Music Eclipses Cinema

"At $45.5BM in 2023, Music Copyright Now Worth More Globally Than Cinema, New Report Finds": https://t.ly/yDfV5

The devil is in the details.

My inbox has been blowing up with the above story, it makes a good headline, but what you've got to know is...

Recorded music revenues eclipsed those of the movies in the seventies. The Warner Cable system? That was built on the back of Warner Music. That's one reason Mo Ostin was so handsomely compensated.

So, we've got a long way to go until we return to those days.

However, there are many lessons in this study.

One, never sell your copyrights.

Music is like the stock market. Over time it only goes up. Sure, there are dips here and there, but in the long term...

Here's the money quote:

"Of that total, $28.5 billion – or 63% – was in the form of recorded music revenues (up 12% YoY), while $12.9 billion was brought in by collective management organizations (CMOs, up 11% YoY) and $4.2 billion was in direct publisher income (up 4% YoY). Thus, compositions brought in 37% of the total."

The bottom line is they keep finding new ways to monetize music. As for those decrying the advent of AI, don't. With every innovation there are winners and losers, but the pie always grows overall. Like with the drum machine... Sure, it may have put some studio drummers out of business (some replaced by programmers), but the drum machine allowed people to make music cheaply, sometimes at home, and with a computer, costs can be really low.

Which is one of the reasons that cinema has been decimated.

The movie business missed the memo. The era of the blockbuster is over. I'm not saying we no longer have hit movies, I'm just saying that by leaving all the rest of the genres aside, other than superhero/tent pole movies, the cinema world has actually decreased its overall share of dollars. Because it turns out that given options...not everybody wants the same thing. Not everybody even wants the blockbusters. You had to see "Jaws" in '75 and "Star Wars" in '77. You don't have to see "Wicked" or the umpteenth Marvel movie today, you don't have to listen to Taylor Swift, Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar, you can be satiated with a plethora of other work.

That's the story in the music business, the broadening of offerings. Sure, there are zillions of people posting music to streaming services who can't stop complaining that they're not making a living, but the truth is more people are making more money from music than ever before. There used to be a clear dividing line, you were either in the game or you were not, and most were not, they didn't have label deals and couldn't afford recording and were locked out of distribution. Today you need no label, can record cheaply and distribution is available to all. However, the road from nobody to superstar is slower than ever before, and most people never make it. Superstars tend to be two-dimensional, built by committee, and there's a market for that, but it keeps shrinking. Not only does the public want more music in more genres, it wants more authenticity, more credibility, something lacking from almost every blockbuster movie and much hit music. These industries are tooled for an old model from an old world.

As for selling your copyrights... If they're giving you 20x and you're going to live ten years, maybe. Or possibly for estate planning, I'll leave you to your lawyer (who hopefully isn't getting a share, and therefore improperly incentivized). But revenues keep going up. And up.

If you're not going to die imminently...

"Page notes the $45.5 billion figure is up a 'jaw-dropping' 26% since 2021, and it's nearly double the $25 billion that he calculated for 2014."

Nine years, double. Two years, one quarter more. That's positively STAGGERING!

Of course not all boats are lifted equally, but...

You know music and the financiers know money. They are not stupid, they would not be giving you all this money unless they anticipated making a whole hell of a lot of money themselves. Never mind you're selling your songs FOREVER!

But the dirty little secret that's not referenced in this headline is all the money in television streaming, which many of the producers of films are involved in, licensing and in some cases owning their own outlets. And the success of streaming is based on a plethora of product. You'd be stunned how few people watch the supposed big streaming hits. This is not the days of "Laugh-In" or JR being shot or... Netflix played for the future and won. In a world the film companies couldn't even foresee. Every fat cat producer was satisfied making millions, not realizing they could make BILLIONS! But that would require being innovative, possibly leaving the company and becoming an entrepreneur. When the brass has little skin in the game, you usually get little innovation.

But music parallels Netflix, and everybody complains about this. Everybody thinks they want the old, controlled model. I will say that under that system some acts were supported by the label, but most never got deals and even household names never got royalties.

Today you can make and distribute all by yourself and retain all the revenues. Furthermore, you can use the internet to promote for free, monetize on the internet and drive people to your shows.

Once again, NOT EVERYBODY CAN MAKE A LIVING!

The truth is there are a zillion independent movies. Just check the schedule of any film festival. But very few get distribution. Music is cheaper and more easily consumed. At this point the big streamers don't want to buy most of the indie films, and Amazon changed its policy of making them all available for rent. The world keeps getting smaller for indie cinema.

So a comparison of revenues between copyright and cinema is a lame construct of what is really going on. Filmed entertainment, i.e. movies and TV, is bigger than ever before, music has a long way to go before it equals movie revenues like only recordings did in the seventies.

But in the seventies music was everything. You had to buy the record to know which way the wind blew. It started with the Beatles, and then there was FM and branch distribution and money came pouring in.

In the eighties revenues were high because of MTV exhibition, but fewer acts broke through yet they did so worldwide and CDs rained down a ton of revenue.

