You won't see much new material on th' I.O.F.©. I listen to a lot of new albums, mostly bailing because they're not as good as the artists who influenced them. I don't believe something is worth my time just because it's newly-recorded and adequately performed. New and young have ceased to be recommendations for anything, and anyway, the Sex Pistols still seem new to me - most of what happened after is a merciful blur. And I don't believe in giving away the work struggling artists hope to get paid for. But here's a rare exception. You'll have to squint at the cover [left - Ed.] for the names, because I don't want this piece to be a search result. The title and the cover are two flavors of shit and do nobody any favors. From the review (yacht rock, Steely Dan, whatever magnets the clueless reviewer found on his fridge door) I expected the usual sloppy bunch of hipsters ironically ticking style boxes. There's only a couple of things you need know about this - it sounds like it's from the seventies, and it sounds swell. More? Ten songs, thirty-six minutes - an album. Musicality out th' ass. Every song has something to delight the ear and soothe the soul. And these guys can sing. I played it all the way through and immediately played it all the way through again. It's merited a place on my FoamPod©.
It may leave you meh, of course, but if you dig that first Average White Band album - and why th' bejasus wouldn't you? - this will make you very, very happy. Maybe enough to buy it.
EDIT: I'm in the process of establishing a lie that I've been a fan of these guys since 2015, when their first album [left - Ed.] came out, and have been waiting for the third since the second [below - Ed.] appeared in 2018. Both of these albums will be added to the load-downs to help you join me in the deceit. Any comments along the lines of the above will be given absolute credence.
ReplyDeleteStealth Link activated. This is not a test.
Perfectly serviceable, indeed. The refreshing lack of sloppy hipsters you note may be due to one of the pair of them being a 57-. I suppose having been around and at least sentient when this music was new 'n' happenin' must help when it comes to recreating its sound.
ReplyDeleteI take it all back about "young people" - here's one doing the job properly!
DeleteHere's the first two, that you've had since the band gave you white labels.
ReplyDeleteI have indeed heard of these dudes before, if only barely. They had a song on the "California Groove" series that Warner has been bringing out for about a decade, all dedicated to what is called Yacht Rock now and was simply AOR/MOR or soft rock before that slightly hipper/more ironic label. Most of the tracks are vintage, but they also slid some "retro" tracks from then current artists (like Geyser, if you're into this kind of thing) on them. Their track was good, without me wishing to go much deeper, though I probably looked these guys up on Youtube at around the time.
ReplyDeleteIt *is* neat that the silver fox looks like, well, a silver fox. But does the young gun by his side truly look like a young gun? Or more like a sliding-into-middle-age-gun?
Spectacular albums! All three of them. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou are a gentleman of taste, Mr. Throckmorton.
ReplyDelete“Yacht” city, man! - lol
I must have missed these guys bitdd. I will give a listen posthaste by golly.
ReplyDeleteYacht rock is the new pirogue polka. Yacht rock may have their Christopher Cross, but pirogue polka has Rockin' Sydney.
ReplyDeleteThe term "Yacht Rock" dates all the way back to ... 2005. Back in the seventies, it didn't exist. But people like labels, because it's a convenient way to file and forget.
ReplyDeleteWhat I hear when I listen to this music:
1 Songs. With melody and harmony, over chord changes a little more complex than Dylan could manage.
2 Professionalism - arrangements and performances that exploit real studio skills.
I don't hear a marketing niche market. I don't need to categorize to help me arrive at an opinion. There's nothing going on here except good music.
Agreed.
DeleteI never cared for the term "Yacht Rock", the same goes for so-called "Prog Rock", nobody called it that in its heyday.
We won't be itching to ask what you think of "Jock Rock"...
Delete(Please, NO comments about "Cancelled" guy David Essex...)
I mean, yacht rock isn't even a real thing, it was spun out of an internet series I believe and was first used mockingly. I think that's what grates people a little, that it is supposed to be both affectionate (in an ironic way) and mocking.
DeleteProg rock might not have been called that (then again, which musical genre came out and said "we're ____", except maybe punk?), but it's a widely accepted genre term for a specific kind of music with specific content and form.
Prog Rock is what it says on the tin - you know exactly what you're getting. "Yacht Rock", like (unfortunately) "Psychedelia" means nothing, absolutely nothing - they're just labels or flavors thrown around by people who know that everything they try to do has already been done - and better. Rock n' roll was new, when it happened, never been done before. Rock music had never been done before. The seventies refined studio techniques and musicianship (well, not in the U.K., where it all degenerated into glam rock) as far as the form needed to go. Since punk - itself a re-iteration of garage rock - everything refers back, adopts some kind of style, and nothing is new or exciting. Very occasionally the music is good enough in itself for this not to matter - like these guys. I can't stop playing it. There's a joy here - an absolute unconcern with anything but making good music.
DeleteDid David Crosby do "Yacht Rock" in the days of "wooden ships"? and yet he had a fine yacht at that time.
DeleteRock n roll was new, are you sure? Some songs by, say, Benny Goodman had a structure pretty close to rock and some criticized Elvis for making black music.
Can we like sex pistols and yes, nirvana and procol harum or Chuck Berry and wagner?
There is only one good music, the one that touches your heart or your mind or both. the rest is hogwash.
Now it is true that the music of "Young Gun Silver Fox" is pleasant and reminds me of a period after "hotel california" and sometimes reminds me of "Steely Dan", sometimes Gino Vanelli or also Michael Francks, well a whole sunny period before the AIDS, before Covid 19 and before formatted and soulless music.
give me a title that we can sing along since "Happy"(and i'm a nice boy with this one)
So tank you Farquhar.
Oh, Gino Vanelli. Now here's soft rock that's too soft, even after my...uhm...softening towards that kind of music.
DeleteGino Vanelli is a girls' band.
Delete. . . gave you white labels . . .
ReplyDeleteNOT to play the Race Card (Said the wild card...?), but... The above comment SOMEHOW got me to thinking... (I know, I know, dangerous mindlessness territory...)
When will there ever be any Country Rawk by persons of color.....???
I suppose the late Charley Pride don't count...
Would hootie and the blowfish count?
Deleteonly to ten
DeleteOH yes, I remember discussing these guys with you for years. You were right of course when I disagreed on their staying power. I am happily wrong. But in 2015, I was in the thought nobody new was doing the stuff I liked. I wish you would quit bringing this up to embarrass me in conversation every 6 months, Farq! I get it, you were a visionary in discovering them.
ReplyDelete(Does that help?)
Sayyy ... that's mighty swell of you, Youarejethro!
DeleteThese guys sound great. As for the term "Yacht Rock", I like The Once And Future Band, who were also described as "Yacht Rock", but they sound nothing like these guys. This is classic, just a shame it's taken me 5 or 6 years since Farq first mentioned them for me to listen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up for TOAFB - I've always liked them, too!
DeleteBeware: TOAFB are much better on recordings than on some of their YouTube clips.
DeleteIt's okay, I'm not following them that close.
DeleteThanks Farq -- I'll mix up some frozen daiquiris with umbrellas for the gang to sip on while we relax poolside to these soothing sounds. These days that often beats doing the Cretin Hop.
ReplyDelete