Hey, this is Nick. And this is Peter at the Yacht
Rock Review. And you're listening to My Weekly
Mixtape with Brian Colburn. Welcome to My Weekly
Mixtape, a podcast that takes the classic mixtape
approach to building a modern playlist. I'm your
host, Brian Colburn. Joining me tonight is Nick
Nespagiani and Peter Olson from Yacht Rock Review.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me tonight.
What's up? Happy to be here. Yeah. Well, tonight
I get to start by asking you both my first time
guest question. So I guess Peter, we'll start
with you. What does the word mixtape mean to
you? Mixtape has such a feel associated with,
for me, it was like a way to communicate. with
my friends growing up. Like you'd make a mixtape
if you were excited about something, you'd make
a mixtape for a girlfriend or a potential girlfriend.
But it's just like a collection of songs that
mean something personally to you. Nick, same
question to you. I remember listening to mixtapes
in Peter's basement in elementary school that
he had made. Like mixtapes go way back for me
and same kind of thing. Definitely. In wooing
various girlfriends, including my wife, the right
mixtape at the right time was always crucial.
So having that knowledge of how to flow from
song to song and really strike a mood, that's
what a mixtape's about. And that's what we're
going to attempt to do tonight, creating the
ultimate Yacht Rock playlist. This is one that
several of the mixtapers have been requesting
for quite a while. And I don't think there could...
possibly be a better pair of experts on this
subject. So for those who might not be familiar
with the term Yacht Rock, Nick, could you give
us maybe a Cliff Notes version of the spirit
of what Yacht Rock is? Yacht Rock is soft rock
and AM gold made between 1976 and 1984, primarily
by session musicians in Southern California.
Your biggest Yacht Rock artists are going to
include Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Boss
Gags, and Steely Dan. Nick, anything you'd like
to add on the genre? No, I think that's the cliff
notes right there. That's pretty much it. You
can tell I've done this a few times. I know how
to describe Yacht Rock as Yacht Rock is supposed
to be described. Well, there you have it. Then,
Nick, I'll throw this next question to you. With
your ever -expanding playlist over the years,
which covers the full spectrum of the genre,
how did you go about honing in on the songs you
wanted to bring to the discussion tonight? It
was very difficult to narrow it down to my songs.
Luckily, I saw Peter's songs before I had to
do mine, so he knocked out some of the essentials.
I think about if I'm trying to describe Yacht
Rock to someone who just has no idea what I'm
talking about, which songs are the ones that
strike the mood most immediately? And that's
where I chose my songs from. Yeah, so I was trying
to keep in line with what the masses might refer
to as Yacht Rock. I did my best. I certainly
strayed a little bit. But also songs that I've
got some personal connection to, whether it be
the artists that wrote or sang them or... just
how they work in our set with our band. And personally,
I'm just hoping to bring enough cool to this
mix to keep things sailing smoothly with you
both tonight. No pun intended. But with that
said, let's get down to business. Tonight, as
I mentioned at the top of the show, Peter, Nick,
and I will be curating the ultimate yacht rock
mixtape, and we'll use the old cassette deck
approach. Since I have two guests this evening,
the format will be slightly altered, as Peter
will begin side A with his first song choice,
and then we'll roundtable the panel until we've
mapped out 10 songs for side A. We'll then give
our mixtape a proverbial flip and we'll map out
side B. Only this time, Nick will kick off the
roundtable discussions. Our overall goal for
the episode is to craft the best yacht rock mixtape
possible through only 20 songs. At the end of
the show, you can take our conversation to the
next level by visiting the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com to give our final mixtape a listen. via
the embedded playlist. And if you like what you're
hearing on the show, you can help me out by either
telling a friend, leaving the show a five -star
review wherever you're tuning in, or becoming
a Patreon mixtaper at patreon .com forward slash
myweeklymixtape. There you can enjoy ad -free
episodes of the show, become a future guest,
and so much more. And I want to take this moment
to welcome brand new Patreon mixtaper Chris Pazica
to the Patreon mixtaper family. Looking forward
to talking with you in the forums. And with that
said, a few of the fellow Patreon mixtapers chimed
in with the songs they would use to kick off
this evening's festivities. And I'd like to give
a quick shout out to those. Christopher Cross
got a lot of love tonight as Chad LaMassa chimed
in with Sailing and Sherry Thomas chimed in with
Ride Like the Wind. Tom Hutchinson chimed in
with Steely Dan's Dirty Work and Eagles Take
It Easy. Philip Bergman chimed in with Kool and
the Gang's Hollywood Swinging. Sean Goff chimed
in saying that he grew up with his father playing
Ambrosia, Player, and Little River Band, so he
listened to a lot of yacht rock as a kid. But
after careful consideration, he starts off with
Exile's Kiss You All Over. And Seeker is chiming
in with, and I quote, the yachtiest rock that
ever rocked a yacht, that being Jerry Rafferty's
Baker Street. And once again, if you want to
chime in for future My Weekly Mixtape episodes,
you can join us at patreon .com forward slash
My Weekly Mixtape. All right, Peter, the time
has come. Let's set sail on our Yacht Rock playlist
with your first song choice to kick off side
A. All right, so I'm going to start with a disclaimer
that it's impossible to narrow down the perfect,
essential Yacht Rock playlist. into 20 songs
which genre is much too vast to squeeze it down
that being said i have selected the perfect track
to lead off this mixtape with george benson's
turn your love around composed by bill champlin
of chicago fame and steve lukather from toto
as well as jay grayton who's known for uh doing
lots of work with Steely Dan and it's uh the
opening to this tune when you listen to the track
and also when we play it live it's one of those
songs that just sinks into you a little bit it's
not like there are so many songs where when it
kicks off all of a sudden your fist is in the
air and this one I think more just like leans
you back into the couch a little bit and feels
it's so silky But at the same time, it's an irresistible
dance jammer that sets off the dance floor, I
think, pretty much every time. Yeah, I feel like
when that first string note comes in and the
beat comes in, everybody knows they know what
song it is, but they're not sure what song it
is. They know they know this song, but they're
not positive what it is. And I think that that
is one of the great... elements of yacht rock
is that these songs everybody knows them but
they can't always say oh yeah that was george
benson or oh yeah that was ace or whoever it
was and i think that little bit of mystery that
comes with it you know because you they're not
sure that this is turn your love around until
the chorus hits and it's turn your love around
right like that's the aspect of this song that
i love Well, it reached number five on the Billboard
U .S. Hot 100 and number one on the R &B singles.
You had mentioned the writers of the song, Jay
Graydon, who produced the track. I actually find
it pretty humorous that he admitted at one point
that he came up with the melody for this song
on the toilet of all places. This is a song that
pretty much the players on the track include.