And the story today is a worldwide one. They've been freaking out in the U.K., their share of the overall music market keeps decreasing. Part of this is Brexit. Touring the Continent has become much more difficult and expensive. As for the reduction in clubs... Did you read that Google's overall share of search keeps going down? First it was decimated by Amazon, and now TikTok. What you think is forever never is. And the government is always one step behind.

You'd think that the labels would be preparing for the future, but they believe that they can hoover up anything that shows evidence of success. But the numbers keep on improving for pure indies. And the labels have fewer tools than they ever did before.

And no one working at the big three has skin in the game, everybody's on salary with a bonus. You expect them to take a risk?

So, the future ain't so bright that you've got to wear shades, but it is bright.

Adjustments have already been made... With streaming television and indie music. The only question is to what degree legacy players will triumph in the future.

Am I telling you to get in the music game?

I tell everybody to stay out, because the road is just too hard. You've got to be one-minded and sacrifice almost everything in pursuit of your career and you still might not make it. Does a fine artist expect to make beaucoup bucks with their paintings and sculpture? Definitely not. They want it, but they know odds are extremely low, many give up. But in music where creation is cheap and talk is even cheaper everybody believes they should get paid. And this is patently delusional.

But if you do have success...

The streams of revenue keep increasing in number and volume and that is a good thing. No, that is a GREAT thing!

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City Of New Orleans

Spotify playlist: https://t.ly/qVNws

1

Is this now a country song?

I went last night to the Write-off Room to see the Sherman Oakies. Felice heard about it from Dean Parks's wife Julie. A bunch of studio musicians playing...exactly what?

I know some of the Dust Bowl classics from Ry Cooder. But there's a giant hole in my country knowledge. This music was pooh-poohed in the northeast, and "Hee Haw" was a seedy cash-in after the demise of "Hootenanny," the folk music TV show. That's right, folk music was so big in the early sixties there was even a series about it on ABC. But it died in September 1964, buried by the British Invasion, or should I say pummeled. Even patron saint Bob Dylan went electric. Singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars emerged in the seventies, but we're still awaiting a serious folk revival, with easily singable songs with messages, a throwback to simpler times in these days where protest against the system seems to have no effect, where the system itself seems to have triumphed.

Despite being influenced by the Delta blues, and even some of the Englishmen loving country songs, we young 'uns didn't want none of that hillbilly music, with its twang. Some people say their parents played Hank Williams, but my 'rents played show tunes. And when a country song came on the radio, I pushed the button. But, in truth, very few country tunes crossed over to Top 40 in the mid to late sixties.

But in the seventies, when truly all the action was over on the FM dial, we got Charlie Rich's "The Most Beautiful Girl"... That one I loved. I remember hearing it on the jukebox at the diner in Rutland, Vermont when we stopped for a pee break. Yes, you could tell where you were in the country based on the records in the jukebox, before the whole country became homogenized.

Then there was the big hair country. Played by people from the hollers. But I heard and liked Dolly Parton's "Jolene," and somewhere along the line, maybe it was Gram Parsons, maybe it was not, country infiltrated rock and roll. But not too deep, not that twangy. And although these country rock acts were huge, Nashville really didn't want much to do with them. Although ultimately the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band merged the two with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." That's the first place I heard "Tennessee Stud," a song written by Jimmie Driftwood, what a great name, and sung on the album by Doc Watson, who'd actually played my college with his son Merle, who died tragically, leaving the blind Doc without his eyes.

I didn't own "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," but I was at a house party in Salt Lake and a friend who I bonded with over the Souther, Hillman, Furay debut dropped the needle on "Tennessee Stud" and started to sing and I got hooked.

But all this is to say that my country knowledge is spotty, if I'm not completely ignorant.

Now today's country music is the rock and roll of the seventies, which is one reason it's so successful, but that original sound... You can read about it at the museum in Nashville, and be sure to go, but this certainly ain't my roots.

2

So after discussing the pedal steel guitar with Dean, I ask Don Was about his country knowledge. He tells me about a radio station from Nashville he could get in Detroit. So I'm feeling completely out of it.

But then...

A number of songs in...Felice nudges me, isn't this a Randy Newman number? And it was, "Rider in the Rain," from "Little Criminals"! And I own that album, but despite it containing Randy's first hit, I didn't play it that much, I was partial to "Sail Away" and "Good Old Boys."

So maybe the country the Oakies was playing was actually a big tent. After all, Holly Palmer came up and sang "Ode to Billie Joe," which I absolutely hated back then, but have come to like, if not love.

And the funniest thing is Dillon O' Brian had a printer right by his chair, where he was sitting and playing guitar, and he'd print off a number and distribute it to the band of studio aces and they'd dive in. It was that kind of night, loose, the kind you're privy to in L.A., pros having fun.

And then Dillon starts to tell this story, about Jeff Porcaro observing Jim Keltner at Amigo, they've been trying to get the groove right with multiple takes, and then finally they nailed this song.

