Professor Eddy

Pexels Some classic 70s yacht pop/rock, perfect to play on a boat trip along the West Coast with a drink in your hand and good company on your side!😊 The only exception is the track by Young Gun Silver Fox, which is from the new compilation Too Slow To Disco Neo: The Sunset Manifesto 2 . Enjoy! In the mid-seventies successful Dutch band The Cats went to Los Angeles to record with the best West Coast musicians around at the time. Top notch musicians like Jeff Porcaro, David Foster and Larry Carlton played on their LP Hard To Be Friends . The track How Did You Feel is a L.A. recording from the album, but I don’t know who actually played on it. I Know That I’m Dreaming by the mysterious The Exchange & Mart is from the compilation Occasional Rain by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs (Saint Etienne): “This is England, the day after the 60s. It’s a time of flux. On the cusp of progressive rock but without a rule book, many groups hold fast to psychedelia’s adventurousness and melodic deligh...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this fresh smooth sailing summer trip! 😊 Sand In Your Shoes by Al Stewart from his classic album Year Of The Cat only became a hit only in South Africa: "I was convinced this would be the single. I went to the record company and said, 'Please release 'Sand In Your Shoes' as the single.' And they did... in South Africa. It was a hit in South Africa but it was not a hit anywhere else in the world. This was the beginning and the end of my ability to pick singles. I still think in some parallel universe this is a hit." (Al Stewart) Released in March 1977, Easy by The Commodores reached number one on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is a slow ballad about a man's emotions at the end of a relationship. Lionel Richie sings that he is not depressed about the break-up and claims that he feels "easy like Sunday morning". Jonathan Coulton did a good job to sound exactly like ...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy this new part of the success series Smooth Sailing ! 😊 On Bandcamp a listener wrote about the album Merger by Canadian duo Rapallo: "This album is something very special that I believe people will be discovering and falling in love with for decades to come. It’s nothing like anything I’ve heard before - eccentric but accessible, exciting, tasteful, beautiful and fun. Favorite track: Nothing You Can Do." Tracklist: Ned Doheny – Think Like A Lover (1979) Steve Winwood ‎– Second Hand Woman (1980) Rapallo – Nothing You Can Do (2024) Alessi Brothers – Put Away Your Love (1982) Men At Work ‎– Who Can It Be Now? (1981) Dent May – Sea Salt & Caramel (2020) Pointer Sisters – What A Surprise (1981) Tim Green – Got More Love (1981) Chris Christian – Day Like Today (1981) Walkers – Rumour At The Honky Tonk (1979) Cotton Lloyd & Christian – Crying In The Rain (1976) McGuinn, Clark & Hillman – Little Mama (1979) Seals & Crofts – When I Me...

C-Heads Magazine Enjoy some yacht rock with a small touch of disco here and there! One of the songs is from British sixties pop group The Hollies. In the mid-seventies they released Latin inspired Draggin’ My Heels that became extremely popular at legendary discotheque The Loft in New York City. Tracklist: Randy Vanwarmer – Just When I Needed You Most (1979) Muscles – Love Is All I’ve Got (1977) Synod – Anchors Away (1978) Darrell John – Write Your Lucky Number (1979) Leder Brothers – I'd Like To Touch A Star (1978) The Waters – If There’s A Way (1977) Barnaby Bye ‎– Can't Live This Way (1974) The Faragher Brothers – Baby When You Make It With Me (1978) Average White Band – School Boy Crush (1975) The Hollies – Draggin’ My Heels [Louie Vega Edit] (1976) Udell – Won't You Try [A Tom Moulton Mix] (1977) 5000 Volts ‎– (Walkin' On A) Love Cloud (1976) Hello – Night Watcher (1978) Kalapana – When The Morning Comes (1975) Leo Sayer ‎– Easy To Love (1977) The Imp...

Helmuts Rudzitis Enjoy this new part of Smooth Sailing ! The opening track is a recent one by French band Later. The sound of Later is an eclectic mix of pop, soul, French touch, and rock, resulting in an intimate yet richly-produced musical experience, according to C-Heads Magazine. “This song is an invitation to prolong the warm summer evenings with your loved one, it’s all about desire and sensuality.” (C-Heads Magazine) Tracklist: Later – Baby, Come Over Tonight (2024) The Isley Brother s – Smooth Sailin’ Tonight (1987) The Doobie Brothers – You Belong To Me (1977) Chic – A Warm Summer Night (1979) Ahmad Jamal – Boat Ride (1979) Side Effect – Midnight Lover (1981) Tamiko Jones – Touch Me Baby (1975) Zwol – Southern Part Of France (1978) Sneaker – No More Lonely Days (1981) Bob James – Westchester Lady (1976) Fruitcake – My Feet Won’t Move (1980) Sunbear – I Heard The Voice Of Music Say (1977) Sun Sect – She's Hot (1984) Finis Henderson – Blame It On The Night (1983) ...