I guess you could say all the Toto because Steve
Lukather, David Peitch and Jeff Piccaro all play
on this song. And I always like to bring in cover
versions when possible. In 1995, Tony DeBart
covered this in a Eurodance style. And that charted
in the UK, Netherlands, and Belgium. Unfortunately,
never made a splash in the US. But if you like
that 90s Eurodance sound and you want to hear
a fun version of Turn Your Love Around, definitely
look up Tony DeBart's cover. But moving on from
there. We are going to go to you, Nick, to choose
track two. Now, I mean, things got serious very
quickly because when you hear the wind come in
and the ominous opening notes of this Christopher
Cross classic, you know, Yacht Rock is more than
just pini coladas and backing vocals. Like, this
is a serious, serious song. Ride Like the Wind,
Christopher Cross. Nice. This is one I would
say that in our set is more of a rocker than
most of your yacht rock. It leans heavier on
the rock. And the thing that I really love about
this song, honestly, is I always think about
the Rick Moranis SCTV sketch in which she is
playing Michael McDonald coming into the studio.
We've been obsessed with this sketch since the
first show of Yacht Rock Review. And we would
be playing in this very small basement club.
And I would always want to do the Michael McDonald
from the microphone, like way, you know, over
at the bar and then have to climb over people
just to get back in time, barely to sing such
a long way to go. And I'll just always think
about the SCTV Rick Moranis. We actually recreated
it with Peter and a shaker for a promo reel for
our new single, which I was pretty proud of.
It was pretty fun. What's interesting about our
position with these tunes, like not only performing
them, and which would maybe give us a little
upper hand as an expert, as you said, is that
we get to see what these songs do to people.
And you would never assume that Christopher Cross
is just like Nick said, just a rock artist, right?
You would never classify him as a rock artist.
But when we get into Ride Like the Wind, People
are reacting like they would to Bon Jovi. I mean,
they're just deep into it and it's got so much
energy. And part of that is because of the energy,
I think, that we put into it. But you can hear
that on the track and it's still Christopher
Cross's silky smooth vocal, you know, that sails
over the top of this. But Ride Like Elaine is
a jam. Quick side note, though, if you haven't
seen Christopher Cross live, he's a shredder
on guitar. The dude can play super fast, knows
all the scales. He's a total shredder, which
listening to sailing, you don't assume that Christopher
Cross is a guitar shredder like Eddie Van Halen,
but he totally is. He's amazing. Well, I want
to give a shout out again to Patreon mixtaper
Sherry Thomas, who chimed in with this one. Christopher
Cross got a lot of love on the Patreon mixtaper
channel. And the song reached number two on the
Billboard US Hot 100. And obviously you talked
about Michael McDonald's instantly recognizable
backing vocals on the track. And I don't know
what it is, but 90s dance. Really dove into Yacht
Rock because in 1991, East Side Beat released
a dance cover of Ride Like the Wind that charted
as high as number four in Belgium, Ireland and
Spain and hit number three on the UK singles
chart. So it's not moving the needle here in
the US, but these Yacht Rock songs. are seeing
a second life a decade later in the European
dance scene, which I think is just ridiculous.
Bizarre. We were busy with Technotronic in the
CNC Music Factory. Yes. That's true. Well, following
both of those gems up here, this is tough because
now I've got two home runs and I've got to go
with something that is going to show that I can
hang in the Yacht Rock category. But I have my
rock side of me that always wants to come out.
And this was a song that when I've listened to
this group growing up with my parents and I listened
to the Deja Vu album and I listened to songs
like Long Time Gone, when first the words Crosby,
Stills, Nash came up with Yacht Rock, I'm like,
I don't know if that really counts. But then
when you put on Southern Cross, yes, this is
Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Going the Yacht Rock
route. The video on MTV screams everything about
it. They're literally on the boat called the
Southern Cross. And there you've got Crosby,
Stills and Nash all singing together. However,
David Crosby did not reunite with the band prior
to this song getting recorded. So he's not on
the studio version of the track. Really? Yeah.
He does not sing on the studio version, which
I thought was ridiculously interesting because
if you listen to the harmonies, it feels like
he's there, but he's not. Right. And then obviously
Parrot Heads and there's a whole Is Jimmy Buffett
Yacht Rock? Regardless, they're familiar with
Southern Cross as well because on his... Tuesdays,
Thursdays, and Saturdays live album, Jimmy Buffett
covered this song as well. Unfortunately, though,
no Eurodance versions of Southern Cross. I'll
tell you, people love it when we play this song.
It's not one that I would have ever really categorized
as yacht rock, honestly, of my own power. But
I was like, oh, people are going to love this
song. Let's just do it. The sing -along factor
is undeniable. Undeniable. And as a fan of, like,
60s Crosby, Sills, and Nash, it's easy for me
to just get right in the lane with this one.
Yeah, same thing. I feel like there's maybe a
little hesitation when we get into this tune
live, but, you know, the form of the tune is
A, B, C, A, B, C, and the pre -chorus and the
chorus sections of this song, they hit every
time. And I think there's something about just,
you know, it's clearly less folky than the early
Crosby, Sills, and Nash. music but it's like
if you heard this in a what you call a yacht
rock playlist at like the dentist's office or
home depot or whatever like it fits right in
where these songs you can kind of jump in and
out of when they're in the background and you
know they can grab you and they had so many pieces
to latch on to but they're all also interesting
and like the structures are a little complex
so that like nick was saying even With the familiarity
to the music, there's a mystery about these songs
on different levels that I think have kept them
intriguing all this time. And with that, we're
throwing it back to you, Peter, for track four.
All right. So fourth on the next tape, we've
got Love Will Find A Way by Pablo Cruz. Growing
up, I just caught like the tail end of the Yacht
Rock era. So some of these songs I was very familiar
with. Not as familiar as people a little older
than me that these songs got drilled on the radio
or whatever. So part of it, learning these songs
in the band was a bit of a discovery process.
And I actually was not really familiar with Pablo
Cruz, but I love this song. It's got kind of
that rock groove at the beginning, but then when
the verse kicks in, the milky Fender Rhodes or
Whirly or whatever's on there. Kind of sets it
into the Yacht Rock vibe. And it's a lot of fun
to play this one. So I've just always liked it
since we learned it. One thing this song has
in common with a lot of other Yacht Rock songs
is that it's incredibly difficult to sing. The
male vocal just goes up into the stratosphere
and he's doing some acrobatics up there. I mean,
so many of these Yacht Rock singers were just...
these singers singer, you know, like they're,
they're these pure guys with pure voices who
can just physically do anything. And I think
the vocal take on this track is just incredible
and always a challenge for me to say always challenge.
The track reached number six on the U .S. Billboard
Hot 100, as well as number eight in Australia
and number five in Canada. So worldwide hit here.
I always like to give the PSA that Pablo Cruz,
along with Marshall Tucker and Jethro Tull and
Leonard Skinner are band names. His name is not
Pablo Cruz. That's the band name. I just want
to put that out there. PSA for everyone. And
for me, I love the tone. that david jenkins has
on his guitar on this track it's clean and it
cuts through the song but there's just enough
reverb to keep it smooth in line with the other
yacht rock songs of the time yeah he's uh and
going back sorry going back to his vocal it's
like a blue -eyed soul track like the you know
like he's it's an r b style singing over a track
that's really just kind of straight ahead blues
almost david jenkins Bad man. Yeah. That he is.