Whereupon the band fell into "City of New Orleans."

Because that's the kind of vibe the song has, you fall into it, you settle into it, like on a train that is starting to pull out of the station before it hits full speed and you start to cruise.

"Riding on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors and twenty five sacks of mail"

Singer-songwriters were raging in 1972 when Arlo Guthrie's fourth studio album "Hobo's Lullaby" was released, but Arlo hadn't really had any serious traction since the Woodstock movie.

Now the funny thing is Arlo's last Reprise LP, 1976's "Amigo," was the best thing he ever did, but at that point in time, despite critical hosannas, singer-songwriters were out with full bands, the quieter sound was passé and...

People still had hope with Arlo's third LP, 1970's "Washington County," but by the time of "Hobo's Lullaby" even fans had given up, and suddenly Arlo had a hit, with the Steve Goodman song "City of New Orleans."

But despite Arlo's credibility, FM would have no part of it. "City of New Orleans" broke on the dreaded Easy Listening format, where it ultimately climbed to number 4, and then crossed over to the Hot 100, where it peaked at number 18. But by time it was through, everybody was exposed, everybody knew it.

3

"Good morning America how are you
Say don't you know me I'm you're native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done"

And now the assembled multitude is singing along. Because somewhere along the line this song became embedded in our DNA. Everybody in the venue's got their head in the air, exuberant, luxuriating in the moment. It's one thing to watch the music, it's quite another to participate.

But really, it's the change that evidences magic.

"All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses farms and fields"

And it circles back. and at the end...

"But all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news

The conductor sings his songs again
The passengers will please refrain
This train got the disappearing railroad blues"

And this is when you get that sinking feeling, because you know just like the train this song is going to disappear, and you're so locked into this feeling. Which is neither right nor left, red nor blue, but truly American. Not that anybody truly rides the rails anymore, and driving cross-country, discovering yourself along with the land...that's gone too in an era where flight is cheap and you can interact with anybody on the planet instantly via the internet.

4

Now those who lived through the era know that "City of New Orleans" was written by Steve Goodman. He was one of the twin towers emerging from Chicago, along with John Prine. But Goodman was cut down by leukemia and nobody under the age of forty, fifty, has any idea who he is, but they know this song.

But do they know it because of Arlo Guthrie's hit version or...

"City of New Orleans" was the opening cut on Willie Nelson's album with that title in 1986. This was a decade after "Red Headed Stranger," Willie was now even a movie star.

Willie's version of "City of New Orleans" went all the way to number one on the country charts.

But Willie's version has a slightly different groove, instead of the relaxing, yet tipsy train ride of Arlo's version, in Willie's take you've got the rhythm of the steel wheels of the engine pulling the string of cars forward. There's this underlying power, it's not like you can't hear or understand the lyrics, but it's the country groove that hooks you.

So maybe "City of New Orleans" is country after all.


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Re-Mike Pinera

The country/rock band I was in many years ago covered Ride Captain Ride;  we had a reputation for playing tunes that were a bit outside of our genre.  I remember us being the middle act at a 5-band jamboree one Sunday afternoon.  We hit the opening piano riff and the members of the other 4 bands collectively stood up, grabbed a chair, and sat down on the dance floor in front of us in rapt attention....  

Donald Bartenstein

_________________________________

Not only was Metamorphosis my favorite Iron Butterfly album, I've been saying for years that Mike's guitar solo on "Butterfly Bleu" (which he wrote) is, in my opinion, one of the best recorded rock guitar solos of all time. He was a super nice guy, too. I met him at NAMM once. 

- Mark Towns 

_________________________________

Hey Bob…another Manassas member, Paul Harris, played piano on Ride Captain Ride. He and Layla were session guys at Criteria. They both also appeared on the first Michael Stanley Band album, also recorded there.

David Spero

_________________________________

I lived briefly in LA 1970 and then moved to Atlanta  where it was in constant rotation everywhere.. I thought the drums and bass drive  reminded me of Grand Funk RR. I never got tired of hearing it. 
Jump to 1972 in London I'm doing an interview with Melody Maker alongside my bandmates Chris Spedding and Andy Fraser... and they ask me what my favorite record is and I blurt out "Ride Captain Ride-Blues Image"
Everyone looks around and NO ONE in UK had ever heard of the song ... and I'm in Melody Maker's offices and I'd stumped them!

I don't believe it was a hit anywhere but the US! 
Love hearing it still on Sirius.
Thx for this memory, Bob!

Marty Simon 

_________________________________

Have not heard that name in a long time. I worked with Mike for a minute in Hollywood. We were planning a new project.

He confided in me that the making of RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE happened at a studio in SAN FRAN, Mike came in and they asked him to

sing a vocal..... He turned white,  he needed a minute and headed to the bathroom.

While in there contemplating what to do about lyrics, he looked out a small window and saw a navy ship sailing into the harbor with sailors in their whites standing.

Hence 73 men sailed...

