Anteater's Yacht Rock Extravaganza
 

Albums, Songs, Weird Trivia & Smooooooovez

Music, just like porn, taxes and hard drugs, can come to us in many shapes and forms throughout our lives. We are the butterflies, and good music is the net of that pesky old woman who wants to pin you in her scrapbook.

However, there is one supreme style of sonic stylization that supersedes all others. What do you get when you combine the vocal arrangements and guitar dynamics of progressive rock, the lyrical depth of glam metal, the grooviness of classic Motown, and the virtuosity of jazz-based arrangements coupled with top notch players, songwriters and producers?

Lets put it another way: Do you like pina coladas getting caught in the rain? Have you ever mustered a smile for someone's nostalgic tale? Have you ever felt a burning desire deep inside to throw on a pair of aviators, squeeze into your super secret sailing uniform and sail off into the Californian sunset before the authorities arrive at your door?

If any of these things apply to you..or even if NONE of it applies to you...well, you MIGHT be a yacht rock fan just waiting to happen!

This journal is devoted to all things smooth and boat-friendly, that ever derided yet insidiously addictive genre of music known as Westcoast-AOR. Welcome aboard. :ar_15s:

I will be dividing this journal into three main "post types". As I accumulate entries, I will be updating this first post here with links to keep navigation simple and convenient for future generations of readers.

Hope I get a good readership on this one. Should be a lot of fun!

Last but not least, here's the first episode of Yacht Rock for anyone looking for some good laughs. :D

Woo-hoo! New journal! :beer:
I'd just sound one small note of advice: trim down the title picture. It's pushing your text off the screen. Look forward to reading this, my insectivorious friend!

Boz Scaggs is one of the more interesting players of the classic "yacht rock" scene in L.A. during the genre's prime from '76 through '84: he got started in blues and playing guitar in the Steve Miller Band, but after a slow start to his solo career in the mid 70's and middling sales, the Boz moved to Columbia who promptly hooked him up with David Paich from Toto and they recorded the platinum selling 'Silk Degrees' in '76. This relationship opened doors to the rest of L.A.'s top session players and writers, culminating in 1980's album Middle Man and absolutely killer songs like 'Jojo'.

Let's be straight up: this is a song about a pimp. And not just any pimp: this guy's a firecracker, a baddass who doesn't take your **** and who can "get you all you want". He's a creature of the night, a boogeyman with a "gentle and soft" side. He's a thrill seeker and a dangerous, dangerous guy. As far as Westcoast goes, this song is filet mignon. And a co-write with the legendary David Foster of all people too, which might explain why it kicks so much ass.

I decided to start this journal off with a bit of swagger, and Scaggs' distinctive strutting vocal style combined with the godly backing combination of drummer Jeff Porcaro, bassist David Hungate and some of L.A.'s other top players results in an absolute beast of a song. There's even some subtle orchestral elements floating around the fringes to give the whole thing an extra layer of class and polish, elevating it even higher in my eyes. It's not the definitive L.A. yacht rock song, but its high up there and a good place to set sail in your explorations of the genre for those of you who thought I was going to be reviewing Bread or Orleans or crap like that.

Middle Man is a great album by the way (and fairly diverse too), but this singular glimpse into the nightlife of a gun-toting pimp is the "single" you'll want for your collection as we start our journey into the world of smooth, seafaring soft rock awesomeness...

Great stuff. Made me think of this for some reason though...

^ Lol. Classic movie moments, brought to you by Chula Vista! :wave:

Herbie Hancock - Lite Me Up (1982)

We begin our journey into the whacky world of Westcoast Yacht Rock fun at a curious juncture known as Lite Me Up, the 33rd solo record from jazz legend Herbie Hancock and the album that Daft Punk stole 95% of their ideas from for last year's bumpy but excellent Random Access Memories.

Musically, its sits in a nameless country that borders the entertainingly lyrical jazz-rock of Steely Dan and the superstardom-level R&B of Michael Jackson's Thriller. And like a good child, it takes many of the best elements from both sides of the "black" and "white" funk divide and incorporates them into one helluva smooth presentation. The most obvious instance of what I'm talking about occurs in the sublime bridge section of 'Gettin' To The Good Part', one of the coolest songs ever made and simultaneously a classroom worthy example of commercial L.A. jazz-fusion. Flawless and slick to the point of sounding near-mechanical, yet so melodic and confident in its strut that you'll get ensnared by the sheer force of its methodical propulsion anyway.

But make no mistake: this album pissed off a lot of people despite being the Herbmeister's best pop album, the last one he'd do before jumping headfirst into MTV electro-tinged stardom with instrumental cuts like 'Rockit' from the mid 80's onward. The critics hated it because it was smooth and radio friendly, the "old" Herbie Hancock fans didn't think it was "jazz" enough, and others thought it was a case of an older artist trying too hard to achieve relevancy in a changing landscape.

