commodores' sublime and soulful "Still" moves into the top singles spot on the Hot 100 this week, becoming the Motown family of labels’ 45th to hit No.1 pop. It's often said that Motown had its real heyday in the '60s— and of course it did in that era when there was far less competition from majors like CBS and Warners— but the company has actually had more chart-topping singles in the ‘70s, by a margin of 25 to 20.” (Billboard Magazine 11-17-1979) Tracklist: Phyllis Hyman – You Know How To Love Me Dynasty – I Don’t Want To Be A Freak Archie Bell & The Drells – Strategy Peaches & Herb – Roller-Skatin' Mate Lowrell – Mellow Mellow, Right On Spinners – Body Languag

Pexels Look outside and watch the falling leaves and early sun downs: this is the AOR soundtrack to this year’s autumn by The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) 😊 Enjoy some soft rock with a touch of soul! Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are best known for their UK number one hit (Come Up And See Me) Make Me Smile in 1975. The song came from their album The Best Years Of Our Lives and was co-produced by then relatively unknown engineer Alan Parsons. Their pretty funky track White, White Dove was released a year later as the final single from their next LP Timeless Flight . The track was written and produced by Harley himself.  White, White Dov e was the second single from the album , after Black Or White had failed to chart. White, White Dove came out shortly after Timeless Flight , but despite the album's top 20 success in the UK, the single did not reach the UK top 50 either. However, the same year Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel would return to the UK top 10,

Enjoy the 15 best disco tracks in the US on this day in 1979!  What is striking in this Billboard disco list compared to the one from 1976 that I uploaded  last month is that the number of soul acts has fallen enormously in favour of electronic acts, most notably the ones led by synthesizer genius Giorgio Moroder (Suzi Lane, Giorgio, Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand). Soul and disco were definitively two different genres in 1979.  The lead singer of Front Page, the opening track, is Sharon Redd. The next decade she became world famous as a solo artist ( Can You Handle It ). Front Page was a so-called "studio act", which was typical for the later years of the disco era. Producers hired musicians to play on one-off projects. Destination is another example of a one-off studio act. It was led and produced by Elton Farokh Ahi. Tracklist: Front Page – Love Insurance Queen Samantha – Take A Chance Stargard – Wear It Out Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough Isaac

Pexels Enjoy music from and inspired by the era of cassettes, videotheques and radio requests! 😊 For some reason British duo Dollar were only successful in the UK. In the Netherlands, for instance, they did not have any hits. Only their debut single Shooting Star stuck in the bubbling under list, but in their decade-long career, Dollar sold over 10 million records in their home country. In 1978, when Thereza Bazar and David Van Day started, after they had left Guys 'n' Dolls, the duo were at the forefront of electro pop and a few years later they were one of the first to use to the potential of producer Trevor Horn. He became later known as “the man who invented the eighties”. In 1986, after the two of them had attempted to go solo with limited success, Dollar began releasing singles again. With some help from then successful producers team Stock, Aitken and Waterman they reached the charts once more with O L'Amour in late 1987. When their attempt for a successful follow

Enjoy the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, dated on the 29th of October 1977, ranked from number 30 to1! Some tracks that were labeled as 'soul' at the time would now be called differently. KC & the Sunshine Band and Donna Summer, for instance, have been given the definitive label of ‘disco’ and Meco has nothing to do with soul at all. That song would now be categorized as 'cheesy pop' or 'novelty pop'. But all the other tracks on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart are soul songs through and through. While mixing Dr Love disco pioneer Tom Moulton suffered from a heart attack, but he waited more than four hours to go to hospital, because he wanted to finish the track first. The doctor he spoke was not exactly Dr Love, because he was really pissed that Tom had not come any earlier. So it could have been his final mix, but luckily he could go on with his groundbreaking work. “The Bee Gees may have been the undisputed disco kings of the late '70s,

Unsplash Enjoy this soft autumn West Coast breeze! Autumn is perhaps best summarized by English band Mud in their song Don’t You Know : “It’s slightly getting colder… “ 😉 It is the B-side of their hit Show Me You’re A Woman and on the compilation album Mud: The Singles 1973-80 . Show Me You’re A Woman reached number 8 in the UK and only number 25 in the Netherlands. By the way, the lyrics of that song would be called very inappropriate these days, because it somehow suggests a relationship with a minor. American Flyer was formed in 1976 and released two successful albums before falling apart two years later. They had one small hit, Let Me Down Easy , which reached number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is from their self-titled debut album, which has Lady Blue Eyes on board too. The LP was produced by George Martin, known for his work with the Beatles, of course. Little Feat’s Gringo was covered by singer-actor Arnold McCuller on his A Part Of Me That's You album in 1984. It

