Reply With Quote"Lowdown" is considered to be disco but most sources. It sounds like a typical disco hit from 1976. "Silk Degrees" was obviously Boz Scaggs' biggest selling album. However, I really like "Lido Shuffle" which may be loosely described as "disco rock".
Indie Release [Level 4]
Today I bought the CD Boz Scaggs- "Silk Degrees" to replace the worn vinyl Lp I bought back in 1976 (time flies..!)
I still like al songs on it especialy "Lowdown" and "It's Over"
What do you guys think of it, and is it considered Disco?
Indie Release [Level 4]
"Lowdown" is considered to be disco but most sources. It sounds like a typical disco hit from 1976. "Silk Degrees" was obviously Boz Scaggs' biggest selling album. However, I really like "Lido Shuffle" which may be loosely described as "disco rock".
Gold Record [Level 7]
I bought the LP when It's Over was released as a single... however, I also bought Lowdown on a 7" also.... I can't recall why as money as tight back in those days.
Loved the LP and it's funny you mentioned LOWDOWN if it's disco...? we discussed this in depth I believe in this same forum... which made for a good discussion. Probably 10 pages back if I recall.
Platinum Record [Level 8]
Lowdown is a funky R&B disco. It's over is more pop disco. The whole LP is a mish-mash of different sounds. He even does a little reggae groove on Love Me Tomorrow. His follow-up LP Down Two Then Left didn't have a monster disco tune like Lowdown on it, but the whole feel of the LP was more consistently R&B/rock.
By the way, did you know that the members of Toto played on the Silk Degrees LP? RIP Jeff Porcaro (the drummer).
Disco Funk
Indie Release [Level 4]
OK, I didn't know about the other discussion about Boz Scaggs.
Maybe the moderator can put this thread into the other one?
Anyway, I do consider "Lowdown" as a "sophisticated Disco track".
The reason it took my attention recently, was because I heard a somewhat (new?) "jazzy" version of "Lowdown" on a local Dutch, Soul, Funk and Jazz radio station called "Arrow Jazz FM".
Does someone here know this version, and is it realy new?
Gold Record [Level 7]
I haven't heard it yet... however, my mother can't wait to get her hands on it. I believe it's gonna be released early next year. why the wait???Originally Written by Skywalker
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
try listening to 'Jo Jo' by Boz Scaggs from 1980. I think it has a very 'sleaze' disco sound about it, & it features Sharon Redd on background vocals. 8) (the LP was called 'Middle Man')
Indie Release [Level 4]
Well that's weird, cause it's played overhere at least twice a day on Arrow FM.....????!!!I haven't heard it yet... however, my mother can't wait to get her hands on it. I believe it's gonna be released early next year. why the wait???
Platinum Record [Level 8]
It certainly gets the most airplay out of all of his stuff, next to his ballad Look What You've Done To Me.
Disco Funk
Indie Release [Level 4]
OK, but I mean the new Jazzy version of "Lowdown" !It certainly gets the most airplay out of all of his stuff, next to his ballad Look What You've Done To Me.
Disco Funk
Wich is not to be released until next year in the US...???
Chart Hit [Level 6]
I'm glad "Silk Degrees" was a hit for Scaggs (my favorite track is the faux-reggaeish "Love Me Tomorrow") but when I listen to Scaggs' bluesy cover of "Loan Me a Dime" and his early work with the Steve Miller Band, I wonder if "Silk Degrees" really represents his own musical interests or that of his co-writer, Toto's David Paich. It's not hard to figure out why Scaggs collaborated with Paich, as Paich was at the top of his game with both Toto and on Cheryl Lynn's classic "Got to be Real".
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
:icon_confused:well yes
but Boz would have to have been clairvoyant
since both Toto and Cheryl Lynn will not appear on the scene until two years after 76's SILK DEGREES .
*****
Baby, take me
high upon a hillside
high up where the stallion
meets the sun
Platinum Record [Level 8]
I'm about three years too late to reply, but I did eventually find out there was a version of Lowdown by Joe Thomas, which would be considered jazzier.
Many people mention Silk Degrees as being a great Boz Scaggs R&B album, but that LP had him a little all over the place, experimenting with disco, reggae, ballads, and rock shuffles (Lido).
Down Two Then Left was his follow up LP in the same vein, but he stuck more to the R&B on this one. I think it's a little better than Silk Degrees for it's cohesiveness. It doesn't have any standout tracks like Lowdown or What Can I Say (or his ballad We're All Alone), but as a whole, it's a great blue-eyed soul LP.
Disco Funk
Platinum Record [Level 8]
The softy in me though likes this song from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. I'm not sure if the LP from 1980 contained any R&B tinged tunes, I've never given it a spin.
Disco Funk
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
What? You haven't heard 'Jo Jo'? It's easily my fave Boz track - it's like Toto's 'Georgie Porgy' but even better! (& Sharon Redd's on backing vocals, although she isn't in this promo video clip):
And 'Simone' from the 1980 'Middle Man' album is also fab:
...ya gotta beat the street......
Platinum Record [Level 8]
Thanks for those songs, SD. I've seen the name Jojo, but never really checked out the music from that LP. Simone is a nice track, the groove is kind of Lowdown-ish. I guess I've gotta get my hands on that LP. :)
Disco Funk
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
I always liked this one too...SLEAZY BEAT....
"DO LIKE YOU DO IN NEW YORK"
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
Chart Hit [Level 6]
This was always a favorite-listen to Lisa Dal Bello after the three minute mark!
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
That IS a nice track! Average White Band did a nice version of Miss Sun in the same year too.(I think David Foster produced both)
...ya gotta beat the street......
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
Here are two more that deserve credit..."What Can I Say" may be my alltime fave song of his...talk about "cool"....
"WHAT CAN I SAY" (1976) & "HOLLYWOOD" (1977)
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
And here's an earlier soulful Boz Scaggs from 1971---this was a staple of San Francisco rock radio in the early-mid Seventies... ah, good times!
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
Wasn't Boz from San Francisco?
...ya gotta beat the street......
Triple Platinum Record [Level 10]
Yes SanDee--he was A BIG STAR there-- before "Silk Degrees" caught on nationally.
"Lost inside adorable illusion...."
Indie Release [Level 4]
Silk Degrees has to be one of my all time favorite albums. I can listen to it almost ANY time, usually over and over. While I'd consider "Lowdown" to definitely be disco (in hindsight, anyway), I'd never really thought of the album as a whole being a "disco album", although it really could be considered so. Not in the same way as, say "Bad Birls", but in as much as any late '70s Bee Gees album could be considered a disco album. The difference being that Silk Degrees is more pop/R&B oriented whereas the Bee Gees where more pop/disco oriented.
Of the ten songs on Silk Degrees, I'd say six of them are danceable and/or disco-influenced. Two are more rock-oriented and two ballads.
The pre-Toto Toto influence has been mentioned. Not only did half of what would become Toto play on the album, but David Paich and, iirc, Steve Luthaker wrote or co-wrote most of the songs. "Love Me Tomorrow" should have been remade by Toto and put on their first album - other than Scaggs' singing, it sounds 100% like a Toto song.
"Lowdown" and "What Can I Say".... definitely as Disco as much of what was on the charts in 1976/1977.
Brian
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