Take A Little Trip To The West Coast

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Enjoy this little trip to the West Coast! 😊

Sadly Angela Bofill passed away recently. In 1978 her debut album Angie came out. With her strong, distinctive alto, she turned out to be an outstanding interpreter of jazzy soul ballads. Between 1978 and 1984, Bofill had consistent success on the American soul charts, with six albums making the Top 40, including two that entered the top ten. During this period, seven of her singles reached the Billboard R&B Top 40 as well. Bofill’s career went downhill after 1984. She was then dropped by her record company Arista in favour of Whitney Houston, who could conquer the pop market as well. In 2006 and 2007 Angela Bofill suffered two strokes. Because she had no health insurance, a benefit concert was organized to pay her hospital bills.

Dutch singer Albert West was nicknamed the Cover King by the Dutch press, but he had quite a few hits that were originals. One of his cover songs was Just One Of Life's Little Tragedies, which reached number 30 on the Dutch Top 40 in 1974. A year before, Ginny Come Lately (originally by Brian Hyland) was his first solo hit single, after he had left his band The Shuffles. In 1986, after some ups and downs in his career, he collaborated with American singer/songwriter Albert Hammond on a popular album, called Hammond & West. They first recorded Give A Little Love, which would be covered by Aswad, Ziggy Marley and Bucks Fizz. The song was composed by then relatively unknown songwriter Dianne Warren, who would become hugely successful in later years. In 2015, when Albert West tried to recover from serious health issues, he was involved in a traffic accident and died a few days later.

Like Steely Dan's previous albums, Pretzel Logic was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, produced by Gary Katz, and written primarily by Walter Becker and bandleader Donald Fagen, who also sang and played keyboard. The album marked the beginning of Becker and Fagen's roles as the principal members of Steely Dan, and the pair enlisted prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians to record numerous overdubs. Jim Hodder, Steely Dan's founding drummer, was reduced to a background singer on the album, which instead features Jim Gordon and Jeff Porcaro on the drums. In addition to playing guitar, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter can be heard playing pedal steel guitar and some hand drums.

In 1974 successful Dutch band The Cats went to L.A to record the LP Love In Your Eyes with the best West Coast musicians around at the time, like keyboard player/producer Michael Omartian (Christopher Cross). Closing track If You’ll Be My Woman is on the album, just like Be My Day, which became a number one hit in the Netherlands and reached the 18th position on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. A year later they again went to L.A. and made an album with Jeff Porcaro, David Foster and Larry Carlton as first class musicians. Unfortunately, both West Coast albums did not bring them the international success that they were aiming for and they split soon afterwards, although they reunited several times.

Charles Costa, a.k.a. King Charles is not doing so well these days. He has mental health issues. because of a brain trauma after a skiing accident ten years ago. To collect money for suicide prevention, he will soon run 90 (!) marathons in 90 days from Canada to Mexico. To support him, you can donate on this website: https://gofund.me/626e00f0

Tracklist:

Coastal Cassette – Happy (2024)
Bobbie Gentry – Thunder In The Afternoon (1978)
Pamela Laws – I Will Find You (2024)
Rumer – Aretha (2011)
King Charles – Mississippi Isabel (2011)
Mud – Walk Right Back (1978)
Muscles – Love Is All I’ve Got (1977)
Terry Callier – Do It Again (1979)
Salty Miller – One More Time (1980)
Jon Lucien – Love Everlasting (1973)
Boz Scaggs & Band – Here To Stay (1971)
Laura Allan –  Opening Up To You (1978)
Daryl Hall & John Oates – Las Vegas Turnaround (1973)
Bob Welch – Don’t Let Me Fall (1979)
Jim Spencer – Wrap Myself Up In Your Love (1979)
Patrice Rushen – Let’s Sing A Song Of Love (1978)
Angela Bofill – Love Light (1981)
Minnie Riperton – Take A Little Trip (1974)
America – Tin Man (1974)
Jimmie Spheeris – Tequila Moonlite (1975)
Albert West – Just One Of Life's Little Tragedies (1974)
Steely Dan – Any Major Dude Will Tell You (1974)
The Cats –  If You’ll Be My Woman (1974)