Unsplash It’s time to put eighties subgenre sophisti-pop in the limelight again, just like Taylor Swift did when she mentioned The Blue Nile in her song Guilty As Sin recently. Enjoy! “Some of the sound’s hallmarks are jazzy chord changes, air-tight drums, splashy synth melodies, high-sheen production, and a decidedly non-rockist embrace of everything from slow-jam R&B to Brazilian music and ‘50s film scores.” (Jim Allen/Discogs) One of the tracks is from The Dream Academy. The self-titled debut album from the art-school trio led by lead singer/guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes was produced by him and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd). The band used lush string arrangements and multi-layered vocals to create a unique, sixties style sound. It worked to best effect on their hit Life In A Northern Town with its nostalgic lyrics and references to Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and The Walker Brothers ( Make It Easy On Yourself ). The song was written as an elegy to British folk singer Nick Drake, wh...

Unsplash The opening song by multi-instrumentalist Matt Dibble is from the posthumously released album Forever . He was one of the founding members of British band Super db, but died unexpectedly in 2021, probably due to an allergic reaction. The track by Percy Mays is from the new compilation LP W3NG , out on Numero, “a sweet selection of mellow grooves” , according to record store Dusty Groove. In 1978, when glam rock band Mud began to fall apart, the main songwriters of the band Rob Davis and Ray Stiles took some time off to record a few singles as a duo and named themselves Roly. One of these singles was Don’t Ever Change , which was a cover of a Carole King & Gerry Coffin composition, first recorded by The Crickets in 1961 (after been rejected by The Everly Brothers). Mud officially split in 1980, but they shortly reunited in the original line-up a few years later. They then recorded  Don’t Ever Change again, this time with their front man Les Gray as the lead singer. On...

Unsplash Enjoy this new episode of Smooth Sailing ! The title and the content were inspired by the North West Coast, Matt Bird’s weekly show on Radio PVS . You surely have to listen to him each Saturday, if you can.   USA based singer Fonteyn (Suzanne May) spent her formative years pursuing musical theatre and acting in her home country England. Although she played in some movies and lived in L.A. for a while, it wasn’t until she started making music that she felt able to express herself authentically. About her songs she once told in an interview: “Nostalgic, dreamy and theatrical. I have always been captivated by Karen Carpenter’s voice, it makes me cry. I love Todd Rundgren, his Something/Anything? album has influenced me a lot, but also Carole King, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, I could go on!” Next week the two dudes from the Smooth Operators will return! 😊 Tracklist: Rainee Blake – One More Night (2023) Craig Dove – I’ve Got To Tell The Lady (1978) Fonteyn – Jody (20...

Jess Loiter We're sailing as smooth as possible into 2024 😊 Enjoy! American soft rock band Gulliver was formed in the late 1960s in Philadelphia. One of the members was then unknown backing singer and keyboard player Daryl Hall. They released one album only in 1970, then Daryl Hall left the band to form a successful duo with John Oates.  In 1980, You Might Need Somebody by American country singer and guitarist Turley Richards peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100. A year later, Randy Crawford covered the song for her album Secret Combination . Her version reached number 11 on the UK singles chart, but it was a modest success worldwide. English singer Shola Ama's 1997 version charted well throughout Europe and New Zealand, which made this version the most successful one.  When the hits dried up in the late 1970s, British band Mud tried to get back on top in 1978, but the record company made a great mistake to release Cut Across Shorty as a single. It was ...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

Burst Some smooth soul and disco combined with a couple of yacht rock classics to enjoy! DJ Supermarkt once defined yacht soul as a R&B cover of a yacht rock song, so there’s one yacht soul track in it as well, Get It Up For Love , Maxine Nightingale’s cover of Ned Doheny yacht rock classic. One of the tracks is the disco-ish Wiggle That Wotsit by The Hollies. This British band had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, with major hits on both sides of the Atlantic. They started very successfully in the 1960s, but the Hollies were at their creative peak in the 1970s, with songs like He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother , Long Cool Woman In  A Black Dress and The Air That I Breathe (written by Albert Hammond). They even had some success on the dancefloor with tracks like Draggin' My Heels , Daddy Don't Mind and the forementioned Wiggle That Wotsit from their 1976 album Russian Roulette . Lead singer Allan Clarke, who left t...

Unsplash As a touring member of the Pretenders Welshman Carwyn Ellis originally started his worldwide collective Rio 18 in Brazil. She’s In L.A. is a collaboration with AOR masters Young Gun Silver Fox: “They deliver a new flavour of lowriding Californian funk, telling a story about the joy of finding a new life in the City Of Angels, the metropolis by the sea.” (Bandcamp) 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 M e, was released several months after the single had peaked. In 1975 Estate of Mind saw the light of day on Capitol Records. Produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, the album marked her continued output as a first class singer/songwriter. The disco inspried One Thing On My Mind is one of the outstanding tracks. The song was covered by severa...