All idiotic complaints of course, seeing as the songs were...you know, pretty fuckin' ace and the ideal soundtrack for a blitz down Sunset Boulevard. Or, alternatively, a boat ride with all your awesome yuppie friends. Rod Temperton was fresh off the previously-mentioned Thriller boat and married his infectious songwriting sensibility with Herb's virtuosic skills behind the keys. Couple this with some production juice from the classic David Foster/Jay Graydon tag-team and a huge range of top class guests, backing vocalists and even guitar god Steve Lukather and the results range from the very good to phenomenal. I've already mentioned Gettin' To The Good Part', but the jaunty title track and the slinking orchestral funk of 'Motor Mouth' are Grade-A radio fodder and immaculate examples of this dream team at the top of their game. A level of praise that can be applied to any song here really. And Herbie even sings clean and vocodor-less on the only traditional yacht rock number here, the shimmery aptly-named 'Paradise', which just goes to show you he never even needed any help to begin with to knock one out of the park.

At a time when the lines between African-American contemporary radio and more "white-oriented" programming was falling down around everybody's ears in the wake of MTV, Herbie put out a killer yacht rock album that also happened to be an awesome early 80's pop-funk time capsule, proving good music didn't need to cater to one audience or the other: you could have it all and stay smooth all the while.

One key element in both writing and marketing (which I do a lot of) is establishing a sense of relevancy with your would-be prospects...or in this case, you my dear readers. "But Ant-" some might ask, "-how is yacht rock relevant when it died back in the 80's?"

Well, allow me to elucidate: it never died at all. Rather, smoove music simply melted into the collective's musical consciousness after the early 80's and, slowly but surely, has risen out of the darkness into something resembling mainstream viability here in the second decade of the 00's thanks to some key albums (*cough* Random Access Memories *cough*), bands and artists across the world. Evidence: some snapshot jams from 2012 to the present day with a lot of yachtage going on...

Steve Kipner - Knock The Walls Down (1979)

Our next album voyage on the S.S. Wimp Rawk comes in the form of someone who actually become incredibly successful after the fact. Steve Kipner may not be a name most of you are familiar with, but I'd say pretty much everyone on planet Earth has encountered his songs at some point in their lives. Olivia-Newton John's 'Physical'? Chicago's 'Hard Habit To Break'? Christina Aguilera's 'Genie In A Bottle'? Those are just a few of the commercial juggernauts that this guy has penned. Gives guys like Max Martin a run for his money, and that's probably a bit modest.

Everyone, however, has a starting point in their careers no matter how successful (or relatively unsuccessful) they become later. In Kipner's case, his one and only solo outing Knock The Walls Down also marks the starting point for the production career of L.A. guitar messiah Jay Graydon, fresh off axe duties on Steely Dan's Aja and already in the midst of writing immortal tunes like 'After The Love Is Gone' for Earth, Wind & Fire alongside heavyweights like David Foster.

The creation of this particular record, therefore, is a very pivotal one in Westcoast-AOR / yacht rock canon: it literally catapulted the primary careers of two of the biggest names in early 80's L.A. pop-rock into platinum success stories.

But even if you took that fact out of the equation though and rated this album based purely on its own merits, this thing is a top flight yacht rock album on the songwriting end of things. Furthermore, the personnel is simply aces: you not only have Graydon in creative control, but also guys like Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton, two of the best guitarists of all time in any genre. This is one of the few times where all of these cats were actually on a record together, and the level of polish and performance you get as a result of that is out of this world.

The first thing you'll notice is that Kipner has a pretty decent voice: a bit plaintive, but its got a snarky touch of character to it. Sounds even better when Graydon applies his magic from behind the scenes to create those harmonies, which you get on 'The Beginning' and the foot-tapping title track. Speaking of which, the remastered version of this album absolutely jumps off a decent sound system, and Graydon's mixing & mastering of everything here is right up there with any of Toto's best stuff or Michael Jackson's Thriller in terms of clarity. Things like that can't usually save bad songwriting of course, but when you've got cuts as good as 'I've Got To Stop This Hurting You' to work with, the results speak for themselves.

Another interesting thing you'll notice as you listen through is a sense that Kipner intended Knock The Walls Down to be a loose concept record in some respects about not only life and romance in L.A., but about the pursuit of success in the music industry too. Nobody typically steps into this sort of genre for anything besides the sheer joys of hearing these immaculate productions play out, but Donald Fagen and Dan Fogelberg this ain't in the lyrical department. The former writes about gangsters and the latter mediated on numerous occasion about grander concepts (more on that later), but Steve Kipner is mostly interested in wry observations on intrinsically shallow relationships and feelings of bitter isolation on both sides of the gender divide.

