Silk Degrees [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

I've heard this album referred to as a 'guilty pleasure'. I agree wholeheartedly with the pleasure, but why the guilt? There's nothing remotely kitsch or corny about it - or about any album that utilises top flight session men, terrific songwriting and bang on the money production to give the listener the aural equivalent of lounging beside the pool, drinking a cocktail on a tropically warm day. Because that's exactly the vibe this album conveys: according to the liner notes, everyone had a ball making it, and it shows! The good humour is infectious....put on this album when you're in an average to depressed mood, and it'll lift you up.

Most people are already familiar with the singles - 'What Can I Say', 'Lowdown' and 'Lido Shuffle' and Rita Coolidge helped make 'We're All Alone' into something of a standard. But, trust me, everything else on here is just as good...and we also get the bonus of Boz delivering three of the tracks in a live setting, to prove he and his terrific band could duplicate the vibe they created in the studio.

This is an essential album of its kind and there are moments that can only be filled by it: buy it, keep it and treasure it, is my advice to you!

Boz Scaggs is a unique and marvellous singer. His soulful voice can be, in turn, silky-smooth and sensual or funky and upbeat, depending on the material, but it is always compelling. This voice comes through superbly on all the ten great tunes originally featured on the original "Silk Degrees" (sse below for details regarding the bonus tracks).

Scaggs, a solid composer in its own right, wrote three tracks on his own, co-wrote five more with David Paich. Paich contributed the delightful "Love Me Tomorrow" by himself while the remaining tune is a cover of Allen Toussaint's excellent "What Do You Want the Girl to Do" (also covered by Lowell George and Bonnie Raitt among others).

Stylistically, the compositions offer a delightful blend of Philly soul, pop and rock (which makes sense in view of Scaggs' previous musical output both solo or with the Steve Miller Band). Producer Joe Wissert is a veteran producer who had brought Earth, Wind and Fire to Columbia among other things.

The recording, which first appeared on vinyl, was excellent in the first place (I have kept my mint US LP). It really shines in all its splendour on this newly remastered CD (from 2007) that is the work of Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine. The new version betters the previous, already very good first Columbia/Legacy reissue which came out as a gold plated CD in 1996. By the way, this CD sonically dwarfs the early Columbia CD which suffered from dull sound due both to the mastering being from LP production tapes).

The production is very slick and sophisticated thanks to the arrangements by future Toto's keyboardist David Paich, the orchestral direction (strings and brass) by Sid Sharp, to the soulful back-up vocals and to the sheer artistry of all the musicians involved.
Most importantly, the tunes feature strong melodies and great hooks. I do not find one weak track here but my personal favourites are "Georgia", "What Do You Want the Girl to Do", "Harbor Lights", "Lowdown" and "We're All Alone". Rita Coolidge's fine cover of the latter track would bring her a US # 7 pop single in 1977.

The edition under review brings the added bonus of previously live recordings of "What Can I Say", "Jump Street" and "It's Over" which were recorded at the Greek Theatre in L.A. during August of 1976. These three tracks are proof enough that Boz Scaggs could deliver the goods as well in concert as he did in the studio. Although Columbia never did release any live Scaggs material, any Boz Scaggs fan can confidently buy "Boz Scaggs Greatest Hits Live" recorded in 2004. This 2-CD David Paich production, which was released on Gray Cat Records, includes four live recordings from "Lowdown", "Harbor Lights", "Georgia" and "Lido Shuffle" that appeared on "Silk Degrees".

"Silk Degrees" proved to be Boz Scaggs greatest success - artistically and commercially - with the album reaching the # 2 slot (Pop) and the # 6 slot (Black) on the US album charts. It spawned four Top 50 US pop singles, the biggest being "Low Down" which reached the US Top 3. It confirmed him as a career artist.

The point must be stressed that this Boz Scaggs album is quite different from his first four previous major labels offerings (released 1969 - 1972), which relied more heavily on simpler arrangements and had much more of a blues and southern R&B influence to them. "Slow Dancer" proves more in line with its immediate predecessor "Slow Dancer". In "Silk Degrees", some slight disco influences creep in, and the - quite tasteful - synthesizer work is more prominent.

Although both "Slow Dancer" and its follow-up "Silk Degrees" were not to the taste of some early followers of Scaggs earlier career, I personally treasure all of Boz Scaggs recordings and find that the archetypical mid-70's "Silk Degrees" has stood the test of time remarkably well.

This latest edition comes with a 12-page booklet including excellent notes from former "Rolling Stone" scribe Bud Scoppa who championed this LP in "Phonograph Record Magazine" at the time of release. The booklet is adorned by the original outer LP sleeve from talented original photographer Moshe Brakha. One alternate shot from the LP inner sleeve and two extra pictures from the session have been added.

More than three decades after its release, nobody can deny that Boz Scaggs recorded one of the definitive albums of the seventies, a record that is very much of its time while still pulsing with the immediacy of fresh invention.

Boz Scaggs was just about the coolest musician of the 1970's and Silk Degrees is the moment the whole world realised it. Every radio station in the US, UK and Australia etc.. were pumping out the effortless hits from this sublime album for more than a year after its release. DJ's still carry "Lido Shuffle" in their box of tricks and it is, along with the smooth funky "Lowdown", one of the defining sounds of the 1970's. Boy could Boz teach the current crop of phoney funksters a thing or two. But unlike so many records of the time, all ten tracks on Silk Degress are outstanding. From the opening bars of the hit single "What Can I Say" to the beautiful "We're all Alone", this is a journey of some of the finest songwriting of the 20th century. Its why the understated Boz Scaggs is a living legend, and one of the coolest ever.