Pexels The opening track of this new Smooth Sailing episode is the new single by S-Tone Inc. and Toco, titled Vento Doce (Sweet Wind). It is the first release from the upcoming S-Tone Inc. album. The song is a midtempo groove with a Balearic vibe, led by an almost reggae style guitar and a pumping bassline: “The refrain brings you to the warmth of a sunset by the Mediterranean Sea, creating a bridge between the Brazilian saudade and the Neapolitan melodic heritage.” (Bandcamp) American Gypsy did not have an American breakthrough, so they went to Europe and decided to stay in the Netherlands, because it was easy to talk English here. Unfortunately, this funk-rock band never had any worldwide hits. Angel Eyes was their only top ten hit in the Netherlands. The track was written by Piet Souer, who played guitar on The Troubadour , the Eurovision Song Contest winner of 1969. This Saturday the winner of the 2023 contest will be voted. It will it not be the Netherlands again, because the D...

Rodnae Productions The track by Squeeze is from the soundtrack to the movie Air that I saw last week. The songs by Bengt Liedman and Huntington & Baumann are from the brilliant new compilation album Once Again We Are The Children Of The Su n. I will definitely play more from it soon! Eighties inspired band Waterleaf are from my home town Groningen. Their new single A Man Is A Man is about inappropriate behavior of men: "The track aims to shed light on the problematic consequences statements such as ‘boys will be boys’ can have. How will things ever change if there is no one to take responsibility?" (Waterleaf) Enjoy this "eighties summer vibes" part of Smooth Sailing ! Tracklist: Pointer Sisters – I Need You (1983) Soulpersona & Princess Freesia ‎–  Where Do I Go From Here [Soulpersona Raregroove Remix] (2023) Cannons ‎– Loving You (2023) Waterleaf – A Man Is A Man (2023) Prizm – Everywhere (2023) Johnny Hates Jazz – Heart Of Gold (1988) Bengt Liedman ...

Pexels We’re doing it nice and easy on this new Smooth Sailing trip, enjoy! The tracks by Tonique & Man, State Cows and Super DB are brand new. The funny thing about yacht rock artists, like Christopher Cross, Rupert Holmes and Bread singer David Gates, is that they do not have the image of rock stars at all. They look more like nerdy computer programmers on their way to the office. In his book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story Of Modern Pop author Bob Stanley even compares David Gates to “the uncoolest kid at school”. Who, What, When, Where, Why by Rupert Holmes is from his 1976 album Singles : “Holmes' song writing was as intelligent and sophisticated as ever. His trenchant lyrics virtuously described the romantic struggles and complicated relationships of the middle class in the 70s.” (Thomas Splett) Tracklist: Tonique & Man – You Make Me Feel So Good (2023) Pablo Cruise – I Go To Rio (1978) Jerry Corbetta – Between A Rock And A Hard Place (1978) Christopher Cross – Ride ...

C-Heads Magazine This time I wanted to go back to the original feeling of the series: the joy of summer heat and holiday excitement. Have fun with these yacht rock classics and rarities! The opening track by Mirage is from the new compilation album Praise Poems Vol. 9 : “After 8 years and 8 volumes, the Tramp Records crew invites you to join them on yet another enlightening journey into soulful Jazz, Folk and AOR from the 1970s and 80s.” (Bandcamp) Thanks to Nick Nayme for helping me out with some ideas. Tracklist: Mirage – Bend A Little (1975) Bill Summers & Summers Heat – Throw Down (1981) Margaret Wakeley – Hard To Leave The Island (1976) The Tufano & Giammarese Band – Kind Of A Drag (1975) Steely Dan – Hey Nineteen (1980) Christopher Cross – The Light Is On (1979) Stephen Bishop – Bish's Hideaway (1978) The Crusaders – Keep That Same Old Feeling (1976) Firefall – Baby (1978) Young Gun Silver Fox – You Can Feel It (2015) Carole King – It’s Too Late (1971) Gene ...

Pexels We're taking it slow and easy on this new part of Smooth Sailing . Enjoy! Angela Bofill’s 1983 album Too Tough performed better on the charts than her previous album, Something About You . The title track became a credible dancefloor hit, peaking at number two on the Billboard Dance chart and at number five on the soul chart, although it stayed under the radar in the Netherlands.The remainder of the album has similar dance-pop songs and a few soulful ballads, like You Could Come Take Me Home , which is on this cloudcast. “This was arguably the best Bofill production done by Narada Michael Walden.” (Allmusic) Bayou Paradise by brothers Will and James Ragar (re-issue on BBE) is an ode to the beauty of Southern Louisiana: “The famous Sunshine bridge over wetlands as the sounds of migrating geese echo overhead on their journey down the Mississippi River flyway.“ (Bandcamp) Tracklist: The Sandpipers – It’s Too Late (1971) Marden Hill – Oh Constance (1988) Will & James Rag...