The album's best moment, interestingly enough, actually comes in on the sardonic closer 'The Ending', which thanks the listener for sitting through the album before erupting into one of the best extended guitar solos you'll ever have the pleasure of hearing outside the realms of hard rock or heavy metal. Wonder why I gush on Jay Graydon all the time? From 1:35 onwards I think you'll be suitably impressed...heh.

There's a lot of classics floating around the backlog of the yacht rock vaults, but Kipner definitely stamped his own unique mark in the world of smooth music world before sailing off towards more commercially viable horizons. And honestly, I kind of wish he'd stuck around for another album or two...

This delicious hybrid between progressive rock and vintage L.A. jazz-rock groovage was the closing number on German rock band Lake's self titled debut from '77, and its quite a doozy truth be told. Texturally its not all that different from the kind of stuff Fleetwood Mac and Ambrosia were churning out in the first part of the early 70's, but the huge vocals of James Hopkins-Harrison and that killer interplay between the Hammond organ and that modular keyboard motif is the stuff of legends. And for those who care about lyrics, the song tells the story of a man running from a regretful past and, desperately, trying to achieve some semblance of an upstanding life despite a poisonous guilt eating him alive from the inside out. Not the typical sort of thing you run into when your looking for a disposable Anglo-funk breezer to play on your boat, but these are the gems that make this genre worth exploring and talking about.

Instead of the madcap adventures of Captain Koko or a new album spotlight, lettuce take a look at the making of yacht rock's equivalent to 'Sgt. Pepper's Club', the immaculate pinnacle of L.A. Westcoastiness known as Aja, courtesy of Steely Dan. :dj:

I'll be giving this baby a review of it's own down the line at some point, but this hour long look into the album's background is both wryly amusing and quite fascinating in equal measure. Enjoy!

^^^^

That whole "Classic Albums" series is great.

Really like that Steve Kipner stuff.

Fleetwood Mac - Mystery To Me (1973)

Fleetwood Mac are as famous as famous gets. And for most folks, the journey starts in the mid 70's with their self-titled or at that commercial juggernaut known as Rumours. In retrospect though, Mick Fleetwood's circus act was actually a whole lot more interesting before Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham joined the fray, specifically in that brief period of '71 through '73 when eccentric guitarist Bob Welch was part of the grand equation. Sure, record execs would joke that Fleetwood Mac could expect to cover their electric bills but little else on the middling strength of their album sales based on prior releases, but we all know who had the last laugh in the end.

In any case, Bob had a hard set of shoes to fill: founding frontman Peter Green had left the building and the band was constantly on the verge of falling apart on tour. Despite constant setbacks, Welch and keyboardist/songwriter Christine McVie pulled together for several albums, the best and last of which is the subject of this review. It wasn't a big seller, but of the many albums which laid the bedrock for the yacht rock sound that became popular in the later part of the decade, Mystery To Me is perhaps my favorite. You can already hear hints of the pop superstardom that was to come for these guys, but there's a delicious laidback strangeness on songs like the self-explanatory 'Hypnotized' and the groovy chamber pop of 'Keep On Going' that sounds a million miles away from the sound these guys went for in their platinum years, and I honestly kinda wish they had kept going in this direction on future material.

Perhaps the most surreal moment for me was when I first heard the song 'Somebody'. the vocals and the chord progression sounds like Steely Dan circa The Royal Scam, another classic album that wouldn't be born for a couple years yet. Welch may not have been made for stadiums, but he was one hell of a prescient songwriter.

This particular lineup of the 'Mac would mostly carry over into 1974's Heroes Are Hard To Find, perhaps the band's strangest and darkest album and the last of its "kind" before Welch quit the band and took his knack for blending accessible and experimental with him. He's been dead a few years now too, which means the opportunity for a reunion of a pre-Nicks lineup is effectively impossible. Damn it!

In conclusion though, my main motivation for talking about this album is to demonstrate that there really is a spectrum in all styles, no matter your preference. Whether its post-punk or dubstep or, of course, yacht rock...well, there's the fluffiest of the fluff and there's also stuff that tries to be a lot more than a succession of hooks and pure formula or an adherence to the expectations of the converted. This is one that falls into the second category in most respects, and there are others on my Westocoast-AOR essential listening list that follow suit. 2015 here we come! ;)

A purely instrumental, heavenly slice of hi-tech yacht rock from the modern age. Warm beds of synth bounce along to a gated reverb drum sample, accompanied by something resembling a tropical xylophone that weaves in and out of the mix like some lost Californian specter. Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff. It's a song equally Westcoast-AOR and the beach pop of 80's Japan, a genre I'll be delving into in future installments of this journal. For now though, make do with this electronic music duo and their uncanny ability to evoke smooth music's sunkissed past in all its glory.