And Nick, with that, we're heading back to you
now for track five. So this song is one that
I'm excited about because it's a new addition
to our set list this year. It is the most requested
song every time we've asked what Yacht Rock songs
we haven't played. do you, our fans, want us
to play? What do you guys want to hear? This
has always been number one on the list, and it's
Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald and his solo
career from the Running Scared soundtrack starring
Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal. I love it because
it's got the MIDI keyboard loop. That thing,
entire song, it goes the whole way. Never stops.
Even when the chords go off into jazz land, they
just keep that ostinato rolling. And it shouldn't
work, but it totally works. I love the energy
of this song, and I'm really excited to play
it live on our 2024 tour. I love the way that
Michael McDonald, it's almost like he's telling
a story in this tune. He's in no hurry. The style
of the burst just comes real slow, like he's
leading you somewhere. And while the music is
really pretty intense with that midi loop going
on, and then it just builds and builds to the
chorus, and the horns on this track are wicked,
and it has so much energy for a Yacht Rock track.
I just love the energy. There's just certain
names and voices that are synonymous with Yacht
Rock, like Nick was talking about at the top
of the episode. I think Michael McDonald, be
it his solo work or what he did with the Doobie
Brothers, is certainly one name that cannot be
omitted from a Yacht Rock mix. This song reached
number seven on the Billboard US Hot 100 and
also charted in the UK and Canada. Once again,
dance got a hold of a Yacht Rock staple because
Danish electronic percussion duo, Sapphire I
duo covered the song with Michael McDonald in
the 1990s. And it charted across Europe going
as high as number two in Spain. However, I'm
a big fan of cover songs and even rock bands
get a hold of it because in 2001, Phantom Planet
covered the song for the perfectly titled Not
Another Teen Movie, which if you love 80s music
and you love cover songs, that whole soundtrack
is amazing. Apparently, we need to do a new mixtape
that's just 90s Euro dance covers of dot rock
songs. That's what I'm learning so far. There
are so many. It actually blew my mind when I
saw how many Yacht Rock songs became dance staples
at one point. Amazing. All right. With that,
now we are back to me for track six. And I'm
going to stick with this movies theme. We just
talked about Not Another Teen Movie and 80s movies
and stuff like that. I'm going to go with one
that's from the 1980s. classic and that would
be fast times at ridge mount high and i'm not
going with the song that everyone out there is
probably thinking of immediately which is moving
in stereo by the cars for different reasons one
it's not yacht rock and two um yeah But we're
going to go with the hit track from that. The
lead single, which reached number seven on the
U .S. Billboard Hot 100, Somebody's Baby by Jackson
Browne. The song also charted in Australia and
Canada as well. Again, this is an artist very
much like Crosby, Stills and Nash that you don't
normally align with Yacht Rock. But for some
reason, he just hit the nail on the head with
Somebody's Baby and it flows perfectly into the
Yacht Rock sound. If you listen to Jackson Browne's
earlier music, sure, I'm sure you could pull
some songs from it and include them in the set.
I just don't know if it would hit the same way
that somebody's baby would. Yeah, I think there
must have been something. I feel like the 80s
were happening, right? Southern California was
not immune to what was going on with 80s music.
So this was a little later in the Yacht Rock
era or whatever. And I feel like. Artists like
Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills, and Nash are
just kind of like, oh, well, we'll just kind
of taste a little bit of what's going on with
popular music right now or something like that.
But it certainly fits right in with all the other
Yacht Rock songs. And this was the first song.
I was never a lead vocalist in the band. I've
shared a little bit of vocal duties in the past
in bands that we've been in before. And I think
this was the first song that I... sang in the
Yacht Rock show. And that's something that's
interesting about our band is that we've got
various lead vocalists in the group and everyone's
got a different timbre and range and style. And
so it's really fun when a song lands with you
that really fits your style of singing. So the
song in particular pushes my range a little bit
because it's limited, but we've played this song
countless times. I have no idea how many. And
it's... It's a little bit of a love -hate. People
ask, which song have you played so many times
that you just can't stand it anymore? Certainly,
some songs wear on you, but it's fun. It always
comes back around, and you get to explore these
songs inside and out. So I've always really liked
this song. Pete, you've probably sang this song
on stage more than you've sang lead vocals on
any other song ever. That's my prediction. I
think that's probably true. This is the one in
the set list where it's like, oh, we need a Pete
song here and he needs to like be a banger that
really connects with the crowd. Like this one
is just automatic. People always love this song
and it's so simple and it doesn't really have
a lot of rise and fall. It kind of stays like
right at the same level the whole time, which
somehow completely works in a way that you wouldn't
expect it to. Yeah. Jackson Brown is a master
and this is a master at work. All right, Peter,
we're back to you now for track seven. All right,
track seven. So we had the distinguished honor
last year of getting to tour with Kenny Loggins
on his final This Is It tour. We played a dozen
or more shows with him around the country and
got the chance to see him and his band play night
after night and how they work and how Kenny.
training up his vocal to brush it absolutely
every single time. And so for track seven on
the mixtape, I selected the Kenny Loggins co
-pen with Michael McDonald, I Gotta Try, which
Nick can allude to the story of it, but we worked
it up for a little bit and got his blessing to
perform it at some of the shows we opened for
him, right? Yeah, in Los Angeles and at the last
show in Santa Barbara. Yeah. But it's a tune
that was kind of not on my radar. Nick brought
this one up to the group. And I don't think it
was, I'm sure you've got the chart information,
but it wasn't a huge hit. And both Kenny and
Michael released the song within a month of each
other. Yeah, really close. And of course, they've
got Yacht Rock studio musicians all over both
tracks. And the version we did, I think, was
a little closer to Michael's. But it's just such
a great song. The various versions, that's evidence
of a great song when it can be performed in various
ways, kind of like you're talking about with
cover versions. I mean, a song is a song is a
song. And so you can do it in different styles
and it still comes across every time. So I love
I Gotta Try. Yeah, I always knew the Michael
McDonald version more than I knew the Kenny Loggins
version. I don't know that I was even aware of
the Kenny Loggins version until somewhat recently.
And his version is much more. 80s, whereas Michael's
is a little more like kind of soul. And it's
very interesting to see two guys who co -wrote
a song together have such different takes on
how that song gets realized in the recording
studio. And I remember, as Peter said, we talked
to Kenny about maybe doing one of his songs and
asked him if we could do it at one of the shows.
