Great group. Daft Punk's Robot Rock is based on Breakwater's Release The Beast (from the 2nd album, Splashdown). I always considered these guys more 80's Modern Soul/Boogie than Yacht Rock, but I guess there is considerable overlap between the two genres...must be why I like them both so much!
Baker Street is yacht rock, plain and simple... don't know about his other stuff, but Baker Street is a definite... bust out the shrimp and white wine!
They don't quite fit into the oft quoted YR time period of 75-85. However, I have been listening to quite a bit of their catalog lately (I am in the process of selecting my Yacht Rock band's next set list additions) and I have to say they are what I call "proto yacht." In particular the songs "Diamond Girl" and "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)" have many of the elements of Yacht Rock; jazzy "mu" chords, Philly International inspired strings, metaphors and analogies to love, spring, summer and sailing, complex pop arranging, movements from romantic pop to blues to country and rock within a single song, use of top LA studio musicians and a general "ease" to the whole thing. Much like Carly Simon's early work, RUNT era Todd and America, S&C's are a bridge from late 60's singer songwriter to the smooth LA dominated mid to late 70's sound that is quintessential YR. Kinda like Blue Cheer is proto metal, but not quite all the way there to metal, S&C's along with the other aforementioned "proto yacht" gets close enough for me. My personal memories of S&C's land in the same head space as other YR bands. Oh and "Diamond Girl" was one of Jeff Porcaro's earliest credits on record....just sayin'
Yeah… but no. Certainly it has elements. Thematically, it sort of hits the mark with its tales of boozing and remorse. And lord knows it's smooth. But there are some problems. For one thing, it's LONG. It clocks in at more than 6 minutes, which isn't very yacht. It's also a story song, which is contra to the usual yacht abstraction. And FWIW, it doesn't have any of the usual yacht rock studio stalwarts performing. But it's the sound more than anything else that drags it down. First, it has very little electric piano, if any. Not the kiss of death, but a definite strike against. Sax. Contrary to popular belief, saxophone isn't a staple of yacht rock. It pops up sporadically, but this song is all sax, all the time. It's very string heavy. A lot of yacht rock songs have string flourishes here and there, but this features them pretty prominently in the background. It has no real jazz feel. And while it does have changeups in pace and tone, it has no real snap—you can't tap you feet to it. Here's a yacht rock song that has many of the same elements as Baker Street—horns, strings, changes—but a much different, more yacht sound: Bill Champlin- Satisfaction
A Scottish artist singing about a street in London? Love the song. Glad that Yacht Rock Revue plays it (tho the guitarist needs to work on the outro solo). But it's Nyacht.
Not saying the masses are always right, but there seems to be a fairly unanimous consensus on the internet that Baker Street is, in fact, yacht rock (including the previously mentioned Yacht Rock Revue, who state that this song contains, "the most epic saxophone feature in yacht rock".) Shrimp & White Wine!
Oh, I'm sure they do. Unfortunately, the Yacht Rock Revue is also notorious for playing music that isn't yacht rock. Look, they're not stupid—they're not going to be booking gigs for long if they play nothing but Jay Graydon solo work and Airplay b-sides—but they're hardly the go-to as a benchmark for yacht authenticity. Again, it's completely understandable why most people think "Baker Street" is yacht—it's a fantastically smooth slab of '70s goodness. And honestly, I don't really know what it is—Rafferty kind of had his own thing going. But if you listen to enough yacht rock (and god knows I listen to way too much), it's pretty clear it's not a yacht rock song.
I'm not a yacht rock expert by any means, but Gerry Rafferty is one of my five favorite artists, I own pretty much everything he released, and he (and Baker Street) is absolutely not yacht rock. Like LeftCoastGator, I'm not sure what category he falls into - I just think of his music as intelligent, melodic pop/rock.