Hey man! Congrats on a well-deserved award! :clap:

^ Thank you sir: twas an unexpected boon. :afro:

Adrian Gurvitz - Sweet Vendetta (1979)

Famous for his time as lead guitarist and frontman of legendary psychedelic rock band Gun and his role in groups like Three Man Army in the first part of the 70's, I can say with dead certainty that Gurvitz's initial contributions to the music world could be felt in the subsequent tuneage of everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Rob Halford. He's a wicked good axeman and songwriter: at one point Chris Welch from Melody Maker even voted him as one of the ten best guitarists of all time.

It must have been quite a surprise to many, then, when Gurvitz brought in 75% of the classic Toto lineup to help him put together his first solo outing at the end of the decade, 1979's Sweet Vendetta, resulting in an album that had a lot more in common with George Duke and Earth, Wind & Fire than the hard rock and proto-metal that defined this guy for nearly a decade up until this point. And even more surprisingly....the guy is a born yacht rocker. Smooth as butter on toast but twice as awesome!

Basically, this is groovy 70's boat disco with a distinct R&B edge. But considering the lineup behind the music here (Jeff Porcaro on drums, David Paich on orchestration, Steve Porcaro on keys, David Hungate on bass, etc.) and the prominent horn ensemble throughout most of the songs here....well, its hard to say exactly what "style" this record truly falls under. There's Westcoast all over this baby. It also does a lot of different things under its funk-oriented umbrella, and that just goes to show you how confident Gurvitz was in these tunes before he ever brought in the big guns to studio.

There's a fair amount of jazz-fusion touches everywhere, especially the second half of the magnificent 'Put A Little Love (In Life's Heart)' and the rip-roaring fuzzbox finale of the shuffling 'Free Ride'. Elaborate, beautiful funk-lite. There's also a high level of sophistication going on in the arrangements, most noticeably on the dancefloor ready 'Love Space' and the light as a feather jazz-rock of 'The Wonder Of It All', which reminds me a lot of Chicago or BS&T at their most melodic.

As mentioned earlier, the closest peers I'd say Gurvitz has in this arena would be Philip Bailey from Earth, Wind & Fire or former Mothers Of Invention keyboardist George Duke. Like them, Gurvitz possesses a multifaceted vocal approach with a noticeable falsetto at the upper end of his abilities, and a strong grasp on his chosen aesthetic that gives the album a cohesive mood even as the diversity remains a big plus from cut to cut. A rare sense of balance permeates: he's a guitar virtuoso, but he lets the songs breathe and retain multiple dynamics in overall instrumentation.

In conclusion, this is one of those subtle gems from the latter part of the era that got lost in the shuffle, and I'm glad to present it here tonight as part of the Extravaganza. If they ever sported disco balls on deck in San Francisco, this was probably on the needle. :wave:

Now that you're mentioning members of Toto, I'm waiting for a Toto album to appear on here :)

I've got a fun one in mind for them: may even do two. :thumb:

Anywho...


As you've probably noticed based on the reviews and some of the songs I've highlighted so far, there's actually a wider umbrella than you'd think as far as what qualifies as "yacht rock" is concerned. To that end, I thought I'd do a post highlighting the five major style/genre variations within the smooth music world for educational purposes. And now, without delay...

1. Soft Rock

The earliest form of what people normally associate with the yacht rock moniker, pioneered in the late 60's in part by people like Carole King, The Carpenters and Todd Rundgren but eventually associated primarily with acts like Seals & Crofts, Stephen Bishop and Andrew Gold. The roots of soft rock, of course, lie in a mix of folk and Motown R&B with a touch of Brill Building popcraft, along with samba and bossa nova to a lesser degree. Primarily acoustic with no embellishment, though you'll occasionally hear a sax, bongos, etc. in a lot of songs as the mid 70's came in full swing.



2. "Yacht" Rock itself

Soft rock with keyboards, electric guitar and a big emphasis on more nautical or beach-y atmosphere, as well as the cornerstone genre that this journal revolves around. Peaked in popular consciousness from 1977 through 1985 before falling into obscurity. Elements of this music continued to proliferate in R&B and some forms of "chill" out electronica over the following decade, but with the success of Daft Punk's Random Access Memories and other modern artists, the genre has seen something of a rebirth in recent years, along with Westcoast-AOR to a lesser degree. Key songs in this style include 'Steal Away' by Robbie Dupree, 'What A Fool Believes' by The Doobie Brothers and 'Sailing' by Christopher Cross.