And he said, yeah, you got to play it for me
and soundcheck first. And so it's the YouTube
theater in Los Angeles. We're at soundcheck and
we recorded this song, but only rehearsed it
a few times. And we go up there on stage and
there's nobody out in this entire theater out
there, except for just Kenny Loggins sitting
there like judging. And he's not very judgmental
at all, but like, you know, you feel like he's
judging. Yeah. And he's jamming along and feeling
it the whole time. And then at the end, he just
looks up and he says, you guys need to turn the
bass up and then just pieces out. It was an awesome
night. Super memorable. It's a great tune. I'm
the actual opposite of you. I knew Kenny Loggins'
version first and found out about the Michael
McDonald version second. I was a kid that grew
up 80s soundtracks. Kenny Loggins was the man
between, you know, Footloose, Danger Zone from
Top Gun, I'm Alright from Caddyshack, Nobody's
Fool from Caddyshack 2, Meet Me Halfway from
Over the Top. So I dove into his catalog and
that's how I got... introduced to i gotta try
and it wasn't until i started listening to the
doobie brothers and going into michael's catalog
that i realized the connection of the two on
kenny logan's version richard page and steve
george of mr mr doing the background vocals on
that one which i with that i guess maybe gives
it a little bit of an edge for me i think both
versions are great but like you said they're
distinctly different but still the same song
and at the end of the day the song is strong
enough that both versions worked well. I'm just
kind of surprised that neither one truly made
a dent on the charts at all. So shocking, but
it's a great song. And with that, Nick, we're
throwing it to you for track eight. Ah, yes.
So if there's one song that you have to play
at every Yacht Rock show, it is Africa by Toto.
You know, it's less so this way now that our
repertoire is expanded and our... Crowds are
bigger and we aren't so much at the mercy of
the crowd. But when we were playing small theaters,
people need to hear the chorus of Africa. And
there have been, you know, so many, I feel like
there's even been a TED talk on like the greatness
of this song. Like you can't get into hyperbole
and overstate the greatness of the song because
it speaks for itself. It's like a billion streams.
This is the song that really crossed over from
yacht rock into pop. in a way. This was a Michael
Jackson level pop song that was also one of the
smoothest songs ever written. Peter talked earlier
about which songs annoy you, blah, blah, blah.
This song honestly has never really annoyed me
that much because even though we have to play
it every night, it's just a great song. Yeah.
I don't know what else to say about Africa, except
that it's just a little piece of perfection.
It really is. And what kind of random lyrics
and song, like what is this song really saying?
I don't know, but the production, the magic happened
on this one for sure. It's a beautiful tune and
it hits every time we play it. It connects every
single time. And I feel like it does the same
thing. just in life when this song comes on everybody
you know latches on to a look like if this song
if you walk into a restaurant or a store where
africa is playing you get into it oh by all means
my group culbert and company's been playing this
song for well over a decade and once that opening
riff hits People could be doing anything and
it's almost like they stop and turn around and
they're now invested. And it's not one of the
easiest songs to hit if you're going for the
high notes without hitting some falsettos, especially
at the end of the night, which is usually when
most people want to hear it. For the guy that
has to hit the high notes, sometimes I prefer
it to be earlier in the night, but the rest of
the band's going, no, no, let's shelve that for
later. And I'm like, yeah, great. When it's the
hardest time to sing, thankfully. You could back
off the mic at that point because everybody's
singing with you. And that's what I love about
the song. Reach number one on the Billboard US
Hot 100. We talked about this on episode 49,
which was the ultimate number one hits of the
1980s. It also hit number one in Canada and cracked
the top 10 in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Switzerland, and the UK. NPR, just
to be edgy, I think, in 2019. added the song
to their worst songs of all time list, saying,
and I quote, it's the moistest, dampest song
and then the synth. I honestly couldn't disagree
with that more because I think they were just
angry that a year earlier, Weezer's cover hit
number 51 on the US Hot 100 and reintroduced
the song to an entire new generation of... kids
and millennials who never heard the original.
So now the song holds different levels, whether
it's the Toto or the Weezer version of the track.
Bobby Kimball is an acrobat on that team. There's
improv vocals at the end of the song that everyone
loves to sing along to. They're just incredible.
The way he tells it, the way they would choose
the keys of songs is they would find out how
high Bobby could go, and then that's where they
would set it. And then they would ask him to
sing it night after night after night. No pressure,
right? I think they would say like how high he
thought he could go. And then they would set
it like three steps higher than that. Make him
go for it and then expect him to do it every
day. I mean, it's just so ridiculously high.
And what a monster track to have to follow up.
So you've got this crowd pleaser, this anthem
that I've got to follow up with next. I think
I know a way to do it that's going to bring in
younger people as well as the older original
Yacht Rock crowd. This was actually the first
song by a Native American band to reach the top
five on the Billboard US Hot 100. And the song
reached number five from 1973's Wovoka. I'm going
to go with Red Bones, Come and Get Your Love.
If the name of that song sounds slightly familiar
to you and you're younger. Guardians of the Galaxy
Volume 1 and Volume 3 and Avengers Endgame. Peter
Quill or Star -Lord Awesome Mix Volume 1. Come
on, you know the song. And with it now becoming
a trend, 1995 German Euro dance group Real McCoy
covered the song for their U .S. debut album
Another Night. And that version cracked the top
20 on the Billboard U .S. Hot 100 reaching number
19, and also cracked the top 10 in Canada, Europe,
Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe.
So outside of the U .S., there's a good chance
that people don't even realize Real McCoy's song
is actually a cover. That's crazy. Red Bull,
what a classic jam. This song just feels so good.
I love the groove in this tune. and it's different
than a lot of the other yacht rock music that
was made by the session musicians in southern
california because they were also technically
trained or you know they could tread on whatever
instrument it is that they play but there was
similarly to the way that there was magic when
africa was recorded this has the same thing but
it's more of like the stars align for the feeling
of the tune i don't know what it is about this
song especially since like A lot of it is a little
indistinguishable. I mean, I really, we just
started doing this one recently. We're going
to be playing it later this year. And I had no
idea what the lyrics were. We had to read them
to understand what was going on. But great tune.
Love this one. Yeah, it's like, it's very early,
almost like pre -Yacht Rock. We called it Plymouth
Rock, you know, like the Yacht Rock before the
yacht. But it's also like got... I think this
is what you were relating to, Peter. It's got
some garagey elements to it. These aren't the
super shredder Toto guys backing up Boz Skaggs
on Silk Degrees. This is a completely different
feeling. I remember when we were first learning
all the Yacht Rock tunes, we had DVDs of the
Midnight Special that we were passing around
because this is before everything was on YouTube.
