I'll give it the benefit of a look, if I can, with the memory of the stinkfest Greg Prato's Yacht Rock book turned out to be...and that one featured among its interviewees one Hollywood Steve Huey.
I might say “Peace In Our Time” is closer. Find John Cowan’s wonderful cover of “Tomorrow Morning” too.
OK, tossing in an "Ark Rock" number, since it's Sunday and all. Rob Mehl was from either SoCal or Hawai'i, I think, and toured/played the islands (Guam, Marianas) in the '80s. This is from his "Taste and See" album from around 1981. The faith message is there, but not overbearing, and the tune itself is just dreamy, IMO. Was a minor hit in Japan.
Who saw Friday night’s show? Thoughts? She was on Shaun Keavney’s show on Thursday promoting it and said they tried hard to get Christopher Cross to participate but he was very suspicious of them and doubted it was a genuine, non-cynical doc so declined.
I liked the look of the BBC show. Old 4x3 TV clips were all given rounded corners and the colour of the modern shots were treated to blend easily with the old stuff. Nicely done, I'm looking forward to next Friday's Part 2. One grating thing was some of the music choices, though. Why on earth did they use Pink Floyd's 'Us and Them'??
Ha! I actually have "Taste and See" on my yacht rock list. (What is that song about, anyway? God's better than papaya?) I'll have to track down this album, sounds great.
I wanted something like the 2007 BBC Hotel California doc, but instead of a more “academic” take, I felt Part One was too subjective and scattershot to be as substantive as I’d hoped. The worst thing is that there were some solid ideas introduced — the role of women, the cultural / pharmaceutical shifts — but not elaborated upon, almost like those blithe History Rocks videos from back in the day. Not too excited about Part Two...but I’m sure I’ll watch it all the same.
I wasted an entire evening trying. I downloaded a VPN app and registered an account on the BBC site, but I never got an email to verify my email address. I might try again on a PC. I keep checking YouTube and Reddit to see if anyone has uploaded it.
So I discovered the yacht rock Reddit moderated by JD Ryznar the other day (Easy smooth and smells like salt. ). Most of it falls firmly into the "telling me what I already know" or "I have no idea what yacht rock is" categories, but I've found it to be a good introduction to the rich, perplexing world of Japanese yacht rock (J-Yacht?). I haven't found anything earth shatter quite yet, but I did come across this gem: Hot Baby by Amii Ozaki. It's beyond bonanza: Arranged By – David Foster Bass – Neil Stubenhaus Drums – Jeff Porcaro Guitar – Jay Graydon, Steve Lukather Keyboards – David Foster That didn't exactly translate to yacht gold, but it did have a few good tracks, such as this one: It looks like there's quite a bit of this kind of stuff out there, so I'll post any gems I find.
Part Two on the BBC4 programme is just more of the same. The first ten minutes seemed to just be a copy-and-paste of parts of Part One. Then it drifted on to MTV and how the visual images of artists such as Christopher Cross finished their careers. I'd forgotten about the Toto link with Michael Jackson, especially 'Human Nature' – I still prefer the Miles Davis version, though.
That was weird. I watched it on catch up and 5mins in I turned it off to check I’d put on the right episode.
That reminds me about Casiopea, the Japanese fusion quintet that recorded in L.A. in the early '80s. "Eyes of the Mind" on Alfa Records was released in 1981 (I think, it might have been earlier in Japan), and I fondly remember "Asayake," the leadoff track. David Sanborn and the Brecker Brothers also played on the LP. Should be yacht enough for you.
Indeed. It looks like my "discovery" is actually the well-known and wildly popular Japanese City Pop genre. From what I've read and listened to so far, it's basically a yacht parallel universe. It starts with the same input as yacht with the goal of a similar output, but it runs it through a decidedly Japanese filter that makes the music simultaneously totally yacht and not yacht at all. I like it. Vice did a pretty good primer on it earlier this year: The Guide to Getting Into City Pop, Tokyo’s Lush 80s Nightlife Soundtrack
The Light In The Attic reissue label recently released a City Pop/AOR/Boogie compilation: V/A - Pacific Breeze - Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976-1986 | Light In The Attic Records They also created a Spotify playlist: Pacific Breeze: A City Pop Primer, a playlist by Light In The Attic on Spotify
Well now... If You Like Piña Coladas: “NOW” Series Celebrates Yacht Rock on New Volume - The Second Disc
