I'd Rather Not Jack

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My weekend listening turned into a visit to 70s SOFT ROCK HEAVEN i.e.

FLEETWOOD MAC - Rumours
BREAD - The Story of BREAD.
The first Steely DAN album.
David Bowie - HUNKY DORY (this is not strictly 'soft rock' but followed on nicely from F Mac and is probably the most I've enjoyed listening to a Bowie album in 10 years!) (except perennial stinker Queen B1tch obv.)

What else should I be listening to in this vein? I am aware we are squarely in ROWLEY territory here!

NB any excursions into this stuff on Thursday night (that's POPTIMISM CLUB NITE people!) will be confined to the first set. Mostly.

Comments

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I have been enjoying 'Jet' and 'Band on the Run' by Wings; also the 'Rust Never Sleeps' album. I too am keen for further recommendations in this territory since I am sure it is ALL GOOD. Are Mott the Hoople too glam for this question?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes, Wings - good thinking. Will dig out Band on the Run album. (BEWARE Wings Greatest Hits, it has some ropey old nonsense on).

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

mott the hoople are awesome soup to nuts but not really soft rock (tho nor are VER DAN come to that) (ctbtn = the LEELIES)

also check: CSN w/o Y

soft prog =
WISHBONE ASH (esp.argus)
haha BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST (really don't bother)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is why I said the FIRST S Dan album, though only the two tracks with whatsisname singing instead of Donald Fagen are really soft rock I think.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Soft prog means I should also mention Pavlov's Dog, whose second album is more melodic than the first.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

The first Dire Straits album

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

SORTED. What's it actually called? "Dire Straits" I bet.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Yes.

I will be able to reply to this in intense excruciating detail when I get home and can look at my iTunes. I went through about a month of collecting this kind of stuff.

Oh, a songs from Orleans - did they hit in the UK? "Dance With Me" and "You're the One." If you were listening to Bread, they're totally of that ilk.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Good (?) stuff listed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_rock

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Hmmm I think the Yacht Rock page linked to at the end of that wiki piece might be closer to what Tom's after. There 's also a quite good Tacht Rock thread on ILM.

Doobie Brothers seconded.

Andrew Gold firsted.

Jackson Browne possibly? Don't know his stuff at all TBH.

More to follow no doubt after I've had a think.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Jackson Browne possibly? Don't know his stuff at all TBH.

He is sort of folkless folk. Soft and almost rock but not soft rock.

[juror8.livejournal.com]

The Doobie Brothers!

"As she rises to her apologies anybody else would surely know... he's watching her go". Fantastic.

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

Boston and REO Speedwagon spring to mind, although they're less "soft-rock" and more "power-ballad-oriented AOR".

Oh, and as the Wikipedia page points out: Hall & Oates.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

boston are straight-up pop hurrah

reo sw i think started more boogie-ish

more soft prog = journey
(also kansas, starcastle)

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

one bit of soft prog i came across recently - frank zappa 'watermelon in eastern hay', which plays in the credits of 'y tu mama tambien'. caught a crenning of it last week on C4.

skip the first 30 secs (frank is making a joke), the rest def qualifies - good solo, tolerably arranged.

[koganbot]

Don't know how Mott (or Rust Never Sleeps) get to be soft rock. Don't know if Eagles are either, but you should listen to their Greatest Hits - maybe also actual good albums of theirs, if there are any; never checked. Never heard a Bonnie Raitt album straight through either, but her song "Love Has No Pride" is crucial. This is how Xgau rates her '70s product: Bonnie Raitt [Warner Bros., 1971] A-. Give It Up [Warner Bros., 1972] A. Takin' My Time [Warner Bros., 1973] A-. Streetlights [Warner Bros., 1974] B. Home Plate [Warner Bros., 1975] A. Sweet Forgiveness [Warner Bros., 1977] A-. The Glow [Warner Bros., 1979] B+.

Probably Carpenters don't count as rock, but "Superstar" and "Yesterday Once More" are excellent songs.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Bit out of your timeframe maybe here, but surely the work of CHICAGO and FOREIGNER should not go neglected.

Also presumably Sir Elton of John has plenty of mid-70s stuff that falls into this category. Do ELO count?

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Your So Vain by Carly Simon.

[(Anonymous)]

I never get tired of recommending "Watermark" by Art Garfunkel, side 1 is flawless, side 2 merely ace.

bopkids, obv

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

stuff that kind of sounds like that maybe, perhaps

albert hammond
carly simon's two albums from the mid 90s, when she spent a lot of time on martha's vinyard
kd lang's invisible summer
the cowsills
melanie
bobbie gentry country fried soul from the mid 70s
the two albums that kris kristofferson did with rita coolrdige
streisand evergreen
the first three albums by jackson browne, and his comeback album from last year (or two years ago)
joan baez diamonds and rust
josh ritter
nancy and lee?
sammy smith something blue
shawn colvin?