We passed these around and seeing them perform
this song, Midnight Special, with the full Native
American headdress and everything. I was like,
oh, that's these guys' background, or that was
part of their music. So that was kind of a learning
experience for me. All right. Peter, you started
Side A, so now you get to close out Side A with
your final pick. This song was a no -brainer,
and I know that if I wouldn't have selected it,
Nick would have. It's a top 20 yacht rock essential
for sure, and that is Robbie Dupree's 1980 classic,
Steal Away. It's just got the total Yacht Rock
vibe. It's got such a beautiful voice. It's kind
of like Christopher Cross singing a Michael McDonald
song or something. It's just the perfect mesh
of all the Yacht Rock worlds. And we've been
playing this one since day one. And certainly
there's a flow to our set in terms of songs that
are up or down. I mean, you can't keep people
at 11 for an entire show, or at least not in
a Yacht Rock show. And you would think that this
one is kind of one of the mellower moments, but
it's a song that people groove just as hard to
and love to sing along to. And we've had the
pleasure of playing with Robbie and knowing him
for quite a long time now. And one of my favorite
stories about this incredibly lucky career path
that we've been on is that we were playing, you
mentioned Weezer. This was pre -Africa Weezer.
We played aboard the Weezer Cruise musical festival.
And so we're on there and the, I can't remember
if it was the bass player or the drummer of Weezer
had brought along a friend who stopped Nick and
I in the aisle of, the theater and said, hey,
you guys are great. You're amazing. I caught
your set. I really love what you're doing. And
we're staring at this guy like we kind of know
who he is, so we can't place him. And we're like,
oh, what are you doing here? And he says, oh,
I'm friends with one of the guys at Weezer. I
just came along. And it turns out that it's Brian
Ray, who at the time was touring with Paul McCartney.
Wow. And also... Just happened to be the guitar
player, the recording guitar player on Robbie
Priest's Steal Away. So after that cruise, he
called up Robbie and said, hey, reach out to
this band Yacht Rock. They're doing something
really cool. And we got a call from him and we've
been friends ever since and had the pleasure
of playing with Brian as well. And so this song
is really meaningful, I think, to everyone in
the band. So always love this one. In terms of
rock songs that have a special place in my heart,
this probably ranks number one. It was the one
yacht rock song that my wife insisted be played
at our wedding. It's always been special for
us. And then it's just really inspiring to be
around an old timer and get to know them in an
intimate way and understand everything that they've
been through. You know, most people just think
of Robbie Dupree as... the steal away guy, like
the one hit wonder guy, but he's so much more
than that. There are so many more layers and
getting to experience that on a personal level
with him has been really a highlight of our career,
as Peter said. Well, the song reached number
six on the U .S. Billboard Hot 100 and also charted
in Australia and Canada. And as far as cover
versions go, well, actually, before I get into
that, let me play this. Just like you told me
Then show me What I want to know Why don't we
steal away Why don't we steal away Into the night
I know it ain't right What you're hearing now
is a clip of Yacht Rock Review's cover of Steal
Away, which is from their upcoming Escape Artist
album, which we'll be talking about more in just
a few minutes. But this cover is fantastic. I
love the stripped down ukulele approach, as well
as Courtney Jackson bringing a powerful female
vocal rendition to the track. Nick, can you talk
about this arrangement and what you were looking
to achieve in the band's version of the song?
Yeah. I mean, as I said, it's like the most special
Yacht Rock song to me. And this Escape Artist
album is one that's a lot of songs by guys in
the band who aren't trying to be one thing or
the other, just trying to be like who they really
are in these songs. And I felt like if we're
going to do a cover, it needed to have that same
spirit. And I don't know where it came from.
Maybe it was in a dream almost. I just had this
idea like, what if we did Steal Away? Instead
of doing our usual version, which is very much
exactly to Robbie's original, what's the most
opposite thing we could do? And I thought, well,
if it was just a ukulele, and I started singing
it myself, and I thought, oh, but what if Courtney
sang it? Such a pure, sweet voice. I just thought
it would be a completely different take. And
I wanted to honor Robbie. Instead of imitating
him, I wanted to... bring something different
to the song. And that's where we tried to go
with this one. That it certainly did. And that
mixtapers conclude side A of the ultimate yacht
rock mixtape, which consists of George Benson's
Turn Your Love Around, Christopher Cross's Ride
Like the Wind, Crosby, Stills and Nash's Southern
Cross, Pablo Cruz's Love Will Find a Way, Michael
McDonald's Sweet Freedom, Jackson Brown's Somebody's
Baby, Kenny Loggins' I Gotta Try. Toto's Africa,
Redbone's Come and Get Your Love, and Robbie
Dupree's Steal Away. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. Now, just a minute ago, I mentioned
the band's upcoming album, Escape Artist, which
you're releasing in two parts. Sides one and
two drop on October 4th, and sides three and
four drop on November 25th. And I have to say,
as a show called My Weekly Mixtape, I love the
fact that you're releasing it in sides. But besides
that point, what was the thought behind the staggered
release schedule for the album? I mean, honestly,
it's so ridiculous to release anything but a
single in 2024, right? Like it's all about singles
and singles are what go on mixtapes, right? Like,
I mean, it makes sense. But we went into studio
and had so much material that we ended up recording.
a double album and it felt like if we released
all 21 songs from the double album at the same
time they would just be off in the wind and maybe
one song would get heard by people so our strategy
is to try to spread it out release a few singles
release it in sides and let people consume it
digitally the way that they're used to consuming
music these days but then In November, when Sides
3 and 4 come out, we decided to release, in its
full glory, the double album, two vinyl escape
artists, full edition, that is out of step with
the times, perhaps, but totally on point for
a band that does music from the 70s and early
80s. Well, we just heard a clip of your cover
version of Steal Away, but now I want to preview
an original track called Passengers. Now, when
you guys are on the road all year long playing
songs from across the yacht rock scene, how does
that color or factor into the direction of the
band's original material? That's been kind of
the challenge that we've been the nut we've been
trying to crack, really. Right. Like you want
to make music that's authentic to you and to
your experience as an artist. And our experience
is playing a lot of yacht rock songs on the road,
right? So of course, that's going to be a big
part of it. But I feel like if you try to just
hew so closely to that, it becomes almost pastiche
or satire. And that's not what we're trying to
do. So I would like to think that on this new
album, we kind of struck the middle lane between
all this yacht rock influence. our own experience
and finding a way to do it that feels authentic
to both Yacht Rock and to ourselves. And the
next track from the album I want to share is
a song called Lost in the Meantime. Everything
slips away. Now, Peter, you guys are going to
be on tour this summer, opening up for Train
and REO Speedwagon. And like you mentioned, you've
already done tours with Kenny Loggins and other
bands as well. You've made a name for yourself
performing covers, but you have this original
catalog of songs. How do you approach a tour
of this magnitude in terms of cover songs to
original songs ratios? Well, we're only going
to have a... Well, not only. We're going to have
a smaller snippet of time to deliver our show
than we're used to compared to playing the headline
shows. So there's certainly a craft to making
a set list, which is similar to a mixtape, right?
