Well, sports fans! We’ve made it to the end of the week! It’s Friday, which means it’s time to wrap up old Yacht Rock Week with My Top 20 Favorite Yacht Rock Songs. But, first, how about a couple of observations.
First, it would kind of be fun to go back to the late-Seventies as the enlightened person I currently am but at the age of a college student. Sure, I am only talking about five to ten years difference between that age group and mine. Still, I would have enjoyed seeing how different those non-Ronnie Reagan years would have been to be in college. You know, back when liberals were still held in high esteem, while the whole Milton Friedman/Reaganomics supply side theory was still a crackpot idea that earned a Nobel Prize for Economics but generally still considered a crazy idea. I sure would have loved to been around before all this each man for himself attitude permeated throughout North American culture and religion. It would have been great to have been old enough to have railed against that crap before we reaped the disaster we currently are experiencing today, nearly 40 years after the fact.
Additionally, most of the music seemed to be more organic than much of today’s music. Maybe that whole vibe was the difference between analog-based technology and it’s digital brethren of today. Still, as you can hear in the variety of instruments that were utilized in the songs found in my Top 20. Some instruments you can hear in those songs are xylophones, steel drums and flutes, all things that are sampled than actually played.
Yes, Ed Sheeran can record his whole album on his iPhone, but somethings still seems to be missing. Maybe, it’s humanity, and the threat of a mistake being made during a day. There might actually be something to be made about playing one’s own instrument.
Finally, Seventies fashion was definitely lacking. However, the upside was the number of women who did not wear a bra, all in the name of equal rights. Nowadays, there seems to be much false advertisement of good with padded “over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders” that seem to be popular today. So, my sexist side sure wishes equal rights would make a big comeback soon.
Okay, enough of that junk! Let’s get this countdown done!
20. Ian Matthews – “Shake It” (1979)
19. Player – “Baby Come Back” (1977)
18. Commodores – “Sail On” (1979)
17. Jay Ferguson – “Thunder Island” (1978)
16. Faith Band – “Dancing Shoes” (1978). This song is something of a standard here in Indiana, but our own Faith Band was a natural for the Yacht Rock sound. Plus, this original version was so much better than former Elton John drummer Nigel Olsen’s version.
15. Gerry Rafferty – “Baker Street” (1978)
14. Maria Muldaur – “Midnight at the Oasis” (1974)
13. Starbuck – “Moonlight Feels Right” (1975)
12. Air Supply – “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” (1983)
11. Nicolette Larson – “Lotta Love” (1978)
10. Benny Mardones – “Into the Night” (1980)
9. Climax Blues Band – “Couldn’t Get It Right” (1977)
8. Boz Scaggs – “Lowdown” (1976)
7. Dave Mason – “We Just Disagree” (1977)
6. Little River Band – “Cool Change” (1979)
5. Christopher Cross – “Sailing” (1979)
4. Toto – “Africa” (1983)
3. Daryl Hall & John Oates – “She’s Gone” (1973)
2. Steely Dan – “Deacon Blues” (1977)
1. Todd Rundgren – “Can We Still Be Friends” (1978)
And, there you go all! That’s my favorite 100 Yacht Rocks Songs, at least in August 2018. And, get ready, as we’ll back to some stronger rock music. Stay mellow this weekend.
If My Records Could Talk 