Unsplash Enjoy the Billboard Disco Action Top 20 ranked from 20 to 1, as published in Billboard Magazine on the 23rd of October 1976. At the time soul and disco were almost synonyms. Even soul bands that originated from the 1960s, like The Fantastic Four, The Spinners and The Originals could successfully jump on the disco train. In 1976 they sounded like fresh disco stars instead of old soul singers. In later years the Disco Action Top 20 became more and more blurry with rock artists like Rod Stewart and Blondie and even new wave acts like Devo and the The B-52s in the list. Tracklist: Bee Gees –  You Should Be Dancing Earth, Wind & Fire – Getaway Tata Vega – Full Speed Ahead Fantastic Four – Night People / Lies Divided By Jive Gloria Gaynor – Let’s Make A Deal Donna Summer – Spring Affair The Spinners – The Rubberband Man [Scratchandsniffs Stretched Out Re-Rub] Vicki Sue Robinson – Should I Stay / I Won't Let You Go Rose Royce – Car Wash Whirlwind – Full Time Thing (B

Pexels This time we are slowing down the boat a bit, but we still move on 😊 Enjoy this new part of Smooth Sailing ! The opening track is a new one by Dee C. Lee. She became famous as a back-up singer for Wham! in the early 1980s. You can see her in most of their videos, most notably in Club Tropicana . She then joined the Style Council and had a relationship with their frontman Paul Weller. Throughout her career she had a few solo hit singles. Best known are Selina Wow Wow and See The Day that reached the charts in the mid-eighties. She recently released Be There In The Morning for Acid Jazz Records. The song was first recorded by Renee Geyer in 1977. In 1975, Slow Down , the first single by British band Shabby Tiger reached the top of the charts in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, but failed to chart in their home country. Because of the heavy breathing during some parts of the record, the BBC refused to play the song. At the time, Radio One seemed to have the

Pexels At the moment I'm not sure if I might be able to upload a cloudcast regularly the upcoming weeks. We will have to wait and see how things work out. But in the meantime, enjoy this new episode of Eddy’s Eighties Grooves ! 😊 Next up is a new part of Smooth Sailing . Tracklist: Earth, Wind & Fire ‎– Let Me Talk (1982) Simon & Mc Queen ‎– Let's Get Into It (1983) Melba Moore ‎– Mind Up Tonight (1982) George Benson – Give Me The Night (1980) One Way ‎–  Give Me One More Chance (1982) Jay Diggs Feat. Zyodara – Both Ways (2020) Beverly Girl – Change Begins With You (2018) Kwick – You're The Kind Of Girl I Like (1981) Manhattans ‎– Let Your Love Come Down (1981) David Bendeth ‎– Love Collect (1981) Dave Valentin – Fantasy (1980) Congress ‎– Neptune (1983) Contrast – Love Fantasy (1984) Homi & Jarvis – Friend Of A Friend (1983)

Pexels The music gets better when the days grow darker… Enjoy Sunshine Radio with sunglasses on! 😎 One of the tracks is from the new Say She She album Silver that came out yesterday.: “Say She She, the soulful female-led trio, stand rock solid on their discodelic duty with their boundary breaking sophomore album Silver.” (Bandcamp) French singer Jacques Brel is absolutely unique in singing raw, emotional songs. Terry Jacks therefore sings Brels Ne Me Quitte Pas in his own way. It starts very soft and subdued, but slowly builds up to a climax, but as soon as you get the feeling that he is going to get out of his mind, he stops abruptly. In this way he takes ownership of the song, because he is not an exuberant Jacques Brel, but a modest Canadian singer who knows where his limitations are.  Next up is a new part of Eddy's 80s Grooves ! Tracklist: Paul Cherry – Our Night (2023) YBS – Just Can't Fight The Feeling (1979) Paul Cherry – Obsessed Caller I (2023) Roxy Music – Da