You want it to start a certain way, you want
it to end a certain way, and you've got to deliver
in the middle. And we need to keep these. Not
only are we trying to keep the crowd's attention,
but we're going to be in front of a lot of fresh
faces, a lot of new. new eyes and ears and so
i think i think we'll kind of we'll play to our
strengths just like any band would and i think
that whatever it is about our cover band that
has kind of garnered an image somewhat of original
band even without the original music is the personalities
and the styles of each individual that we interject
into the team so i think we'll we'll stick to
our guns and we'll do that and we're going to
try and preview as many tunes from the record
as we can along the way in small doses and hopefully
it goes down slow all right well now we are flipping
our proverbial mixtape over to side b and nick
you get to kick things off with track one track
one on side two i love the the slow burn intro
to this by daryl hall and john oats this track
i think the inspiration of this track came from
john on new year's eve he was trying to go on
a date with this girl on new year's eve she stood
him up and he uh was sitting there by himself
realizing that she was not going to come through
on the day and he's like well she's gone and
he's like it's basically the best thing that
ever happened to me it's it's funny to hear how
a life moment like that can become a song that
is just so much bigger than that moment this
song has such a wonderful rise and fall and climax.
And if somebody said, all right, you have five
minutes to prove to someone how great your band
is, I would probably choose for us to play this
song. Like this is the song that really allows
all of our band members to put on their best.
And it's just a ton of fun to play. One of the
most fun moments, another career highlight as
Peter was talking about was, On another music
cruise, we got to actually perform this song
with Jon Oates. That was awesome. Yeah, I think
there's a little bit of question sometimes when
the Yacht Rock is coming out of Philadelphia.
But this song, I think, makes a strong case for
sitting firmly in the Yacht Rock genre. And also
maybe the only true duet as far as a charting
single. between you know for the most successful
duo of all time this is the the true collaboration
between john and daryl like nate was saying it's
just the the rise and fall this song just kind
of takes you it's it's a long tune and it's a
lot of different feelings along the way it mellows
way out and it gets really intense and and it's
really it's just a ton of fun to play on stage
It was originally released in 1973, but it only
reached number 60 on the U .S. Billboard Hot
100 and it charted in the U .K. and Canada. However,
after Hall & Oates moved to RCA Records from
Atlantic and Sarah Smile became a hit, Atlantic
shrewdly enough re -released the song. and capitalized
on their success. And that's when it hit number
seven. And this is one of those instances where
the single version, meaning the version that
you hear on most greatest hits compilations.
is butchered. It's two minutes shorter than the
original, and I feel like it sucks the life out
of the song. It neuters the saxophone solo. So
if you're looking to listen to this song, make
sure to listen to the version from Abandoned
Luncheonette, because that's the version you
need to hear. And I guess true to form, in 1998,
Matthew Marston recorded a version of the song
which features Destiny's Child. on backing vocals.
So that's right. Beyonce sang backing vocals
on a cover of She's Gone. That charted in the
UK, but did not make a splash in the US. Once
again, Europe all over the Euro dance, even on
Hall & Oates. So moving on to track two, it was
said at the beginning of tonight's episode that
not all songs can be about pina coladas and getting
caught in the rain. But I think you got to have
at least one. So from 1979's Partners in Crime,
let's bring in Rupert Holmes' Escape, the Pina
Colada song, reached number one on the U .S.
Billboard Hot 100, and as a fun fact, was the
last song of the decade to hold that position.
It was also a number one hit in Canada, as well
as top 10 in Australia, Belgium. Ireland, and
New Zealand. And along with Red Bones' Come and
Get Your Love, it was also featured on the Guardians
of the Galaxy soundtrack. However, my go -to
movie memory of this song is when Chris Farley
accidentally presses G7 on the jukebox instead
of G8 during a bar fight. And instead of the
Rolling Stones' Street Fighting Man, you get
Escape, the Pina Colada song. Regardless, if
we're talking Yacht Rock, there's got to be at
least one pina colada. So I figured I'll be the
sacrificial lamb and throw it into the set list.
Yeah, it's a pina colada escape, sorry, escape,
parentheses, the pina colada song. I mean, it's
really essential to most of our sets. And it
hits every time. It's kind of like the drunk
uncle of set list. I mean, it's like everyone's
happy when it comes around. it's on the set we're
looking down it's lurking there you know but
then once it hits it's like oh yeah there's there's
a reason that everyone loves this track and it's
just a lot of fun it's really all there is to
it rupert holmes went on to be a successful librettist
he has done librettos for several musicals and
has been in like the musical theater world I've
always wanted to meet Rupert Holmes because in
our early days, I would make a lot of fun of
this song because I thought I was too cool to
sing this song. And then I realized, actually,
this song is too cool for me. I think I've probably
forgotten the second verse to this song more
often than any other lyric in our entire set
list. The number of times that I've turned to
Peter and said, what is the second verse of this
song? I mean, it's got to be at least a dozen
times. And I feel like half the time, Peter will
tell me the correct lyric and I'll be like, no,
that's not it. I'm like, oh yeah, that is it.
So yeah, the Pina Colada song. Love it. Well,
Peter, now we're back to you for track three.
All right. So getting back to tracks that I got
to uncover as we were. adding songs to the set
in this band. Sanford Townsend Band's Smoke from
a Distant Fire was not a tune that was on my
radar. I'm sure that I had heard it, but it wasn't
a song that really registered with me before.
But similarly to the way that Nick was talking
about She's Gone, this is another song that I
think plays to the strengths of our band or demonstrates
what we do well. and the play between the sax
and the guitar is a lot of fun and works so well
for our band and and the vocals on this one it's
just another like blue -eyed soul ripper that
just it's unbelievable we'll take another couple
of guys that we had the pleasure of playing with
so yeah it's just a great song yep when they
came to play with us in atlanta i don't think
i realized before that that sandford had co -written
i keep forgetting with michael mcdonald and it
was actually his story he had gotten broken up
with by a girl went over to michael mcdonald's
house and was just like man i just keep forgetting
she's not here anymore and that was the song
right and you would never connect the keyboard
player from smoke with the distant fire to i
keep forgetting but that's the beauty of yacht
rock like all of these you know interconnections
between writers and players and singers coming
together to make this music from their 1977 self
-titled album reached number nine on the billboard
us hot 100 and also charted in australia but
sadly it was their only chart success making
them pop up on the list of 70s one -hit wonders.
But musically, I think beyond this song, there's
a lot more in their catalog that if you're into
Smoke from a Distant Fire, you will enjoy. Yeah.
All right. With that, Nick, we're back to you
for track four. If you're creating an infomercial
for Yacht Rock, you're going to have an announcer
come on and introduce the genre. It's probably
going to be over the intro to this track, Baker
Street. by Jerry Rafferty. And then when he says,
yacht rock, you're going to hear the iconic saxophone
riff. One of the greatest riffs of all time.
I would put it up there with any Led Zeppelin
riff, any ACDC riff as one of the most memorable
riffs in rock and roll. Every person knows the
sax riff from Baker Street. Instantly recognizable,
iconic, classic. And it's also a highlight of
our show for our lighting director, James, because
he gets to show off Dave. He's always finding
a new way to light Dave, our sax player, that
is even more epic than the last time he lit up
Dave, our sax player, because that's what this
song deserves. Another artist that I don't think
was setting out to make the kind of music that
fits with all of this other kind of music, but...
