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October 12, 2005

Comments

Andy Baio

We'll go dancing in the dark, walking through the park, and reminiscing.

James from Hoboken

You forgot "Chevy Van" by...er...ummm...whoever that guy was...
and "Dancing in the Moonlight" by...yeah...that group...

Brian Wilson mentioned "Magic" as a favorite single in one interview I read, for what it's worth. Still can't believe that it's so...

fatty jubbo

I love that pilot song. I have been trying to think how it actually goes because I always confuse it with some 80's song called "magic". but whenever I hear it it send shivers down my spine! very affecting stuff! hmmm...you don't agree...I dunno, maybe something very traumatic happened to me at the roller-rink as that song played. bashed my head, went into a siezure?

Cynthia

Get the unabridged history of yachtrock here. Starts at the bottom

http://www.channel101.com/shows/show.php?show_id=152

James from Hoboken

"but whenever I hear it it send shivers down my spine! very affecting stuff! hmmm...you don't agree..."

Actually, I like "Magic" quite a bit. And "Dancing in the Moonlight" and "Chevy Van," believe it or not. I don't mind "How Long" by Ace, either. And I love "Amie" by Pure Prarie League (which Scott W. didn't list, but could have).

I draw the line at Orleans, though. And I can only tolerate a Seals and Croft tune if it's a cover by the Isley Brothers.

DJ Gordy

I love that Gino Vanelli track "I just Wanna Stop". That kind of smooth blue eyed soul sound was never cool and Gino made Hall and Oates seem lile Motorhead in comparison but there was just some thing about the songs and the voice. I still have the album.

zoe

I think the radio station we listened to at my old job had all these songs on their playlist.

ortsed

so mediocre...maybe take a survey of the most common thrift store/bargain bin albums

fatty jubbo

I once worked at a thrift store. For 8 hours a day I had to endure LITE FM. They blasted it at top volume in order to drown out the massive chorus of clinking hangers and bawling babies. It was absolute HELL as they played the same 20 songs over and over and over. My only way of dealing with it was to sing along out of tune as I rehung clothing that lazy assholes didn't have the effort to put back on the hangers. I had all the promo spots memorized "NOT TOO HARD. NOT TOO SOFT. MUSIC. THE WAY YOU WANT IT. LITE FM"

The record bin at this thrift store featured the usual suspects: phil collins, carpenters, dan fogelberg. I soon realized this was because they had a woman weed out the records to make room for the new shipment. I was in utter disbelief when I found her pushing the shopping cart full of great records towards the dumpster. Herbie Hancock, Sun Ra, some Dead Kennedys bootleg...nothing severely rare, but I don't even want to think about what she might have trashed. She also did this with all the books, weeding out all the strange old books and leaving about 50 copies of that fucking Lee Iocaca book on the shelf.

The thrift store had a sign above the records that said "ALBUMS $1 - 45s 50 cents". I took the liberty to interpret "ALBUM" as meaning a whole book of 78s...which I gleefully sold to enthusiastic record geeks for $1. Technically, it IS an album.

For some reason they had all the CDs (which were utterly worthless) behind the jewelry counter as if these were extremely valubale items.


Krys O.

Pilot were fantastic and we love to hear their albums in our household. And Gino Vanelli did the prog-thing real, real well plus he had an unearthly falsetto. Both artists/groups were played by me when I was on the air back in the day-o.

Listener Paul

Is there any contemporary equivalent to this kind of music? I don't think Norah Jones really quite fits, though Norah Jones may be today's answer to Hall and Oates.


Of course, the thing about the seventies is you would here How Much I Feel followed by Boston's More than a Feeling. Maybe you didn't really hear that, but it seems like you could have.

Scott W

James sed: "And I love 'Amie' by Pure Prarie League (which Scott W. didn't list, but could have)."

to which I sez: "I love 'Amie'! But I think it doesn't fit with the rest, whereas "Let Me Love You Tonight" (which blows) does. Also really like 'Reminiscing' w. that great 'I Love Lucy' theme intro, and kinda really like the stunning McCartney leaps of "Sky High".

James from Hoboken

Scott W said: "Also really like 'Reminiscing' w. that great 'I Love Lucy' theme intro."

Wow, "TV Casualty" by the Misfits *ends* with the I Love Lucy theme. That would be a neat idea for a mix CD with, say, a television watching theme. Start it off with the Little River Band song, and end it with the Misfits tune. You get nice "I Love Lucy theme" bookends for the mix.