That is where the lyric came from

Sincerely,

Mark Wolfson

_________________________________

Beautiful. You captured the elusive elements of the time perfectly. Almost tearful to look back.
Mike was a little older than all of us, but a great influence on us players in the south.
A true hero.
Ride on, Captain. 

-Don Barnes

_________________________________

Hi Bob - I bought the single of Ride Captain Ride when it came out because of the great singing and the hooks. I always thought it was about CDR Lloyd Bucher and the 83 men on the USS Pueblo that North Korea nabbed. Never saw or read anything that took that thought further. Thank you for your writing and the newsletter. 

Boyd Allen

_________________________________

And a True Vato…Carlos Michael…

He does have some Lost Royalties in Sacramento…

PLUS Two Million shares of Merrill Lynch stock!!!…

We need to research that…

Cheers, David Jensen

_________________________________

I interviewed Mike Pinera about twenty years ago for Florida PBS. He was a nice guy and an absolute monster musician. 

At the time he was touring with the Classic Rock All-Stars - a band that also included Jerry Corbetta, Dennis Noda and Peter Rivera. What a band.

His first name was Carlos - he  told me he started going by "Mike" so people wouldn't confuse him with Carlos Santana.

After Blues Image and Iron Butterfly (but prior to Ramatam) he worked with Black Oak Arkansas and told me that Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice offered him the lead guitar spot in Cactus, but Jeff Beck came along and Cactus was no more. Later on in the 70's he had a solo hit ("Goodnight My Love") and nearly joined Chicago before spending part of the early 80's recording and touring with Alice Cooper.

He even cut a record with Roger Clinton - Bill Clinton's younger brother.

Joe Lala and Steve Stills did not originally meet in Florida even though both attended high school in Tampa around the same time - Joe went to Jefferson, Stephen went to Plant - according to Joe, they met at the Whiskey sometime in the late 60's.

Vince Welsh

_________________________________

Nice mention, Bob.

Myself and 3 other guys from my old Beatlemania show days did some touring on the 30th Anniversary of Rock and Roll tours in the late '80s early '90s.

Jewel Akins, Bobby Day, Chuck Negron, Bobby Kimball, Pat Upton, Al Wilson and lots more. We intro'd the show doing some Beatles songs, and then reverted to background singers for most of the other acts. The core of Cannibal and the Headhunters was the backup band.

Mike was on that tour. He did a scaled down version of IAGDV. But when he did Ride Captain Ride, the audiences would go crazy!

He was a great guy to be on tour with, showed us lots of hospitality in Florida when we made our way there. A wonderful barbecue and party at his house. Stories about his friend Jaco Pastorius. We stayed in touch for a while and I'm sorry I didn't catch up again. We were Facebook friends but I should have called more. 

Rest in peace Mike.

Mitch Weissman

_________________________________

i bought ride captain ride and i'm your vehicle both 45's at leonard's dept. store corner of palms and sepulveda. i was in 10th grade. loved both of those songs so much

Denise Mello

_________________________________

It is always so, so sad when the legends, and even the lesser-knowns, that have been touched, participated or orbited the magic are passing on, at such an alarming rate. 

I always loved the Special Forces-era Alice Cooper band, of which Mike Pinera was a part of. I discovered Alice around this time and worked my way back, forward and around this period. 

Their performance on the Tom Snyder show, featuring a truly scary-looking, freebase-ravaged Alice being interviewed and performing live, is something I've always been thankful to have found on YouTube. 
Compared to Alice's previous bands, these guys, in army fatigues, berets, etc. seemed a bit faceless, but they were rough-and-tumble and Pinera's crunchy guitar was front and center, stirring the pot, and moving things along. 

Looking at Alice then, with him still alive today, with so many of his contemporaries and former bandmates gone, makes it very clear rocking-n-rolling through those wild 60s/70s/80s and beyond was rough business!

Some live to tell, thankfully! 

Warmest Regards, Brian Friel 

_________________________________

"Ride Captain Ride" was one of the biggest songs of my 11th year on this stinkin' rock.  I loved it, too!  I always cue it up on my inner jukebox with "Closer To Home" right behind it.

And I have looked those lyrics up and down and sideways trying to figure it out, but at least part of it got solved.  And now I don't remember the source of this story, but the legend goes that the keyboard player just made it all up.  Nonsense lyrics for the most part ("As a storm was blowin' out on the peaceful sea..."), with a grain or two of truth:  The "73 men" were the 73 keys on his Fender Rhodes, upon which he was noodling those intro notes.

And I figure it may also have a bit of truth in the "Raindrops" reference.  What song was damned-well unescapable on AM in 1969?  BJ Thomas's "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head".

One of the hardest things to being an original band has to be the endless paying of dues, like CCR opined on "Lodi": "Every time I had to play while people sat there drunk." Maybe it's a touch of sour grapes that nobody had time to pay attention to a nobody-band because they were too busy listening to that damned BJ Thomas song!

Take care,

Byron Beyer

_________________________________

"And there's a kind of simple, almost weak, guitar solo..." Are you kidding? 