3. Westcoast-AOR

Where yacht rock meets the more adventurous territories of jazz-fusion and prog. rock comes Westcoast-AOR, pioneered by bands like Ambrosia, Toto and Steely Dan in the mid to late-70's. Typified by jazzier, more expansive arrangements, big choruses, obtuse lyrical content and sleek production, this is my favorite subset of yacht rock by a country mile. Albums, songs and artists in this style tend to feature L.A.'s biggest and brightest session musicians of the 70's and 80's, especially guitarists like Michael Landau and Steve Lukather. A few key albums in this style include Aja by Steely Dan, Storm At Sunup by Gino Vannelli, Life Beyond L.A. by Ambrosia and (Forever In The) Arms Of Love by Karizma.



4. "Post" Disco

As the 70's came to a close and the 80's went into full swing, many R&B, funk and disco artists began hiring or co-writing with big producers and session players from L.A. to "get with the times". The result was a blend of yacht rock and Westcoast sensibilities and the dancefloor grooveage of past eras. The most commercially successful result of this process, of course, is Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', which featured all the members of Toto plus a large number of other guests and songwriting contributors from other L.A. natives. Jay Graydon in particular was a huge contributor to this trend, co-writing a lot of material with Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge and guys like Al Jarreau. A few key songs that represent this subset include 'Someone' by El Debarge, 'After The Love Is Gone' by EW&F, 'You (Are The Light)' by George Duke and 'Mornin' by Al Jarreau.




5. City Pop

Japan's answer to yacht rock and Westcoast-AOR basically, but with a heavier influence from 60's sunshine pop and acts like the Beach Boys. The 80's was Japan's golden era of economic prosperity, and the upbeat keyboard/guitar led beach-pop of that era's idols was the soundtrack to life in Tokyo for nearly a decade and a half. The best stuff in this style, however, is material produced by key songwriters such as Tatsuro Yamashita and Toshiki Kadomatsu -- both of whom are also incredibly skilled guitarists, vocalists and producers all in one. I'll be getting more in-depth on this particular subset on a later post, but key albums in this genre include Melodies by Tatsuro Yamashita, All Is Vanity by Toshiki Kadomatsu, First Light by Mokoto Matsushita and Adventure by Kikuchi Momoko.

Steely Dan - Aja (1977)

A landmark in music production and one of the best albums ever made in any style or genre, Aja is the bona fide king of Californian smooth & yacht-friendly jazz rock. Hell, if I had a list somewhere of essential albums in regards to this thread, you'd find this sucker near or at the top. Like Thriller, The White Album and a couple of key others throughout the music industry's history, you get a taste of perfection here that will people will probably still be referencing and listening to long after I'm dead.

I won't spend too much time on the background of the album here, as I've already posted the Classic Albums documentary piece on it and the background of each song is extensively covered over on Wikipedia and other places. Among some of the more interesting factoids, however, include Jay Graydon being chosen over Eddie Van Halen and many other greats who auditioned for the guitar solo in 'Peg', which is also the song that got Michael McDonald his big breakout in the 'biz, which subsequently opened the door for him into The Doobie Brothers.

All that being said, Aja is usually the first thing that comes to mind for most people when it comes to albums that "sound realllllly fuckin' good on my $3000+ home theater". The dynamics, mixing and general instrumental clarity are phenomenal to an extent where even some of your favorite death and black metal musicians have probably studied it at one point. :hphones:

That being said, if there was one chink in the armor of an album bordering on perfection, its the fact that I feel it was frontloaded. 'Black Cow' is a slippery groove-laden love-gone-wrong crime narrative, leading into the languid but pitch perfect title track where Wayne Shorter steals the show about five minutes in on tenor sax. You then get the rather telling 'Deacon Blues' [They got a name for the winners in the world /And I want a name when I lose], and of course there's 'Peg' and 'Josie' with their surreal choruses and horn sections right out of the Chicago playbook. It's 'Home At Last' and 'I Got The News' that prove to be the weakest of the seven cuts overall: the former has some killer Clavinet, and on other albums they'd be the best songs on the set...but here, they're sort of shoved awkwardly together on Side B and feel more like opening acts to 'Josie', which is a killer closer.

Aja would go Platinum faster than you could say Larry Carlton, outclassed in '77 on the charts only by Rumours (Fleetwood Mac) and The Stranger (Billy Joel), setting a new standard for the industry and proving that jazz-fusion and pop music weren't necessarily incompatible or that audiences were allergic to sophistication on their FM stations. Donald Fagen was a more biting lyricist and frontman than American audiences were typically exposed to, a loveable sleaze who sounded closer to Tom Waits than Tom Jones in the voice department. Still, his quips and near-nightmarish commentary on the more apathetic and demoralizing aspects of professional life in L.A. continues to resonate decades later.