Here's some new yacht rock (Nü Yacht?) from a band that's apparently been around for a while, but I'm just hearing about—Norway's Norwegian Fords. (Get it?) They're quite good, and I really liked this track:
OK, Chicago fans, take note. I've always denied the existence of any Chicago yacht rock tracks. However, I just checked out the list of tracks the Beyond Yacht Rock guys rated, and surprisingly, "Sonny Think Twice" from Chicago 16 (produced by David Foster, with contributions from Bill Champlin, Steve Lukather, and Steve Porcaro) got pretty high marks. I was very skeptical, but I have to admit, yes, this is a yacht rock track. There's actually a few songs on this album that make it off the pier, IMO. So yes, apparently, Chicago CAN be yacht:
Absolutely. I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't—it has pretty much every element a yacht rock song should and it sure as hell sounds like one. The signature Chicago trumpet is a bit off the yacht brand, but it's pretty much a home run otherwise. I think "Bad Advice" from that album also works as yacht.
Yep on both of those David Foster/Peter Cetera Chicago albums. I tired to deny their existence for years but I played them both a year ago and really liked them. Had to laugh when I heard the horns on "What Can I Do?" I'm surprised that Foster didn't replace them fully with Jerry Hey and company, but the band did very well in this style--with Peter Cetera.
OK, more in the Getting With Now Department™. Andreas Aleman does a great job on his 2012 It's the Journey album of mixing a variety of yacht sounds (McDonald, Toto, Earth, Wind, and Fire) into a modern platter of Westcoast goodness. This is nice one:
Yacht Rock Radio I let this guy know that the song Baker Street was in fact a Yacht Rock sham! I also contacted the creator of the 2005 web series Yacht Rock (who later went on to create TV show Community) and informed him of the same thing, as he also references Gerry Rafferty in an episode (staring Drew Carey). My list of bloggers, reputable publications, cover bands, radio stations and other who are uninformed is long, but the word must get out: Baker Street is NOT YACHT ROCK (despite the overwhelming popular opinion stating otherwise).
Dan Harmon didn't create the series Yacht Rock—he created Channel 101, the short-film festival where Yacht Rock was originally presented. It's kind of ironic that you bring that up, because the guys who did create the Yacht Rock series talked about why "Baker Street" isn't yacht rock in excruciating detail during one of their podcasts. But again, like I said in the first sentence I wrote to begin this entire thread, what you put on your yacht rock playlist doesn't really matter—it's ultimately subjective. I have some specific, objective reasons why it's not that I described earlier, but if you like "Baker Street" as yacht rock, hey, enjoy. While we may use different boats, we're all sailing the same sea of smooth.
Sorry I haven't read the entire thread, but confused about the inclusion of Earth, Wind & Fire in Yacht Rock. Only a couple EWF songs come to mind that I would consider in the same category as Michael McDonald -- In The Stone (see below) is the main one that springs to mind, but are there that many other songs from them to put the band in the YR category?
They fit more into the Westcoast genre, which is the general West Coast smooth vibe that the Scandinavians seem to like. That said, EWF do have some yacht tracks: "You and I" and "Wait" from I Am come to mind.
"After The Love Has Gone" is the big one, written by YR stalwarts David Foster, Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin. Strings arranged by Foster, horns arranged by frequent Foster collaborator Jerry Hey.
I agree. Yacht Rock Revue isn't stupid. My Yacht Rock band pretty much HAS to play "Baker Street" and in my own head space, "Baker" occupies the same places as does "Minute By Minute," but by pure definitions, it is not yacht rock nor would our band call it as such. When we first started our yacht rock band, we hit some pretty legit YR deep cuts that went over like lead balloons, so we've learned to "stretch" the genre to allow for songs our crowd kind of expects. It is an arbitrary genre after all.
Ok, it seems that their '79 album I Am follows the Yacht Rock formula - I can see that. But the I Am album aren't the songs I think of when I think EWF. Do any of their big hits not from that album fit the category? September, Sing A Song, Shooting Star, Serpentine Fire, Saturday Nite... man, is it a coincidence many of their best song titles start with S?