I put the two guitar solos in that song up with Amos Garrett's solo in "Midnight At The Oasis" and Jesse Ed Davis's solo on "Doctor My Eyes" as prime examples of taste, brevity and chops on a hit record by great players whose names may not be of the household variety. 

The sweet middle solo is not played by Mike Pinera but by Kent Henry who joined Blues Image when Pinera left to join Iron Butterfly but Mike played the Les Paul-drenched fade out solo (reminiscent of Luke's wicked fade on "Rosanna"). Regardless, guitar work by both.

Back in the day before people were falling all over themselves trying to categorize popular music, great guitar solos were the differentiator for me.

?William Nollman

_________________________________

Are you aware that "Ride Captain Ride" was written about the capture of the US Navy ship "Pueblo" by North Korea in 1968? It was captaineed by Captain Lloyd M. Bucher, USN. 

The song was co-written, I believe, by Skip Conte, keyboard player in Blues Image.

Greg Astle

_________________________________

My friends and I all heard it and sang it as:

"Seventy three men sailed her"

Bob Davis

_________________________________

Blues Image self-titled 1st album rocked with"Leaving MyTroubles Behind ", which convinced me to book them into the Cellar in Arlington Heights Illinois in early 1970. Later my own band used that song to close our set, slowly exiting stage left singing the title and fading away. I loved the screaming Hammond organ on that vinyl album and it remains an all time favorite.  - Jeff Walz

_________________________________

Ride Captain Ride is a classic music production culminating in one of the best exit solos ever. The fade out was executed perfectly wanting you to hear more!!!!

Br,

Will Eggleston

_________________________________

I was 14 and it was my first major concert. The Allman Brothers Band in Tampa. A National Guard Armory. Wet Willie opened. 1971.  What do I remember? Mike Pinera sitting in. 

John Kauchick 

_________________________________

I was a 15 year old kid, when "Ride Captain Ride" by Blues Image hit the airwaves on my local AM radio station and I could not hear it enough. I rushed out and bought their album, "Open" and although there were a couple of other cool tracks, like "Pay My Dues" and "Parchman Farm," it was "Ride Captain Ride" that was the song I would play over and over. The album version was slightly longer than the single with one of the greatest guitar outros ever recorded. I always wished that ending solo would go on forever. 

I soon found a copy of the first self titled album and while it did not hold up as well as "Open," it did feature a real gem in "(Do You Have) Somethin' to Say."  Mike Pinera may not have had the career he had hoped for, but he did leave us with a timeless classic for which I will always be grateful for. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9BeV5xVNIg

Rich Ulloa
Y&T Music

_________________________________

Couple of other tidbits for you, Bob -

* Pinera co-wrote "Ride" with Skip Konte, who later played second keys for Three Dog Night from 1973-1976.

* Blood, Sweat and Tears did a cool cover of "Ride" in 1975 on their New City album.

Here's a great live performance of it with David Clayton-Thomas -

 https://youtu.be/Q52A_M1At1A

Best,

NELSON DUFFLE
Washington, D.C.

_________________________________

Interesting fact about "Ride Captain Ride" - if it's actually true. Mike Pinera was starting to write the song, looking for his opening line, while sitting at his Fender Rhodes. It was the 73 key model, with the "Seventy-Three" logo on the casing. He looked at that, wrote down the word, and that was the start of a classic.

Supposedly a similar thing happened with Robbie Robertson when he was writing "The Weight." He was looking for the name of a town and glanced at the inner label of his guitar, which of course read "Martin Guitars, Nazareth, PA." Simple inspiration can be great! 

Rich Madow

_________________________________

Nothing to do with Criteria. Steven recruited him to play in Manasas in either '70 or '71. 

Joe was from Tampa, Criteria's on my side of the state, Miami. 

Even though it's a mere 250 miles from Criteria in N. Miami to St. Pete Beach (280 to Tampa), the two music scenes are like worlds away. Similar to San Francisco to L.A. 

Side note, after selling my interest in Vesper Alley Records to Sony 550 (and Fox) who wanted the management and our share of the publishing rights to our only monetized asset; Vonda Shepard, for her role in the eponymous T.V. Series Ally McBeal, I bought a 1/4 interest in Miami Label Y&T Records. (Y&T for Yesterday and Today") (Our biggest hit, discovering, signing and selling the rights to Raul Malo and The Mavericks). Raul is now fighting his own battle with the big C.

It was 4 of us. Rich Ulloa who owned the largest used record store in Miami who handled A&R, Joel Greenberg a respected FL attorney, Joel Levy, whose father Hap Levy was somewhat of a Miami R.E. Magnate. Hap bought Criteria during troubled times and to give his "Hap"less son Joel a title with something to do and myself. 

Richie handled A&R for his 1/4

Joel Levy all legal work for his 1/4

Joel Greenberg for unfettered access to Criteria, gratis. Mostly from 11:00 P.M. to early A.M. when it got quiet, and myself for financing and my biz contacts. We only released 3-4 Albums prior to being called by Joel Levy who told us; "the company has to break up,my dad sold Criteria to The Hit Factory.

