Yacht Rock Revisted: What Yacht Rock is—and isn't.

Oh, it absolutely is. In terms of a pure Westcoast/yacht rock album, Sweet Vendetta one of the best I've come across. It's one of only a handful of albums where I've put almost every song from it on my playlist.

It's the next album where the wheels come off the bus.

 

Are there any other obscure Yacht Rock/West Coast albums that are must-hears? Some of my faves include:
Bill LaBounty - S/T (which I discovered here on this forum)
Robert Byrne - Blame It On The Night
Stylus - Best Kept Secret
Mike Finnegan - Black and White
Ned Doheny - Prone/Hard Candy

 

Sure. "Obscure" is subjective, I suppose, but these are a few that aren't immediately obvious:

Airplay: Airplay (Foster and Graydon together; Superstorm Yacht)
Bill Champlin: Runaway
Brenda Russell: Love Life
Byrne & Barnes: An Eye for an Eye
Dan Mastroianni: Tears and Whispers (Not for everyone, but some next-level synth programming)
Dane Donohue: s/t (Absolutely essential; perhaps the best yacht album ever)
Deniece Williams: When Love Comes Calling
Flora Purim: Carry On (Brazilian powerhouse Purim + George Duke = Westcoast gold. "From the Lonely Afternoon" is mind-blowing. All the Duke-era Purim albums are great.)
Frank Stallone: s/t (Yes, that Frank Stallone. Much better than you'd imagine.)
George Duke: Follow The Rainbow (If you like Earth, Wind, and Fire, you'll love this.)
Hal Bradbury: This is Love ('70s Hawaiian yacht)
Harvey Mason: MVP
Jeff Lorber: It's a Fact
Larson/Feitan Band: s/t (Another yacht classic)
Leon Ware: Inside is Love
Marc Jordan: Blue Desert
Maxus: s/t
Niteflyte: s/t
Pages: s/t, Future Street
Rhythm Heritage: Sky's the Limit
Sea Level: On the Edge (Ex-Allman Bros. Band members' stab at yacht)
Terence Boylan: s/t, Suzy
Twennynine: s/t, Best of Friends

 

Thanks for the recommendations! I see a few albums in your list I recognize, and many others that I don't. As you've acknowledged, the Leon Ware and George Duke albums from this time span are really great and worth further examination for West Coast fans. My fave Duke album has to be Dream On, which is also his most EWF-meets-Foster-circa "I Am" esque, IMO.



I've passed that Rhythm Heritage album in the local used LP shop many times thinking that it couldn't be any good (it was the cover of the "Starsky and Hutch" theme that gave me that impression). I will need to check this one out for hidden Yacht vibes.

 

Yeah, I've got that track on my list. Pretty much all the Duke albums from "the day" are awesome.

 

Speaking of Nicolette Larson, here's a song of hers I liked....

 

Also, Bugatti & Musker "The Dukes", and two albums by Nielsen/Pearson: "Blind Luck" and I wanna say S/T?

 

Killer list! I'd add the other Pages S/T (Capitol, 1981) and Marc Jordan's "Mannequin". Ooh, and Bill Champlin's "Single".

 

Here's something I stumbled on with the Too Slow For Disco: The Ladies of Too Slow to Disco CD.

 

My current Yacht Rock go-to number:

 

Oh yeah, "The Dukes" is a good one. Mystery Girl, Thank You For The Party, and Fate are my faves off that album. I will need to check out Nielsen/Pearson.

 

Yeah, that album is essentially the lost Doobie Brothers album. Former Doobie Brother with… pretty much all the rest of the Doobies. Some great tracks.

 

So need a ruling from the panel on this one: Sherbet's 1978 s/t album. (For some reason, credited to "Highway 1" here.) Apparently these guys were huge in Australia. This album, musically, is yacht as hell, but the guy's voice… oy. It's like Tom Jones doing his best Bon Scott impression. It takes me out of it quite a bit, but it's hard to deny the sound. Thoughts?

 

I think the singer deserves to wear a captain's hat. Definitely yacht-worthy to my ears.

 

OK, this is another one I'm one the fence about. It starts out with a bit of a hippie shuffle a-la Shakedown Street-era Dead, but smooths out pretty nicely. Also noteworthy in that it features "The Fool" protagonist from a woman's perspective, which is unusual. Yacht, thinks ye?

 

I'm not Christian, nor am I particularly religious, but Jesus Christ this is some smooth Christian yacht from the Boones:

 

Whoa, here's a track from a band I just discovered that has not one, but two "90 percenters" (albums where 90 percent of the tracks are playlist-worthy yacht or Westcoast)—Breakwater.


Must give credit where credit is due: Found this during a poach of Max Jerneck's insanely comprehensive yacht rock playlist on Spotify. There's a lot of tracks on it that aren't yacht or Westcoast, but if it is yacht, there's a 99 percent chance that it's there.

 

And one more obscure good one:

 

hmm, was wondering if the fore father wasn't really Dino Valenti's QSMS later period?

 

Lady and Gentlemen (it IS and audiophile forum, after all), please put your hands together for . . . Yachtley Crew.!.!

 

That's my video, ha. I love this song, I recently got the album, it's cool.

 

It really is; it has some solid, beautifully produced (albeit Christian) yacht. Apparently Christian Yacht is an entire subgenre, I just found a three-part article on the Beyond Yacht Rock site about it.

 

What Yacht Rock isn't [sorry I couldn't help it...]

 

I'm hesitant to add too much Christian yacht rock, because saying I have some major issues with capital "C" Christianity is a mild understatement. But these guys did put out some pretty epic yacht. Here's one from Russ Taff's Walls of Glass, which is one of the more solid overall yacht albums I've heard:

 

Wow, quite a cast in that episode!