Pixabay The 23rd of September 2010 was a very sad one, because my father then passed away after some time of illness. My Music by Loggins and Messina was the first single he bought way back in 1973. When he went to a store to buy a record player, the salesman took My Music from the record shelves to demonstrate the sound of the player. My father liked the song so much that he went home with the record player and My Music ! As a kid I instantly liked the song, so now I believe that this was the exact day when my love for yacht rock started 😊 Next time I will upload a new part of Sunshine Radio ! Tracklist: 213 – Three Little Words (1981) Walkers – Oh What A Night For Love (1979) Wings – Deliver Your Children (1978) American Gypsy – Central Station (1975) Winans – Don’t Be Deceived (1983) Pointer Sisters – The Love Too Good To Last (1980) Loggins & Messina – My Music (1973) Dee Dee Sharp Gamble – See You Later (1980) Twilight – Straight To My Heart (1981) Linda Ronstadt ‎–

Enjoy some seventies end of summer music to relax! The track by April Fulladosa is from the cool new compilation album Reference Point , out on BBE Music: "Stretching from the 1970s to the present day the Reference Point compilation spans a whole range of genres, tempos, languages and grooves where the quality of music is paramount whether $1.00 bin records or $1000 rarities." Tracklist: The Faragher Brothers – Never Fell Love Before (1976) April Fulladosa – For Us (1978) Summer – Transcendental Airline (1979) Walter Egan – Hot Summer Nights (1977) The Nielsen Pearson Band – Home (1978) John Hall – Night (1978) Buckingham & Nicks – Crying In The Night (1973) Bell & James – Ask Billie (They Tell Me) (1978) Ralph MacDonald – It Feels So Good (1978) Attitudes – Sweet Summer Music (1976) Marc Jordan – Twilight (1979) Cecilio & Kapono – Have You Ever Had That Feelin' (1977) Minnie Riperton – Seeing You This Way (1974) Lou Rawls – This Song Will Last Foreve

Unsplash Enjoy more sunny breezes from the West Coast ! 😊 The working title of this cloudcast was initially ‘classic yacht rock’ and that’s pretty much what you can expect. The closing track by Dionne Warwick is from the upcoming compilation album Too Slow To Disco: Yacht Soul 2 : “The concept here concerns R&B and soul artists mining the songbooks of their white contemporaries for cover versions that serve the dual purposes of potentially garnering some crossover radio airplay as well as introducing great songs to segments of the listening public who might otherwise miss them.” Tracklist: Poolside & Ben Browning – Ride With You (2023) T-Connection – Let’s Do It Today (1979) Charles Brown With Sleepy Creek – I Just Want To Talk To You (1977) Nicolette Larson – Lotta Love [Jim Burgess Disco Version] (1978) Patsy Gallant – It'll All Come Around (1978) Lonette McKee – The Way I Want To Touch You (1974) Doobie Brothers – Echoes Of Love (1977) Evie Sands – Love In The

The Smooth Operators present Jazz-Funk & Mellow Soul, your perfect soundtrack to a smooth summer evening.  Tracklist:  Patrice Rushen – Remind Me (1982) Arthur Verocai ft. Azymuth – Bis (2007) Weldon Irvine – I Love You (1976) Roy Ayers – Searching (1976) Marlena Shaw – Look At Me, Look At You (We're Flying) (1977) Marvin Gaye – Heavy Love Affair (1981) The Jones Girls – Nights Over Egypt (1981) The Blackbyrds – Walking In Rhythm (1974) Idris Muhammad ‎– For Your Love (1980) Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly ‎– Too Many Games (1980) Sun – Be My Lady (1982) Chocolate Milk – Time Machine (1975) Harvey Mason – Never Give You Up (1979) George Benson – Give Me The Night (1980) Tony Sylvester & The New Ingredient ‎– The Magic Touch (1976) Banda Black Rio – Expresso Madureira (1978)