Rob

_________________________________

In 1969, after Mario kicked me out of my Whisky office, (for having too much traffic) I relocated my new Musicians Contact business to a small office next to the Hotel Marmont, (which is now PART of the Marmont). Around 1970 or 71 Joe Lala walked in and said his band, Blues Image, was looking for a frontman.  They seemed real together with a lot of stuff happening.  I told him that I was a lead singer and memtioned that I was nearly signed to Crescendo, the Seeds label, a couple years earlier.  He said I seemed perfect for what they needed and I should come over to audition.  But I told him I had no one else to run my business and couldn't travel at that time.  Within a year Ride Captain Ride was a huge hit, sung by Pinera, since they couldn't find another singer.  Oh well......

Sterling Howard, founder/owner 
https://www.MusiciansContact.com 

_________________________________

I was in school in SoCal that year. We all thought the song was about the Pueblo incident.  I remember Rosenberg doing a presser on my Dad's ship and saying the investigation on the matter would vindicate the crew.  Yeah, right.  Scattered to the winds and forgotten.  They even tried to say they weren't POW's because we weren't at war with North Korea, so no POW benefits.

Milo

_________________________________

Bob, I don't know where to start with you sometimes.. You get it right about 95 percent of the time but sometimes you get it so wrong....Mike Pinera was one of the finest guitarists from the seventies. You call his solo in Ride Captain Ride "weak"?  You obviously never played guitar...That solo was one the most well crafted guitar tracks ever.  I was thirteen in '69..which qualifies me as a self described Post Hippie..And yes I was an Iron Butterfly fan, and saw them at the El Mocambo in Toronto in the mid seventies.. Met the guitar player on a break.. Nice guy..very nice of him to take the time with a country kid who was underage to even be there...But he wasn't Mike Pinera.  you say Butterfly's Metamorphosis was a monumental stiff..How can you call an album that reaches Top Twenty on Billboard a stiff?..Come down off your high horse. Yes, it was an obvious departure from In-A-Gadda-Davida. You say their audience moved on? No, THE BAND MOVED ON!  That's the problem with you armchair critics..The quickest way to get a laugh out of me is to ask "why do bands break up?"  Have you ever been on the road? Have ya ever lived out of a suitcase that you're too tired to open until Wednesday 'cause yer so worn out and blurred that you can hardly function while travelling 50 weeks a year on six nighters in clubs in the seventies when you could actually make a living?  Jet lag my ass.  That's over. :You're right about one thing. There aren't many Singer/Guitarists left. These clowns coming up don't know what it took to actually tour endlessly with no end in sight. Lose yourself, your wife and kids and ultimately your livelihood because the searching artist within you just can't stand the bullsh*t from record companies, bad managers, bad agents. etc.  You should come up to the great white north for a year and we'll see how ya do here. And yes I've played, drank and rubbed shoulders with more famous Canadian musicians who have contributed so much to your American pop fabric than you will ever know about..Who cares right?.. Well, us musicians in our big little community care,, RESPECT and love for each other at the worst of times...Be careful what you say about us. As an international community we DO know everybody. Mike Pinera?  He was one of my little known Heroes.

Randy Dawson

_________________________________

Sorry to hear about Mike's passing. I worked with him a few times at Criteria in the mid-seventies. I also engineered a couple of "taxi shelter" albums that he produced for other artists in the late-seventies. He was always a gentleman, and fun to work with. 

I was in a meeting with Mike and attorney in Ft. Lauderdale regarding an upcoming record when the law firm's receptionist told me there was a call for me. It was the receptionist at Triiad Recording, who told me Neil Young was in the lobby asking to start an album (Comes a Time), and I should hurry back to the studio.

When I told Mike that I needed to leave to go meet with Neil, Mike cracked a smile and said, "Well, I'm a better singer than Neil, but he makes timeless records... go on, get out of here!"

RIP, Mike.

best,
Michael Laskow

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Re-The Yacht Rock Documentary

Spot on...halfway through I wondered, "what's Bob going to make of this dreck?" 

I too was looking forward to this, and settled in to enjoy almost as soon as it "came online", but what a disappointment. 

A subject/genre with so much potential to enlighten and entertain. 

I agree that Michael Mc Donald and Christopher Cross were probably best value for money, but my favourite quote came from Steve Lukather.

"Where's my f*cking yacht?" (or something like that - not going to watch again to confirm)

Cheers,

David Thompson

_________________________________

Amen. 

The trope of ironic distancing boomeranging back to (in)sincere appreciation has no meat left on the bone, and the opining of some dudes from UPROXX and Blender won't convince me otherwise.

I would have rather watched Luke and Jay together in a room, talking about all the records they played on, but instead…well, Donald said it best at the end of the doc(k).

Best, Erick Haight

_________________________________

Interesting comment about the Beatles documentary on Disney+. 