Billy K

Good job here. I tried doing this list a few years back for a compilation (for a friend). It's tough work. I got most of these eventually, but after days and days of researching and racking my brain trying to recall anything that stood out about the songs, I came to the same conclusion: the songs and bands were all interchangeable. (Except maybe LRB, who seemed to be a little more prolific and certainly had more longevity.)

I can't wait for the 10 volume Rhino "Yacht Rock" series. You know it's coming. You just know it...

Buckeye Girl

Not to "brag" on my prowess here, but I got almost all of them without even clicking the clips. My very first live concert was England Dan and John Ford Coley in 1976. (I was 12 and went with my Mom. to the Secrest Auditorium in Zanesville, OH) This was the year that I discovered the Casey Kasem's American Top 40, and foreshadowing my future career as a librarian, I wrote it down every week, carefully charting song movements and such. If I had to do something when it was on, I paid my sister to do it for me. When the local station moved it to Sunday mornings, I quit going to church. So these songs are like the soundtrack to my discovery of the power and value of music. I might have added a little Heatwave "Always and Forever" personally. And Air Supply! Good God, Air Supply!

Cherie Birkin

You're making me cry... EVERY SINGLE TRACK here is one that I and my parents heard and sang along to 10,000 times in the seventies. The sad part? I'd actually love to have a compilation with all these tracks on it, in full. And hey, Little River Band are far from anonymous white has-beens in their native Australia; they're a national institution. Scarely a month goes by without an update on what Glen and Beeb are up to these days. And yes, what ABOUT Air Supply??

Guest

From October 30, 2004, http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2004/976

"Amidst a torrent of bad news, yet another George W. Bush fiasco has erupted with his attempt to use the rock standard 'Still the One' as his theme song without bothering to ask its author for permission.

"Rock and roll legend John Hall has issued a cease and desist order. John Hall says he doesn't want his song 'used to promote the candidacy of someone who has been a disaster for the environment.' After widely announcing 'Still the One' and blaring it at public rallies, Bush now says he won't use it."

I wonder what John Hall would think about being classified as "yacht rock"?

Scott W

I've already fessed that I really like that "Reminiscing" song of Little River Band's -- but really, "Lonesome Loser" and "Lady" are perfectly exemplary tracks here! And I'm sorry, but I don't think Air Supply makes the cut: they came too late, and quite frankly, they had character! That's not a defense, it's just that when an Air Supply song came on, you knew it was them. And Hall & Oates absolutely do not deserve inclusion here - they had way too many really great songs. And screw Orleans, decent environmental politics is no excuse for "I want to be your partner, can't you see?" -- and that album cover, hooooo....

Listener Paul

How about America! Horse with No Name. And, of course, Bread! Baby Ima want you.

MattN

That Orleans LP cover scared the beejeezus outta me when I was a kid in the '70's. The mental scars prevented me from removing my shirt until I was a teenager.

buckeye girl

My sister suggested Paul Davis might belong on this list. He had "I Go Crazy" and "65 Love Affair" fame. I was AMAZED that she came up with 65 Love Affair.
My sister also reminded me that she also often had to tape the Top 40 for me on a handheld cassette player. Because once she had a cold and snotted all over Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend" , and we still sing it with the sniffs attached, when we come across a Golden Girls rerun.

George Stuart

"Magic" is brilliant. Listen to those post-imagist lyrics...

Guest

I don't think "Magic" or "Sky High" belong on the list, they are too identifiable in style if forgettable as to artist - they just don't fit the other homogenous blend, maybe too early?.

"You're Still the One" has been forever spoiled for me as the theme song for bad Oldies format radio commercials everywhere.

Zach

This remind me of the muzak playlists at the grocery store I worked at for years.
Oh, I also worked at a thrift shop. Thankfully, they didn't dump the crazy good stuff out! heh. But, for certain--I've been in thrift shops like the one mentioned--because you know that after so long of going to these places--that if they have the same 20-30 lps sitting there--the management feels as though that is enough--and they junk them--losing good money for thier charity in the process.
I also wonder if some of these thrift shops have ultra conservative management--people that will let the "yacht rock" in--but is too afraid that even "whipped cream and other delights" is too much (based on the cover). geeze--the thousands of herb alpert's that have probably been tossed because of this--

Zach

and yeah--that might not be a bad thing---

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