Unsplash “This is the soundtrack for a bar in the mid-70s Los Angeles, the kind of place where Warren Beaty and Julie Christie might meet in the afternoon for a secret rendezvous. There’s a high quotient of blue-eyed soul, some airy R&B and the odd singer-songwriter. The pace strictly mid-tempo: it’s too warm for anything faster.” (Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room) Enjoy this new part of Sunshine Radio !  Tracklist: Jorge Calderón – City Music (1976) Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love (1977) Martee Lebous – Chance To Dance (1976) Just Us – Just A Thought (1978) Ambrosia – Holdin’ On To Yesterday (1975) Steve Miller Band – Wild Mountain Honey (1976) Tamiko Jones ‎– Who Is She (And What Is She To You) (1975) Bobbie Gentry – Thunder In The Afternoon (1978) Betty Everett – Bedroom Eyes (1975) The New Seekers ‎– It's The Real Thing (1971) Bread ‎– Baby I'm-A Want You (1972) John Gary Williams – The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy (1973) Somerset

Pexels In 1977, when their days as teenage idols were over, Mud was a bit unsure which direction they should take. In the meantime lead singer Les Gray signed a solo deal with Warner Bros., although he did not leave the band officially. He recorded a slow disco version of The Mindbenders 1966 hit, A Groovy Kind Of Love . The single reached a respectable #32 in the UK, but it was completely ignored elsewhere. I remember finding it  in the sales bins in my local record store at the time. It is one of the tracks on this Smooth Sailing part. Enjoy! Tracklist: Say She She – Astral Plane (2023) Patrick Simmons – So Wrong (1983) James Sayer – Cherry (2023) Zachary Crawford – Alibi (2023) Bill Withers – Oh Yeah! (1985) Brick ‎– Seaside Vibes (1981) Cheryl Lynn – Sleep Walkin’ (1982) Carly Simon – Tranquillo (Melt My Heart) (1978) Janette Renee – What’s On Your Mind (1979) Les Gray – A Groovy Kind Of Love (1977) Climax Blues Band – Couldn’t Get It Right (1976) Rickie Lee Jones – Ch

Pexels Although some of the songs are quite recent, this could be the soundtrack to an eighties movie, I think. At least I was inspired by the indie pop hits in the teenage films from director John Hughes about studs, naughty girls and misfits (in short). Best known songs are If You Leave by OMD (“ultimate prom song”), Pretty In Pink by Psychedelic Furs and, of course, Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds. By the  way, all of these John Hughes originals are on the box set Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes .  Enjoy this Mixcloud Exclusive ! Tracklist: Alan Gorrie – That Kinda Girl (1985) A Flock Of Seagulls – Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) (1982) Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave (1986) ABC – Think Again (1987) Taffy McElroy – What’s On Your Mind (1981) Yumi Seino – Sky Restaurant (1981) Scritti Politti ‎– Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy) (1988) Prefab Sprout – The Best Jewel Thief In The World (2013) Jimmy Whoo & Desire –

Pexels Enjoy this new part of Smooth Sailing ! It’s built around Phil Carmen’s On My Way To L.A. I tried to keep that laid-back feeling of being in L.A. all through the mix. Closing track You’ll Like It by Mud is on the recently released compilation album Mud: The Singles 1973-80 on Cherry Red Records. The band with front man Les Gray recorded their first single Flower Power in 1967, followed by a couple more, but they all failed to chart. Things started to look brighter, when they were picked up by RAK label boss Mickie Most who liked their energetic live performances. He introduced them to Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, a very successful producers and songwriters duo at the time and known for their work with glam rock acts The Sweet and Suzi Quatro. They wrote Crazy and Hypnosis for the band, two singles that made the UK Top 20 in 1973. Finally Mud had reached what they were looking for all those years, although the two singles were not representative of the group's sound. W

Jeremy Bishop A selection of AOR Disco and Mellow Soul by The Smooth Operators , perfect for a drive along the beautiful Californian Coast. Enjoy! One of the tracks on this new cloudcast is Drift Away by Mud. After their very successful glam rock years in the mid-seventies, this British band started to search for new directions. In 1978 they tried to jump on the West Coast bandwagon for one single only. Drift Away was originally recorded by John Henry Kurtz on his 1972 album Reunion . Kenny Loggins, Jim Gordon and Michael Omartian were some of the well-known musicians who played on the record. A year later Dobie Gray made a very soulful cover of the track, which reached #5 on the Billboard pop chart. Mud made some kind of combination of the two versions, but they did not reach a new audience and the song failed to chart. The single is on the recently released compilation album Mud: The Singles 1973-80 on Cherry Red Records. I will write more about it soon. Tracklist: Future Flight –