It's the difference between soft-pop and Yacht-rock I guess.... Yacht-Jazz is from a somewhat later date than Yacht-rock; it's more an '80s thing, colliding with the rise (and rise) of the CD-medium (The GRP-label again!) and the demise of Jazz-Rock. Many jazz-rockers (Stanley Clarke, Al di Meola) have some tracks from the late '70s onward that are far more MOR than you'd expect. It's very much an American thing. Here's a list to give you some idea -->Spotify-link
Before that 1981 recording, there was this, from the 1977 album Time Loves a Hero: "Day at the Dog Races" - Little Feat. Would this qualify? This track drove Mr. George crazy.
Wow, that's quite a workout. It's a very cool track, but no, it's not yacht rock. The odd time signatures and shifts would, IMO, put this more into the prog or fusion genre; it sounds more like their homage to Genesis or Return to Forever than a yacht rocker.
Now it has it's own book, available for pre-order on Amazon: Greg Prato is a good writer, it looks interesting. www.amazon.com/Yacht-Rock-Book-History-Smooth/dp/1911036297 If you click on the cover of the book, it opens up a preview window with table of content and excerpts. ‘It’s amazing that this style came to be. Can you imagine being a struggling musician back then? It must take an incredible amount of restraint to play that gently.’ —Actor/comedian Fred Armisen, from his foreword to this book
I bought the import CD and it was delivered last week. The songs are pretty good. The CD is not the greatest sounding but not too bad. Not brick-walled or anything.
Cool. Yeah, the CD version I have is on the "Avenue of Allies" label from 2011. Avenue of Allies apparently is/was a German label. I've also got a vinyl copy of the album from 1982 on Elektra. Roberts' vocals and songs are fine, but it's the studio polish and exemplary playing by the backup band that grab my attention with this album and, IMO, make it a West Coast classic.
How does the vinyl sound compared to the CD (you have the same CD I bought). The CD sounds a little muffled on "All In The Name Of Love", like the high-end has been suppressed. Some of the songs remind me of Christopher Cross.
The vinyl version sounds pretty good from what I recall, though I’m not as deep into or as well-versed in audiophile sound as many people on this forum. ... With some searching online, I bet you could find a reasonably priced used vinyl copy. There have been a couple of series of West Coast/AOR CD reissues in Japan the past few years, and one of them — “AOR Best Selection 1300” — includes the David Roberts album. Those CDs are a little pricey, though, and I’ve heard some complaints about them being loud/brickwalled. That said, I have bought several CDs from that series and the other one (“AOR City 1000”) and find the sound to be fine. There are some pretty rare titles in those two reissue campaigns, which cover a lot of ground.
It would be great if you could post some DR ratings for some of those CDs you have. I have recently started adding my DR ratings to Discogs as a “comment” against the exact release. I have almost never seen someone else do this in my many years using Discogs; hopefully it helps someone. I’ve also ordered a bunch of those new budget Japanese reissues after not being able to get any response to a query I posted in this thread & a stand-alone post. I’ll report back my findings. If you’re interested, here’s the not so good result for that 2011 CD reissue of “All Dressed Up”: foobar2000 1.3.17 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1 log date: 2018-02-08 21:35:52 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: David Roberts / All Dressed Up -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR9 -0.30 dB -11.10 dB 3:33 01-All in The Name of Love DR11 -0.30 dB -12.71 dB 3:50 02-Too Good To Last DR9 -0.30 dB -11.73 dB 3:38 03-Someone Like You DR11 -0.30 dB -13.72 dB 4:14 04-Boys Of Autumn DR9 -0.50 dB -11.28 dB 3:36 05-She's Still Mine [That's My Girl] DR10 -0.30 dB -12.49 dB 3:55 06-Wrong Side of the Tracks DR10 -0.30 dB -12.96 dB 3:58 07-Midnight Rendezvous DR9 -0.30 dB -11.00 dB 3:50 08-Anywhere You Run To DR9 -0.60 dB -11.83 dB 3:44 09-Never Gonna Let You Go DR11 -0.30 dB -13.80 dB 4:30 10-Another World -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 10 Official DR value: DR10 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 834 kbps Codec: ALAC ================================================================================
Ugh. Yeah, those guys really screwed up by not copyrighting that term—they could have bought literal yachts by now! I'm curious to see whether the book is as wrong as most people's playlists are.
Uh-oh. This does not inspire confidence: "And while some associate yacht rock’s biggest songs with one-hit wonder artists, several of rock’s most renowned artists fall under this category, too - including Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles…"
OK, I just read Amazon's "preview" of the book (which is essentially the first 75 pages), and I must begrudgingly admit that this is actually a very good book. The title is a bit of misnomer; it's really the history of the entire Westcoast soft rock sound, from the early days of folk rock and The Beach Boys through the heyday of SoCal smooth. I'm not sure who Greg Prato is, but he got a lot of the key players to contribute to this book and completely open up about their experiences. Including, I should add, Hollywood Steve Huey from the Beyond Yacht Rock podcast, who's able to tie together many of the disparate elements and explain which of them do—and don't—contribute to the Yacht Rock sound, and why. But the book really transcends genre; it's a celebration of the era's personalities, the songs, and the passion these guys had for creating smooth, meticulously crafted music that was on the one hand challenging, but on the other completely accessible. It's good stuff.
I spent a happy Sunday morning drinking coffee, listening to the new quad SACDs of Art Garfunkel's first two albums while reading the preview. I agree it's quite well done. Yes, the full title is: The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s That isn't apparent in my first post, it's in small print on the cassette on the cover photo I posted. "Yacht Rock" is the attention grabber. "Oral History" is the key. Rather than reading like an encyclopedia or long essay in the author's voice, it's nothing but quotes from the players who lived it. Very readable, great flow, easy to skip around and dip into what interests you. I read an excellent biography of Tommy Bolin that Greg Prato wrote ten years ago. It's done in identical style, nothing but interviews of the people who knew him. He really is masterful in his writing, by distilling hours of conversation down to a few coherent paragraphs. Then assembling the best quotes in a logical progression, not random snippets.
Exactly. Its structure is quite similar to Legs McNeil's Please Kill Me, which chronicles the rise of the New York CBGB-era music scene. Which is also a great read.
So watched the Chicago documentary on Netflix last night. (My GOD those guys had a lot of hits!) Anyway, saw a performance clip of "Thunder and Lightning" from the pre-Foster Chicago XIV, and after a close listen, I'm pretty sure it's yacht. What do you think?
Here's another good one that popped up on the Beyond Yacht Rock podcast. Not yacht rock, but a nice example of Westcoast soul:
Not quite sure what to make of these guys. They're English (on Beggars Banquet, no less!) and not really yacht rock, but in terms of the overall Westcoast sound, I think—think—this kind of works.
Ah-ha! Why I didn't think to review her catalog sooner is beyond me, but it looks like Carol King has a few yacht rockers. 1983's Speeding Time has a great yacht lineup (Rit on guitar, Bob Glaub on bass, Russ Kunkel on drums) and while it's not exactly yacht gold, it did produce a good one: "Dancing": 1982's One to One had a few good ones as well. No yacht personnel, per se, but a few with a great yacht sound, such as "(Love is Like a) Boomerang" and this one, the terrific "Lookin' Out for Number One": Carole King "Lookin' Out For Number One" featuring Eric Johnson guitar solo So keep searching—the yacht is out there.
Wow. That's my rateyourmusic post for the Westcoast and Smooth Jazz albums. Very kind of you to like it and post it for all here!! Thank you all!
