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Tuesday 28 March 2017

"My Time/Slow Dancer" by BOZ SCAGGS (March 2008 Beat Goes On CD Reissue - 2LPs on 1CD - Andrew Thompson Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...


This review and hundreds more like it can also be found in my 
SOUNDS GOOD Music Book: 1960s and 1970s MUSIC Volume 2 
- Exceptional CD Remasters 
It contains over 210 in-depth reviews (a whopping 2400+ e-Pages) 
And is available to buy/download at Amazon at the following link...




"…Sharpest Cat In Town...Must Be Hercules…"

With his 1969 Atlantic Records debut album under his perfectly coiffured belt (it didn't chart in either the UK or USA) - William Royce Scaggs singed to Columbia Records in the early Seventies and hoped for bigger things.

Beat Goes On of the UK have already reissued his 2nd and 3rd albums "Moments" and "Boz Scaggs & Band" (both from 1971) onto 1CD in this series - here you get the next in line from 1972 and 1974 lumped together onto another single CD. You can literally hear the Rock/Soulful songwriter he would become with 1976's breakthrough album "Silk Degrees" coming to the fore on these records. Here are the tuneful Seventies details...

Originally UK released March 2008 (reissued 2010 and 2015) - "My Time/Slow dancer" by BOZ SCAGGS on Beat Goes On BGOCD813 (Barcode 5017261208132) features his 4th and 5th albums remastered onto one CD and breaks down as follows (69:56 minutes):

1. Dinah Flo
2. Slowly In The West
3. Full-Lock Power Slide
4. Old Time Lovin'
5. Might Have To Cry
6. Hello My Lover [Side 2]
7. Freedom For The Stallion
8. He's A Fool For You
9. We're Gonna Roll
10. My Time
Tracks 1 to 10 are his 3rd LP "My Time" - issued September 1972 in the USA on Columbia KC 31384 and in the UK on CBS S 64975
Tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 are Boz Scaggs originals. "Slowly In The West" is a David Brown (aka Norton Buffalo) cover, "Old Time Lovin'" is an Al Green cover and both "Hello My Lover" and "Freedom For The Stallion" are Allen Toussaint songs. EDDIE HINTON plays guitar on Tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 10.

11. You Make It So Hard (To Say No) [Boz Scaggs]
12. Slow Dancer [Boz Scaggs/George Daly]
13. Angel Lady (Come Just In Time) [Scaggs/Johnny Bristol/Jim McDonagh]
14. There Is Someone Else [Boz Scaggs]
15. Hercules [Allen Toussaint song/Meters cover]
16. Pain Of Love [Johnny Bristol] [Side 2]
17. Sail On White Moon [Johnny Bristol]
18. Let It Happen [Boz Scaggs/Johnny Bristol]
19. I Got Your Number [Johnny Bristol/Greg Reeves]
20. Take It For Granted [Boz Scaggs/Barry Beckett]
Tracks 11 to 20 are his 4th LP "Slow Dancer" - issued March 1974 in the USA on Columbia KC 32760 and April 1974 in the UK on CBS 65963. Songwriting credits listed track-by-track above.

The 12-page inlay has affectionate and knowledgeable liner notes by noted music writer JOHN O'REGAN and features repro'd artwork and full musician/album credits. There's a nice card-wrap on the outside of the jewel case and the sound quality is beautifully clear and punchy throughout - digitally remastered in 2008 by ANDREW THOMPSON at Sound Performance in London.

That template of Soulful Rock he would adopt for much of the Seventies and Eighties kicks in with the "Dinah Flo" opener - strings and girl singers and a slightly funky edge to his Rock. Sweeter is the ballad "Slowly In The West" which is followed by the Big-Guitars Rock of "Full-Lock Power Slide" - a sort of Joe Walsh riff that boogies along very nicely. But Side One belongs to his gorgeous cover of an Al Green Hi Records classic "Old Time Lovin'" where Boz's band sound not just comfortable but positively inhabiting the Soulfulness of the tune (big organ sound and lady singers throughout). The remaster on the love song "Might Have To Cry" is gorgeous - so sweet. Things are taken up a New Orleans notch or too with the excellent Toussaint tracks - the funky "Hello My Lover" and the Gospel feel of "Freedom For The Stallion". After the guitar-poppy "We're Gonna Roll" - the "My Time" album ends of a very Soulful note - the title track - sounding so smooth. And two of my session heroes get their moments – EDDIE HINTON plays Acoustic Guitar on Tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 10 alongside his pal BARRY BECKETT who lays down Piano on the same six tracks.

Things move a very big step towards 1976's "Silk Degrees" with the slinky "Slow Dancer album" from 1974. It opens with the very Philly strings and brass of "You Make It So Hard (To Say No)" - a hit single if ever there was one. After the smooch of "Slow Dancer" we get down to Funky business with "Angel Lady..." where Boz has clearly been listening to Stevie Wonder. After the "gotta go with someone else" pleading smooze of "There Is Someone Else" fades - we get the fantastic "Hercules" (written by Allen Toussaint and covered by The Meters) - a track that for me single-handedly elevates the whole album into something special - what a tune. This is followed by a clump of Johnny Bristol white-boy soulful jaunts like "Let It Happen" and "I Got Your Number" which are very 1974 Funk Rock.

It's not all genius for sure and his 1976 return with "Silk Degree" would finally culminate in a worldwide winner - but this is where that class started. And with the nice presentation and superb sound - a must-have for fans... 
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