Sunday, February 5, 2017

200 MOST RECOMMENDED ALBUMS: #6. Continues next week.
THE CAFFE` LATTE`
200
MOST RECOMMENDED ALBUMS
Some are the best selling, while others may be obscure, but the albums listed here are all worthy of a listen. No compilation/ best of sets. Only exceptional live albums included. This is a personal listing of the albums I enjoy the most to this day.
#6
SILK DEGREES: BOZ SCAGGS
 Album Silk Degrees.jpg
 [1976] 
Some albums are so beloved, that they simultaneously become a career-maker and albatross. Boz Scaggs could live off performing the songs on his cherished album 'Silk Degrees' to audiences that often want to hear nothing else. While this must be very frustrating for him, the album is a classic through and through. Scaggs weaves jazz, pop, rock and R&B into the impeccably performed tracks. Many of the session musicians involved later evolved into the group Toto. They all approach the songs with the aplomb of highly skilled players. "Jump Street" and "Love Me Tomorrow" are the weakest tracks and ought to be placed closer to the end of the LP. Most of the remaining tracks have since become radio staples. They transport the listener back in time to the 1970s and the era of true classic albums such as this. "Harbor Lights" is a smooth song that is ripe for a hot makeover today. "Lowdown" serves a jazzy and slick groove. The major hit is "Lido Shuffle", an irresistible hook-laden pop smash that offers the album's best moments. In many ways, 'Silk Degrees' is the logical denouement of the 1970s singer-songwriter era. Scaggs penned most of the tracks, co-writing 5 with David Paich. The former covers New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint's "What Do You Want The Girl To Do". "What Can I Say", the opening track, sets the mood and the quality tracks flow from there. 'Silk Degrees' is an album that resulted from the pursuit of perfection in songwriting and execution. Scaggs went on to record other hit songs, but this 1976 disc finds him at his peak.
Highlight tracks:
* Lido Shuffle
* It's Over
* Georgia
* What Can I Say
* We're All Alone
* Lowdown 

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