Put somethin' better inside of me
You brought me into the light"
I was an insomniac in college. I purposely didn't have any classes start before 10:00 AM because I would often be up till 3 or 4 in the morning. Thinking back, going on a Taco Bell run at midnight and inhaling Mexican pizza and large Mountain Dews probably contributed heavily to this self diagnosed sleep disorder. In the wee hours of the night I was usually left to my own as roommates preferred to knock out classes earlier in the day.. Yeah I was that guy who had the 7pm class. So during the quite of the night if I couldn't find Gumby or Three's Company reruns I would watch Time Life music infomercials.
So this was right before people were getting the oh so coveted cd burner so you could make your own mix CD's. It was also a few years before Napster and the streaming age took over. Time Life would put together CD collections with some great songs that would cost a lot of money to grab all the tunes. I remember the love themed one hosted by Air Supply and the slow jams soul album called "Quiet Storm" (love that title) but the one that caught my attention was "Smooth 70's." Not only did I dig the songs but this one was a 2 CD collection instead of the 10 or 12 discs which made it more economically feasible for a college student. These were tunes as a kid I'd hear in the air from the radio or my parents record collection so I suppose I found comfort and familiarity in them. One of the gold star tunes for me on the compilation was Summer Breeze by Seals and Crofts. Why? I have no idea but I still love it.
Not sure when it happened but these smooth 70's tunes I loved so much were relabeled as Yacht Rock. Fortunately for me Sirius/XM has a whole channel dedicated to this genre. After listening for a few years I feel that they may replay the same one hour of music but it doesn't bother me because I dig almost all of the selections. From Hall & Oates to Rupert Homes to my beloved Seal and Crofts, it's all there waiting for me. Another Yacht Rock regular is Gerry Rafferty. Best know for his epic sax fueled tune Baker Street. Another song in rotation by Mr. Rafferty is Right Down the Line. Worth revisiting for sure but for this post I wanted to share the stripped down cover version by the band Lucious.
I took this picture from the balcony of the Durham Performing Arts Center back in March of 2018. Yeah I know I complained about people taking pictures at shows but I was in the balcony and nobody was behind me. All's I ask is to just be aware of your surroundings. I first heard Lucious on a "relaxing indie playlist" I pulled up on Amazon music. I was immediately entranced by the harmonies Jess and Holly were belting out. So much power and range coming out of two people. After doing further digging I discovered they had sung back-up on one of my favorite albums by Jeff Tweedy called Sukierae. They've also collaborated with Lukas Nelson, Mavis Staples and oh yeah toured the world with Roger Waters. Check out the Wilderwoman and Nudes albums if you dig what you're hearing. And go get some goosebumps and catch them live whenever we can do that again. Happy Mother's Day everyone!