The last of the "classic" Dan albums would come a few years later in the form of Gaucho, an album that took the obsessive perfectionism of Aja into even odder waters, but for all intents and purposes the yacht rock emperor was coronated in 1977...and still he reigns.

Chris Rainbow - White Trails (1979)

Before becoming one of the key frontmen for The Alan Parsons Project at the beginning of the 80's, Scotland-based singer/songwriter Christopher James Harley, AKA Chris Rainbow, crafted three solo endeavors that took the best ideas and production flairs of The Beach Boys and integrated them into his own proggy, yacht rocking musical sensibilities...with ridiculously good, awe-inspiring results often sprouting up all over.

Of those three masterpieces, third and final 1979 solo release White Trails is the closest sonically to a literal yacht-rock album: it has the lush, larger-than-life atmosphere of his 1978 sophomore experiment Looking Over My Shoulder, but with stronger hooks and deeper grooves than the more splintered 1975 debut Home Of The Brave. The supporting cast is pretty impressive too: big names include future Toto drummer Simon Phillips and the ever-prolific Manfred Mann Earth Band frontman Chris Thompson on backing vox. Their talents, of course, are on full display throughout this gorgeous album.

This is one of those rare cases where the standouts are going to vary wildly from listener to listener: for me the late night groove of 'Love You Eternally', with its punchy verses and shimmering backing ooh's and aahs, and the jazzy waltzing title track are pure perfection. Throw in the colossal ambience of closing cut 'In Love With Love' or the snarky shuffle of 'Street Wise' and you've got a recipe that hits the spot in more ways than one. Even the stuff that isn't instant classic material has something interesting going on, such as the acoustic, vaguely Yes-ish 'Song Of The Earth' and the starstruck balldeering of 'Don't Take The Night Away'. Eight tracks just fly by like nothing on an album like this I suppose. :)

All that being said, Chris Rainbow's connections to the yacht rock world of L.A. are almost all second degree: he would later work with Jon Anderson on some of his solo material, who would then later hire the guys in Toto to be part of his backing band on 1988's In The City Of Angels. The real connection, therefore, is mostly aesthetic: this is the sort of quality beach tuneage that Brian Wilson would have been cooking up if things hadn't turned so sour for the surfer boys from Cali after the early 70's. Perhaps it could even be argued that Chris actually surpassed Wilson as an architect of atmosphere by this point in the game, though that's just me being indignant in regards to the lack of exposure and overall acclaim Rainbow got during his heyday.

At the very least, what we have here sounds more like a true successor to the Boys' more adventurous peak era than Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue (R.I.P.), and makes for some great yacht soundtracking to boot. I honestly can't recommend it enough!

Re: Aja

Awesome album. A masterpiece. Deserves all the accolades.

Despise it.

Every time you are in a supermarket, shopping mall, elevator, etc. and hear smooth jazz versions of great songs you can blame Aja for all of that.

Aja is a pretty smooth record, but it had nothing to do with smooth jazz's rise in the 80's and beyond. That being said, I shall point you to one of the real culprits:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t6SDOmQmSJ...Breezin%27.png

Touche'.

Agreed.

Quote:

Sometimes instead of doing album reviews, trivia or vignettes featuring Captain Koko, I'll be doing "feature" posts that zero in on someone in the Westcoast-AOR world and takes a collective look at their work and why you should care. I'll also be providing a "best" of download of that artist at the end of the post.

Netherlands-based singer/songwriter/producer Bernard Oattes is an uncommon example of someone completely un-Californian and removed from the scene yet, nevertheless, being heavily influenced by Westcoast music and then incorporating some of his own interesting ideas into the mix. He only did four-ish albums in his short lived career from the late 80's through the 90's before disappearing off the face of the planet, but there's a surprising amount of variety across those albums to warrant a cursory analysis, which includes lush 80's pop, early Euro-house and jazzier lyrically minded material not too far removed from late 70's Steely Dan.

Instead of boring you guys with tedious song descriptions and the like, I'll just post a few YouTube vids for your pleasure and a personally uploaded .zip "Best Of" collection I've compiled from my personal vaults. His albums are pretty much impossible to find online in good quality, so enjoy! :beer:

Parting Note: The title of the compilation, 'Feed Your Hate To The Dragon', is a lyric from track 11 on the compilation, 'When I Go To Sleep', which was also the closing track from his 1992 solo release Frame By Frame.