You're right. I don't have it because I don't need Star Wars or kid's TV. And I can't imagine Disney has a lot of Boomers, unless they have it for their grandkids. So I'll never see it. And strangely, even though the Beatles are my all time favorite band, I don't care. I guess that's the new world of content overload on streaming.

John Parikhal

_________________________________

It was awful.

But at least someone from Ambrosia made an appearance.  

And where was Little River Band? 

I wanted the "ahem" real stars of Yacht Rock, the one or one, two and three hit wonders. 

And Questlove telling me how great Yacht Rock was when I was listening to Chocolate City by P Funk? And dancing to Donna Summer? And then off to CBGB's for real music?

Please. I'm embarrassed now to say how much I liked Orleans, because they're considered Yacht Rockers, even if Jon Hall  followed Yacht Rocking as a Congressman from NY and  prior to yachting, wrote "Half Moon" with his wife Johanna Hall, recorded  by Janis Joplin. 

Thank you, Bob for putting this doc into perspective. Along with the genre. 

Amy Kraków

_________________________________

The worst!

Jeff Laufer

_________________________________

Could tell it would be awful from the trailer 

Ashley Milton

_________________________________

Well I thought it was great and a doc that has every right to exist!

Al Walser
GRAMMY® WINNER
www.alwalser.com

_________________________________

Aye man, you starting to sound like the grumpy old guy

Best, 
Bob McNeil

_________________________________

Right.  A heaping pantload.

Paul Lanning

_________________________________

Mahalo Bob… I was gonna get HBO just for this but was hoping  you'd review it first…

I'm out….

Tom Clark 

_________________________________

The Beatles doc was disappointing but there were some prime moments: Sid Bernstein on booking them then the Stones into Carnegie…

And seeing Murray the K. made to look like a putz was great. 

Giles Martin cleaned up the Washington D.C. concert sound miraculously. Was worth watching just for that. Ringo was amazing…

Not great especially if you lived through it as a teen as I did …

Michael Fremer
TrackingAngle editor
The Absolute Sound Editor at Large

_________________________________

I was born in 74, so pretty much right at the beginning of this genre of music now known as Yacht Rock. My earliest musical memories were listening to Chicago's WLS on a Sesame Street radio when I was about five years old. This music was everywhere. I distinctly recall hearing Baker Street a lot (not sure if that falls in the Yacht Rock genre or not), as well as What A Fool Believes and Ride Like The Wind. 

I've loved all this music before it was branded Yacht Rock. Prior to that pejorative, it was simply known as soft rock. I'll admit, I never did a deep dive into the scene, which is unusual for me. I knew the artists, but was unaware (other than McDonald) how intertwined they all were. It's not terribly surprising, I suppose, since the hair metal scene was similar. Bands swapping members. Guys who'd grown up together, gone to high school together and they're now either in a band together, or in competing bands. 

When I fired up the Max app to watch this last night, I was initially disappointed when I saw that this was only an hour and a half, give or take. Truthfully, I was hoping for a Ken Burns style deep dive, but would have settled for four episodes. Hell, Paramont + put together three episodes on their recent doc about the aforementioned hair metal scene. I'm glad I watched it, but it was definitely a brief overview and could have gone so much deeper (what was going on culturally at the time). 

Regardless, the songs and production were incredible. 

Neil Johnson

_________________________________

I don't understood the "Yacht Rock" label. Back in the day it was just called "soft rock".  

And there's nothing wrong with soft rock. I bought a lot of those 45's: "Guitar Man" by Bread? Brilliant! "Feel Like Making Love" by Roberta Flack? Hell, that was practically audio porn for a 14 year old. Almost anything by the early Carpenters is godhead. And there's the hidden treasure of 'Something's Wrong With Me' by Austin Roberts. F@cking heartbreaking. 

But you won't hear these Yacht Rock cover bands going into those deep cuts because basically they're still moored in the shallow waters of Firefall and The Little River Band.  

Lame scene. Nostalgia without any sense of passion for the real pearls of the time. 

Lee Elliott

_________________________________

Agreed x ten.

The doc is all prose and no poetry.  Lest we forget that boomers dated and mated to these songs.  Not a word here about what it was like to actually live and love in that era.

Most of this was covered in other docs.  Kind of sick of this deconstructionist stuff.  The 'critics' they interviewed were barely alive back so zero cred there.  Fred Armisen is 57.  Still too young to get the gestalt.

I was there as a young critic.  Steely Dan made great records but didn't tour and they paid for that distance. Kenny Loggins sold out.  Toto's production doesn't hold up against Boston's in terms of car audio firepower. Blah blah blah.

Will Ferrell said more just wearing a Pablo Cruise t shirt in the legendary 'More Cowbell' sketch on SNL.

Right on Bob,

Jonathan Gross

_________________________________

"Lighten up Francis!"…Come on Bob.
Great Storytelling and Vulnerability from the Artists themselves.

"Lighten up Francis!" - 2.0 - Bethany Cosentino is my cousin.
Best Coast was formed & named when she moved back to LA from New York paying her homage to the California "Yacht Rock" sound.

