Summer Means Yacht Rock

I've seen these guys a few times, and its a wonderful experience at a good price.

 

I've been leaning heavily on a TuneIn Radio station that's not quite yacht rock, but a very close cousin. It's called Soma.FM Left Coast '70s. It plays a lot of deep cuts by pop-rock artists from the era. Heavy on Joni Mitchell, Boz Scaggs, Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan.

The station has introduced me to some tunes that make it on my Spotify playlists, like Andrew Gold's "Never Let Her Slip Away," Jay Ferguson's "Too Late to Save Your Heart," and Walter Egan's "Won't You Say You Will." (Great background vocals from Ms. Nicks herself on that one; it turns out Walter Egan was about as close to being a Fleetwood Mac member as you can get without actually joining the group.)

 

Saw them at Turner Field when management needed to kill time between the end of a late afternoon game and July 4 fireworks.

 

There was quite a circle of musicians in the late 70s that you could say the same about, including Kenny Loggins.

 

Quoting this link to remind y’all what is and what isn’t yacht by the dudes who coined the term. Remember, it’s about the smooth, not lazy-ass nautical references.

 

To me this is yacht rock, I don't care what the marketers think.

 

Wow ... missed this thread three years ago, and since moving roughly a year ago, my wife and I will listen to the "Captain Adam" yacht rock show on Sunday nights and have some good laughs about the songs, at least half of which involve Michael McDonald and/or members of Toto.

Not sure I agree with Fleetwood Mac as yacht rock, though. As mentioned, maybe a few of the Christine McVie songs, but not the Buckingham rockers, and certainly not Nicks showcases such as "Rhiannon" or "Landslide." (OK, "Sara" qualifies).

And some early-1970s stuff like Seals & Crofts, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" and "How Long" by Ace fit the bill. "Baker Street" and early Steely Dan are off the boat IMHO.

 

Soft rock and yacht rock are different … and I think that trips people up.

“Brandy” is nowhere near yacht rock because it’s not soulful, it’s not even really soft rock. Seals & Crofts are soft, but their voices are not smooth. There’s no swing to what they do because they were shooting for the singer-songwriter crowd and not attempting soul or R&B. Even “Get Closer”, which is their closest to yacht, is guilty of this. Plus, Seals & Crofts suckdillyuck.

“How Long” does come pretty close to yacht, but it was mid-70s anyway.

One key is how close does a song come to funk/R&B without actually being one or the other? That’s why Boz Scaggs and “Silk Degrees” is seminal yacht. As well as quite a bit of early Hall & Oates.

 

I think Ronstadt's touring buddies might have been the ultimate ... Frey, Henley, Jackson Browne, Andrew Gold, Waddy Wachtel ... they were all actually in her band with the possible exception of Browne, and he was part of their circle.

 

One of the gods dabbles in Yacht Rock.

Co-written (although uncredited) with Stevie Nicks.
George's "Blow Away" off the same album has some definite Yacht Rock vibes as well.

 

I had Sirius/XM's "Outlaw Country" blasting in the cockpit of the boat the other day ... does that count as "yacht rock"?