Sorry for the slow updates. I run a business IRL and as some of you know I'm doing a great journal collaboration every week with Unknown Soldier. But, without further ado, here is the Yacht Rock Question Of The Month-

"Anteater...wtf is Christcoast?"

Pray...pray for your mortal SOULLLLLL

That's a great question kids! But to truly answer this question to any real degree of effectiveness, we must travel back in time to the good ol' 1980's, the decade where CCM (aka Christian Contemporary Music) because a multi-million dollar industry.

See, what some labels were beginning to realize at the end of the 70's (such as World Records and Myrrh Records) was that there was actually a huge market of Evangelical Steely Dan and Bread fans who didn't mind it much when smooth, jazzy grooves and their faith intersected. Hell, sometimes the results were pretty interesting, even if the album covers tended to range from abysmal to downright hilarious:

http://cdn.discogs.com/3l64DW-EC450J...-8187.jpeg.jpg
https://oldchristianmusic.files.word...pg?w=450&h=450
http://www.christianmusicarchive.com...eRealThing.jpg
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG...er=allrovi.com

..and so on and so forth.

That being said, there are some real gems in this (arguable) genre of yacht rock, and a couple of key artists who are downright impeccable IMO. I'll highlight a few key songs below to those willing to get their feet washed in the holy waters of the Californian faithful:

Whilst I am spending quite a bit of time with a variety of genres this week (including weird indie and some pop-house stuff), I do manage to squeeze in a few yacht rock gems into the playlist now and then. Here were a few highlights this past week-



T'Bell - Postman (Replay, 2000)

Obscure Swedish AOR/Westcoast one shot record from...wow, fifteen years ago. The album itself has a solid mix of pomp rock and other stuff, but this particular song is hilarious. You've got Jay Graydon-esque guitar heroics juxtaposed against lines like "Don't let the postman in / Don't let him into your mom". What more can I say? Comedy gold!



Geyster - I Won't Let You Down (Knight Games I, 2015)

This one-man modern Westcoast extravaganza has been a recent revelation: Geyster, AKA Gaël Benyamin, is a singer/songwriter/producer/everything else who lives in Paris has been producing all kinds of soft rock / AOR / R&B crossover goodness since the early 00's. This particular song, the opening cut of the first of the THREE Knight Games albums he released last week, is smooth as smooth can get. Super talented dude. Check out all his albums on Bandcamp here if you dig modern soft rock as much as I do.



The Coral - More Than A Lover (Butterfly House, 2010)

Some of you might be familiar with this bunch from the silver age of the Brit-pop scene at the end of the 90's, but I consider their last album Butterfly House to be the best thing they've done...like ever. There's a wisp of the ol' 60's in there, but you can easily hear vintage America and Fleetwood Mac clawing their way up out of that chorus.



Crossfade - Flying (White On Blue, 2004)

This is the Westcoast project of former Yngwe Malmsteen singer Goran Edman, and whilst they're mixed bags...the good stuff is absolutely phenomenal. Like this song for instance - you could easily see Steely Dan having cooked this up on Aja's B-side or the like.




Al Jarreau - Girls Know How (Girls Know How OST, 1982??)

One of those really great early 80's yacht rock crossover songs that got featured in some random movie but never ended up making the jump to CD or a digital format. I'd give half my pinky for a decent rip of this sucker, but alas...

Smooth Reunion - Cleaning Up The Business (2008)

As L.A. music and mainstream sensibilities shifted and splintered considerably from the mid 80's through the present day, yacht rock became yet another notch on the genre bedpost for most people. Although some remained aware of the big "hits" of the heyday based on whatever loomed prominently on Spotify or ITunes under the yacht rock/soft rock tag ('What A Fool Believes', 'Steal Away', Michael Jackson's Thriller, etc.) most of the style's present acolytes ended up carrying on the spirit in a surprising part of the world - the Netherlands, specifically Sweden and Norway.

To that end, you now have young music majors coming out of university on that side of the pond who would have you believe Steely Dan never went out of style, such Josef Melin (vocals, guitars, bass, keys, harmonica) and Samuel Andre (drums, percussion, vocals), a couple of buds who formed a group called Smooth Reunion and released one top notch Westcoast album before splitting off into other bands and projects in 2010.

At the time they recorded this obscure little gem a few years back, they were in their early 20's, yet despite this fact this album sounds very professional and seasoned, like something the boys in Jamiroquai might have done in their early 90's heyday had they been a little more into George Duke as opposed to Chic or Luther Vandross. Yet that still doesn't quite sum up this duo's sound despite the aforementioned comparisons: Josef Melin takes a more understated, relaxed and informal approach to the mic that complements the overtly jazzy, ever-shuffling aesthetic that haunts the underbelly of these ten songs. Hell, forget yachts: this stuff would make any Starbucks 50x better in the atmosphere department compared to the usual fare.

