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Yacht Rock question

Won't it be in the top 30 list immediately below?

Two word artist, four word title will cut it down

Google image search until it appears.
 
Probably. Tried google images but when you save the picture, it saves all the other albums in the picture as well. Not important, just wondered what it was. I'm sure someone on here will know.
 
‘Yacht rock’ is not a term I was even familiar with! I just watched the first part of BBC4’s two parter that went out tonight. A spectacular amount of revisionism there for sure! From a personal perspective I like Steely Dan and George Benson, but you can keep the rest! I’m not seeing it as one thing/scene. The implication being that the term was coined in about 2010, probably by people who weren’t even around at the time...
 
‘Yacht rock’ is not a term I was even familiar with! I just watched the first part of BBC4’s two parter that went out tonight. A spectacular amount of revisionism there for sure! From a personal perspective I like Steely Dan and George Benson, but you can keep the rest! I’m not seeing it as one thing/scene. The implication being that the term was coined in about 2010, probably by people who weren’t even around at the time...
I have only heard the presenter use the phrase, & she has for a while, I have recorded it but the links between the artists seem contrived. It makes a change from people talking about punk I suppose.
 
I joined the DJHistory forum in 2003 and the term was being used from 2007 or so. I presumed someone just made it up. It was never really serious. Came out of the "but is it Balearic?" kind of discussions. Could you get away with playing it to a club crowd if you're not DJ Harvey.
 
I joined the DJHistory forum in 2003 and the term was being used from 2007 or so. I presumed someone just made it up. It was never really serious. Came out of the "but is it Balearic?" kind of discussions. Could you get away with playing it to a club crowd if you're not DJ Harvey.

I remember a Brazilian guy called Ed Motta turning up in Wax Poetics with a yacht rock playlist around then and thought it sounded horrible - almost the last post of crate digging. I'm with Tony - George Benson and Steely Dan are great, but the rest is dreadful. However, having been witness to students freaking out to Invisible Touch at a retro club, I am aware any old tat can be rehabilitated.

I have no doubt the film may well be interesting, though. I have watched lots of very interesting documentaries about terrible music.
 
I’m playing my copy of George Benson’s Breezin’ now (a lovely early WG ‘target’ CD) and it is so clearly soul-jazz in the CTI label vein. Benson was on CTI for much of the ‘70s prior to this and it is very much the same thing, albeit with some vocal here and there. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Toto, Hall & Oates etc!

PS George Benson really is an amazing guitarist, it always amazes me that he doesn’t sell that well from the pfm shop (I’ve usually got a few LPs in stock)! He clearly needs rediscovering!
 
I've yet to watch the programme having recorded it last night, but it amuses me that Toto are frequently placed into the 'Yacht Rock' genre. I can only assume this is based on the success of their slickly-produced, grammy award winning 'IV' album; their other albums ('Kingdom Of Desire', etc) seldom get a mention!
 
‘Yacht rock’ is not a term I was even familiar with! I just watched the first part of BBC4’s two parter that went out tonight. A spectacular amount of revisionism there for sure! From a personal perspective I like Steely Dan and George Benson, but you can keep the rest! I’m not seeing it as one thing/scene. The implication being that the term was coined in about 2010, probably by people who weren’t even around at the time...

It comes from a US TV series first shown in 2005:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht_Rock_(web_series)

'The series was written, directed, and produced by J. D. Ryznar, co-produced by David Lyons and Hunter D. Stair, and edited by Lane Farnham. The production has a "bad-on-purpose aesthetic".[2]

Ryznar and Stair devised the series after noticing the converging recording careers of such bands as Steely Dan, Toto, and The Doobie Brothers and the singer-songwriters Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. For example, McDonald co-wrote Loggins' "This Is It" and Loggins co-wrote McDonald's hit, "What a Fool Believes," for his band The Doobie Brothers. McDonald also performed backing vocals for several other 'yacht rock' artists, including Steely Dan, Toto and Christopher Cross.

Ryznar admits to having a fascination with the music of the period. As he explained, "Getting into Steely Dan really started this for me. As did the ability to buy dollar records at Amoeba and put them on tapes for my car. Kenny Loggins has made his way into all the pilots I've been involved with except [one]."[3] As Ryznar told Reuters contributor Andy Sullivan, "I'm making fun of the songwriting process, but the music is generally treated pretty lovingly."[4]'

Michael McDonald seems to be the key figure. Nice quote from him in the Wiki article:

'Michael McDonald commented on Yacht Rock in a 2008 interview:

Have you ever owned a yacht?

No, but I thought Yacht Rock was hilarious. And uncannily, you know, those things always have a little bit of truth to them. It’s kind of like when you get a letter from a stalker who’s never met you. They somehow hit on something, and you have to admit they’re pretty intuitive.'
 
Immediately after the BBC4 programme was 'Big Hits of 1979', which featured an amazing range of (mostly UK) artists, and which sparked an interesting 'Was it really punk rock?' discussion between me and Mrs H.
 
I’m playing my copy of George Benson’s Breezin’ now (a lovely early WG ‘target’ CD) and it is so clearly soul-jazz in the CTI label vein. Benson was on CTI for much of the ‘70s prior to this and it is very much the same thing, albeit with some vocal here and there. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Toto, Hall & Oates etc!

PS George Benson really is an amazing guitarist, it always amazes me that he doesn’t sell that well from the pfm shop (I’ve usually got a few LPs in stock)! He clearly needs rediscovering!
George Benson's guitar playing never fails to move or thrill me. I also love that, despite his astonishing talent as a guitarist, he still makes out like he's just a good old song n' dance man. Just listen to the solo on 'Body Talk' - if there's a better example of brilliant technique subservient to jaw-dropping improvisational invention I have not heard it.

edit: Or the solo scat/guitar harmonising on his version of 'On Broadway' - funny and brilliant in equal measure (and the opening sequence to one of my favourite films).
 


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