Jerry Rafferty, he did it twice, really, with
Baker Street and Right Down the Line. Just a
solid, mellow voice. It's far from all of the
power tenors that are popular in the genre, but
it all comes back to the sax riff. Just undeniable,
unforgettable, completely recognizable. Jerry
Rafferty turned down collaborating with Paul
McCartney at the height of his career. Little
known fact. Smart move, I'd say, considering
the success of Baker Street. Maybe, I guess.
Maybe. Well, it reached number two on the U .S.
Billboard Hot 100 and cracked the top 10 in a
dozen other countries. Hugh Burns, who recorded
that iconic sax solo, is the same saxophone player
in Wham's Careless Whisper. So two iconic sax
moments from Hugh Burns. And Slash has cited.
that his influence in the guitar solo in Sweet
Child O' Mine comes from the solo in Baker Street.
Once again, a Yacht Rock song gets a 90s dance
version as Undercover scored a hit in 1992, which
cracked the top 10 in 13 countries, but not the
US. So US really does not like dance versions
of Yacht Rock, but the rest of the world seems
to love it. However, you could also get a country
fix on this song as Waylon Jennings covered the
track on his 1987 album, Hangin' Tough. And that's
Waylon Jennings, Hangin' Tough, not New Kids
on the Block. And if you're a Foo Fighters fan,
they did a cover of Baker Street for the My Hero
single, which you can now find streaming on the
Color and the Shape reissued version. Once again,
shout out to Patreon mixtape Seeker who chimed
in with this one as well. And I think for the
next track that I get to follow up with, I'm
going to lean into that saxophone in Baker Street.
And I'm going to keep things saxy and, I don't
know, make it even saxier on two different levels.
And I'm going to go off of 1984's Diamond Life.
And I'm going to go with Sade's Smooth Operator,
which reached number five on the U .S. Billboard
Hot 100, as well as in Canada. And it also cracked
the top 10 in Europe, France and South Africa.
I just feel like Yacht Rock is by nature a lot
of male vocalists, but there are certain female
vocals that have kind of been put into the genre.
And this song to me is. So silky. I mean, it's
smooth. They named it correctly. It's a very
smooth song. The saxophone is gorgeous. And I
think coming out of Baker Street, it's a kind
of a fun transition. Yeah, I think smooth is
the exact underlying thread that makes this song
work with the rest of the Yacht Rock songs. But
if you took this playlist. I got in a time machine
and went back to 1984 and showed this to somebody
and said, hey, in the future, this is a genre.
I think that this would be the biggest outlier.
Nobody in 1984 was thinking, oh, that would be
really interesting to see what somebody thought
about this. Like, oh, this is all going to be
a genre in the future when these songs from eight
years ago have anything to do with all this new
music we're making today. But I think from the
first... yacht rock mixtape that was ever made
whenever all of this started, you know, in the
2000 teens or whatever. Smooth Operator has been
a part of every playlist. There's just something
about it that fits right in. And it's a song
that feels so good. And it feels so good when
we play it. And Courtney just crushes it every
time. And of course, Dave and the Sultry sax,
he wears it well. And I feel like Smooth Operator
makes all those Yacht Rock mixes because of the
vibe of the song. Because I consider this an
R &B track first and foremost, but the vibe and
nature and feel of the instruments does slide,
dare I say smoothly, right into the other songs
that we've been discussing tonight. Yeah, this
song is just pure atmosphere to me. It strikes
a vibe. from the very first moment. Great reverb
on this track. Wonderful playing. A nice opportunity
for a bass solo. And one that we just started
playing it last year. And it's surprising to
me that we made it as far as we did in Yacht
Rock without ever playing Smooth Operator until
last year. And it's not going anywhere anytime
soon. It's permanently a part of the set list.
All right. Well, now, Peter, we're throwing it
back to you for track six. All right. For track
six, we have what I think is quintessentially
referred to as baby -making music. This is 1978's
Baby Come Back by Player, written by Peter Beckett,
sung by Peter Beckett. This was interesting.
So we played with Peter and Ron Moss from Player.
They tell the story. It's kind of like a super
group that was thrown together. Peter is from
Liverpool, so you don't have a ton of British
artists in this list that we've thrown together
here. But a group of guys that were put together
in a band, and Peter wrote this song with the
keyboard player. There was just something about
the groove that they put together in the studio
that is exactly what the Scott Rock music is.
We've been playing this one, I think, from the
beginning too. I think this song was in the original
set list. And every time, everyone loves Baby
Come Back. Yeah, Peter and Ron, very different
guys, but both lovely guys. Ron Moss went on
to star in The Bold and Beautiful as Dr. Ridge
Forrester. So he had like a giant soap opera
career after being the bass player in Player.
And to me, this track, the thing that always
stands out when I listen to it still is... the
reverb like the way they used reverb on this
song to create distance and create atmosphere
like i've tried to imitate it and can't figure
out quite how they did it like it's really kind
of a magical four minutes of music and a swiffer
commercial And sticking with the pop culture,
Transformers fans remember Bumblebee using it
in the Transformers movie to communicate. Reached
number one on the U .S. Billboard Hot 100, as
well as Canada, and was a top 10 hit in New Zealand
and South Africa. And while not a cover, Vanessa
Hudgens sampled the song in her 2008 pop hit,
Come Back to Me. So the song, again, lives in
dance music once again. Will you please make
a playlist and send it to us of just the 90s
dance versions of these songs? I need to have
this. I will do that and embed it on the episode
page at myweeklymixtape .com so everybody who's
listening can hear these as well. And with that,
Nick, I'm going to throw it back to you for track
seven. Track seven. This song, to me, I'll always
think about our tour. on which we played this
song we had gone through so many changes after
the pandemic and you know changes in our band
and there's a video clip you can see it on youtube
of us performing this song in new york city on
pier 17 like just epic it's hazy it's golden
hour it's it's dusk and the video just pans out
across this happy crowd and we're singing cool
change by little rubber band and it just felt
like so cathartic and so powerful you know you
hit the chorus and it's got these giant backing
vocals i'll always think of that moment in our
band it was like we made it here we are we did
it and that's that's how this song makes me feel
and i think that sense of relief and catharsis
is really powerful in this track The Little River
Band is kind of like you were saying earlier,
how you were a lot more familiar with Kenny Loggins'
catalog growing up. And then eventually you got
into the Doobie Brothers and you start digging
into Michael McDonald. The same thing kind of
happened with me with Little River Band. It's
that it had such a long career of hit making
and also personnel changes. You know, the lineup
changed over the course of those years and they
still managed to put out. This music that you
would call yacht rock over the entire course
of that time. And there's just so many good songs
by the Little River Band. So for your listeners,
if anyone's looking for it, you're not familiar
with Little River Band. You're looking for a
rabbit hole to go down. I think there's a lot
of rewards down the Little River Band path. I
couldn't agree more. While Cool Change is from
1979's First Under the Wire, my personal favorite
song from the Little River Band, I'm not 100
% sure would get classified under Yacht Rock
because there's a little bit more electric guitar
going on, and that would be the Night Owls. Is
that one that you guys have ever done? Yes. So
Peter Beckett from Player spent 10 years as a
member of the Little River Band. Okay. So in
a handful of the shows that we've done with Peter,
we've done a night owls with him. Awesome. Yeah.