As for the ten songs themselves, they have the benefit of being strong alone or even better as a complete album experience. Opening number 'BMPD',for instance, comes complete with a full blown horn section and a backing female-led chorus that sweetens the deal even more.

The balance between jazz and lyrical pop-isms continues to one degree or another in every track: there's lots of upright bass action, subtle piano or Rhodes melodic flourishes and lots of breezy guitar acoustics that bring beachy summer fun to mind. Some of the finer moments would be the gorgeous yet wryly amusing ode to pride 'Mr. Mullet' and the spacey hi-hat driven awesomeness of "lead" single 'The Connection', but is there a weak song here? I can't find it!

Long story short, groups like this one are what keep the benchmark high for acts trying to channel their inner L.A. cruise line into reality. Its the perfect antithesis for a cold winter day or the perfect complement for a sunny weekend. Give us another album boys, I'm beggin' ya! The future of Japan's children depends on it (see video below)!

So I spent 10 days in the second half of June at the Virgin Islands (the U.S. ones). Despite being bombarded by vile, allergy-inducing Sahara dust during the latter part of this vacation, there was much to enjoy: the history, the rum distilleries, and of course some amazing diving and snorkeling experiences at the local reefs.

Perhaps the highlight of this trip for me, however, was getting a snorkeling trip over to Buck Island, which is said to have one of the ten most beautiful beaches on planet Earth. Having been there now....I can heartily agree with that judgement. With awe to spare!

http://www.stcroixtourism.com/images/buck-island4.jpg

Of course, I got to travel back and forth to this particular slice of paradise courtesy of a catamaran, which also doubled as a yacht. What was really awesome, though, was that the soundtrack the captain chose was of the smooth music variety. I can still remember almost every song I heard over that outing going back and forth, so I thought I'd share a few here:



Chicago - Happy Man (Chicago VII, 1974)

This was the first song that got played on the trip over. While its not the song I would have picked, I will say Chicago have had a crazy amount of hits since their genesis as a band in the late 60's, and this one wasn't too shabby. Their first album is pretty much the only album in their entire discography that is absolutely loved by even the most skeptical musical connoisseurs out there, but they certainly put out some great soft-rock stuff as the 70's came and went. Along with other prime-time content around the same period by The Beach Boys, Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac, this is some swell hammock noise.



Marc Jordan - Lost In The Hurrah (Blue Desert, 1979)

I had to double check on this one after the fact, but this is definitely the song that followed Chicago. Brief background - Marc Jordan is one of those guys who has probably written or been involved in a lot of music you've probably heard over the last thirty years, but most likely wouldn't know it: he's worked with everyone from Kansas to Josh Groban. Way back in 1979 however, he ended up working with David Foster and produced an album called Blue Desert which is considered to be a yacht rock classic (one which I'll eventually review in it's entirety). This song alone is probably worth the album and is perfect for any seafaring journey: it has a languid, almost hypnotic groove and arrangement, and Marc's soothing delivery and the cool keyboards dancing around it's jazzy atmosphere makes it a keeper.



Player - Melanie (Player, 1977)

Known for the monster smash 'Baby Come Back', this was a huge surprise when it was played on the way back from Buck Island. I didn't even know this B-side had been released as a single, but it was my favorite song off that album and has an absolutely amazing set of elements: huge tidal backing vocals, a killer bassline, an imaginative chord progression and overall arrangement that only the best Californian soft rock songs have and a nifty hook to boot amidst all this other stuff. What a great way to start the trip back after a day at the reefs.



Bobby Caldwell - My Flame (What You Won't Do For Love, 1978)

The last song I remember the captain playing (or maybe it just came up on the station he was on), and a minor classic on R&B radio back at the end of the 70's. It was a very early example of the slicker direction Westcoast music would take as the eighties came in full force. Along with Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees, Caldwell really set a high standard with this record for other smooth cats to follow. And that guitar...what a way to end a night. Or, in my case, a voyage back from one of the best beaches ever. :D

You're right about that beach it looks absolute paradise, btw is there a shark presence there?

Sorry for the lack of updates fellas, but I assure you I still love yacht rock and have many gems left to share. To make up for lost time, I recently made a 26 track playlist over on 8tracks of yacht rock (past, recent and present) that covers various bands and artists from the 70's to the present day. A few aren't even American, and a few have been mentioned in past posts...but overall I think this playlist is as good a distillation as your gonna get of what I love in the genre, so enjoy!

Are you familiar with yachtornyacht.com? It's a pretty funny concept for ranking yacht rock songs...