Word: albums
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...intents and purposes, "Silk Degrees" was Scagg's first album--the one that established him as a high-fashion god of blue-eyed soul in the ears and minds of the record-buying public. The question then became, could he do it again, and do it as well...
...Down Two Then Left" doesn't really answer that question in any kind of satisfactory way. It's a spotty album, more or less evenly divided between rather decisive failures when Scaggs plays safe and surprising triumphs when he takes some risks. All in all, the good cuts are much more ambitious and complex than anything on "Silk Degrees," and the bad ones make one wish he'd gone down fighting instead of taking the easy...
Scaggs may be one album beyond "Silk Degrees," but never let it be said that Scaggs is one to forget from whence he came. The very first cut on the record, "Still Falling For You," is almost a note-for-note copy of "Lowdown," from the beat to the flute background to the rimshot percussion accent. Still, it is a better song than "Lowdown"--mellower, although the brass charts are pleasantly aggressive, and more lyrical overall. The chorus is a nice surprise, employing an unexpected chord progression that grows maddeningly on the listener despite the fact that it's virtually...
...album's strongest cuts are the ones that are unlike "Silk Degrees," the ones that diverge from it or take it a step further. They show how good Scaggs can be when he sticks his neck out a little. "1993," an appropriately spacy tung, is closer to rock and roll than anything he's played for years. There's nothing fancy here, beyond some tricky synthesizer effects; nothing lyrically precious or musically cute. In that it's a return to basics, it's a divergence from the style Scaggs has come to be known for, and it works. Jeff Porcaro...
...album's best track is "Hollywood." Look for this song to be blasting out of jukeboxes and car radios across America very soon. It quite literally has everything--a musical hook that won't quit; a lyric tag you won't be able to forget; strong, simple orchestration; and best of all, a sly and casual vocal with Scaggs fitting his voice to the lyrics as well as he's ever done. The song is fully within the "Silk Degrees" style, but it shows a sure touch, a confidence and sense of command that's nowhere in evidence...