The harmonies in that song just blow my mind.
That was one that my father had the 45 to. And
then when I first heard the full album version,
I'm like, Oh my God, this song is longer, even
more awesomeness. Like, cause that was always
my go -to little river band, but then you've
got reminiscing and cool change. In fact, with
cool change, triple M in Australia. They had
the Aussiest 100, which was the most Australian
songs of all time. And Cool Change ranks number
89. So a little fun fact there about that one.
And coming out of the Little River Band, this
is my last song pick of the evening for track
eight. And I'm going to go with just a big. Yacht
Rock staple. The album has already been mentioned
in our discussion tonight. So I'm going to go
Captain Obvious here from 1976's Silk Degrees.
Let's get some Boz Skaggs low down in the mix.
Reach number three on the U .S. Billboard Hot
100 and number two in Canada, co -written by
Toto's David Peitch with bassist David Hungate
and drummer Jeff Piccaro of Toto also playing
on the track. I feel like Toto. Basically, in
some way, shape or form, have their finger on
every Yacht Rock song ever. But apparently there
was a scene of Saturday Night Fever that was
recorded with this song in the movie. But Boss
Gags refused to let them use it. So they went
with a more generic track that was overdubbed
instead. And I kind of think that's a shame because
when you think about some of the songs on Saturday
Night Fever. Lowdown would work so well. It really
would. We do several songs from Saturday Night
Fever in our set, so I can tell you that they
work perfectly with Lowdown. The Silk Degrees
album is incredible. Boz Skaggs is a singer and
player, totally incredible. Unfortunately, he's
one that isn't crazy about the term yacht rock.
He doesn't like being associated with that term
or with the other. music that is associated with
that term i suppose and maybe there is a hint
of that and it is refusal to be on the saturday
night fever soundtrack yeah so this lowdown's
been in our set that from the early days and
for anyone that's familiar with our show we're
constantly stepping through the whole thing it's
just uh you know it's a dance that everyone can
get into it's a step left and a step right and
uh lowdown is like the perfect example of a sidestepper
It's just got that percaro groove. And, you know,
with Toto all over this thing, it's undeniable
yacht rocking. The flute, it's just, it's such
a pleasing tune. And the female vocals, like
it's, yeah, it's a lot of fun to play. And Voskaj
is just, he's incredible. Well, Peter, we are
back to you now for your last pick of the evening
in track nine. All right. So I think we've made
it this entire time. Track nine. side B of the
mixtape and we've yet to include any Steely Dan
and so official I've got My Old School which
you probably don't isn't the first Yachty track
from Steely Dan that you think of but this is
the first tune I feel like that hit me with our
band is that in a song that plays to or truly
plays to our strengths and it's just one when
we started playing it just fit really well you
know it's like pretty putting on the perfect
outfit and i love this track it's upbeat the
core lines are incredible and it's been my favorites
that all these years we get questions so often
what's your favorite song that you guys do and
for a longer period it always changes but for
a longer period than that my old school held
that position more than any other song. I love
playing this song when we have a horn section.
We don't do a lot of shows with horn sections,
but this is always number one on the list whenever
we get some horns in there because the horn arrangement's
great. As with every Steely Dan song, every aspect
of the arrangement, every detail is spot on.
It's fun to recreate that attention to detail
and to see the nerds in the audience appreciate
our recreation of that attention to detail. From
1973's Countdown to Ecstasy, surprisingly, this
one only reached number 63 on the US Billboard
Hot 100. I was surprised to hear that it didn't
crack the top 40. For me, the thing that I always
took away from this song is Jeff Skunk Baxter's
guitar solo in it. Like, it's just, that is Skunk
at his finest. And I mean, if you did an episode
of... yacht rock music and we didn't talk Steely
Dan, I think people would like yacht rock us
right off the player. We would lose all credibility
without Steely Dan in this discussion. Completely.
Well, Nick, you got to start off side B and you
get to take us home by closing out the entire
evening of music with the last song choice of
the night. I was selfish with this song choice.
It's a song co -written with Elliott Lurie. who
wrote the song Brandy, You're a Fine Girl by
Looking Glass. He was the lead singer and primary
songwriter in Looking Glass. And he and I were
in Jamaica on a gig together. We were all, Yacht
Rock was all there. And he said, hey, I think
we should do a song together. And I of course
said, yes, we should definitely do a song together.
Let's do it. And this is the result. It's called
Tropical Illusion. It's the first single from
our new album, Escape Artist. And I couldn't
be more proud that it was a collaboration with
Elliot, who's been a friend for a long time.
It's got the yacht rock history that he brings
to the table. It's got the fresh yacht rock energy
that we bring to the table. And I think of all
the songs that we've written and recorded, this
one probably sounds the yachtiest. This is true
yacht rock. We've achieved... the goal on this
one. And I'm excited for people to hear it. Yeah.
This one just fits just right. And like Nick
said, I think without being a pastiche, it's
just, and it checks the boxes, but it's not just
yacht rock, but it's yacht rock. And it just
so happens that we have a clip of the song to
share right now. Tropical illusion This picture
perfect view And when you hear those waves come
tumbling in You're floating like a seabird in
the wind And time stands still Oh, what a thrill
Every day I dream of you my dream comes true.
Every day I dream of you. Every night my dream
comes true. And that, mixtapers, concludes side
B of our ultimate Yacht Rock mixtape, which consists
of Hall & Oates' She's Gone. Rupert Holmes' Escape
the Piña Colada Song, Sanford Townsend Band's
Smoke from a Distant Fire, Jerry Rafferty's Baker
Street, Sade's Smooth Operator, Players' Baby
Come Back, Little River Band's Cool Change, Boz
Skagg's Lowdown, Steely Dan's My Old School,
and Yacht Rock Review's Tropical Illusion. Head
over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the
songs we've discussed in this mix. through the
playlist embedded on the episode page. Yacht
Rock Review will be smooth sailing across the
country this summer with Train and REO Speedwagon.
So be sure to catch them on the road and their
new album, Escape Artist, drops anchor with sides
one and two on October 4th and sides three and
four on November 25th. Gentlemen, thank you so
much for joining me on my weekly mixtape tonight.
Pleasure. Thanks for having us. It's fun mixing
it up with you. And remember, you can find My
Weekly Mixtape on almost all the social media
haunts at My Weekly Mixtape. You can also head
to MyWeeklyMixtape .com to check out the full
catalog of My Weekly Mixtape episodes. And if
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can help me out by either telling a friend, leaving
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That's all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, enjoy the tunes.