Keep on Writing - I'll keep on reading.
TA

Terry Anzaldo
TA Entertainment

_________________________________

Sorry about Yacht Rock docu….
I Recommend 2 brand new music documentaries coming from the U.K.:
First, BBC found lost film footage of the BandAid session and it's very moving and fabulous. Especially when you were so acquainted with many of the folks involved. You'll dig it, especially when ignorant, know nothing idiots like Ed Sheeran criticize BandAid these days.
Second, Sky released a comprehensive history of the Yardbirds, featuring interviews with ex-band members and people like Alice Cooper. 
You'll enjoy both cuz you were there.
Cheers, Keith Zimmerman 

_________________________________

Lighten up. Whike the doc missed a lot, it was entertaining. I guess Fagan doesn't like the moniker either. F@ck you.

Ron Cori

_________________________________

You don't get it.  We'll take anything. 
Recalling when there were actual melodies and harmonies is better than the drivel they beat us over the head with today. 
The runway is getting short. Let us enjoy something we can still remember.  
Rick Osswald

_________________________________

Watched new Beatles documentary last night, awful. It was mostly other people talking about the Beatles and not enough footage of them at that time. Jackson's Get Back is officially the last word

Bob Kalill

_________________________________

Thanks for saving me the trouble of watching this. 
It seems emblematic of the disrespect these musicians have endured for years, starting with the stupid name. They created some of the most sophisticated pop music that ever graced the airwaves. They may not have been the "tortured artists" that some people claim to love, but virtually everyone enjoyed them, even if they claimed to hate them. As is so often the case, most have found a resurgence among younger people who don't know they are not supposed to be hip, and they have gone from being loved ironically for a time to being loved admittedly.
I do take issue with the assertion that Kenny Loggins did his best work with Messina, though. Forget "Footloose" and "Danger Zone";  "Heart to Heart" and "This is It" are amazing songs, productions, and vocal performances. The lyrics of the latter should be taken as an anthem for these times. And speaking of lyrics, many of those on Michael McDonald's debut solo record are as deep as any singer/songwriter's. These people were spectacular craftsmen to the point where craft becomes art.
Hope someday someone will make a good doc about them.

Best

Michael Ross

_________________________________

I have a problem with the Yacht Rock moniker in general, but including Steely Dan in that group is a huge insult to the talent and output of that band. They've never sounded like any other band that I've heard, and it is especially true when considering the other bands that a couple of idiots roped into the Yacht Rock category. 

Tom Scharf

_________________________________

So, I spent the evening watching an excellent documentary on HBO with my wife last night.  I found the connections drawn between various session musicians and groups that had hits in the early 80s fascinating.

I then read my email... and found your latest missive...

Do you know what people dislike about critics of various times?  They are rarely proficient in what they are criticizing...  Surprise.  You're not even a musician.

Alas...  I enjoy what you write.  But perhaps instead of dissecting all the minutia of what you didn't like (misspelling of an obscure name), you could credit the documentary with the homage to Toto (did I spell that right?)  All those session musicians and what they did for some perfect music.  What's the beef with Questlove, too?  Lord man...

Keep up the excellent work.

Jim Anderson

_________________________________

I was excited for this documentary and I didn't expect much. What I got was not a deep dive but I did get fun and light. And some of us need that at this moment. 

Scotty Elyanow 
NYC 

_________________________________

I haven't see this yet, probably never will but you have to give Max credit for Stax Records. It is fantastic. 

Bill Gerber

_________________________________

I didn't expect such anger about yacht rock; you been hanging out w Donald Fagen? Completely disagree w you; this doc is an easy and entertaining watch; light fare about  light fare. Is it in the pantheon w other great rock docs, no way but who cares.  What were you hoping for, Gettysburg? 

This wasn't made for you; you are too in it. All I'm hearing from 30 and 40  year  olds is how great this is as it's a vibe and time they weren't familiar with and the music and pop culture references fill the gaps. 

Happy Thanksgiving ! 

Mark Burrell

_________________________________

I put it on thinking I'd watch 10 minutes.  

Watched the whole thing and quite enjoyed it- including the comedy/satire angle.  Well suited for the genre.

Lighten up.  

Rand

PS  They should edit it immediately with Mo's actual name.

_________________________________

I felt the same way about "Yacht Rock" as even the title is disparaging but disagree about Kenny's work post Loggins and Messina.

The Celebrate Me Home Album kicks off with "Lady Luck" with Richard Tee, Hiram Bullock, Tommy Tedesco, Lee Ritenour, Eric Gale, Robben Ford and Steve Gadd kicking ass right from the opening notes. I recall listening to this album while on tour with Natalie Cole and even the 6 week '79 tour with The Stones supporting the Some Girls release 

Rob

_________________________________

Not surprised. 
The term "Yacht Rock" has always been used pejoratively by people who are tone deaf.  
Critics are typically writers so their concept of thoughtful music focuses on lyrics. And since the most sophisticated music of the rock era is influenced by R&B and Jazz (which can be, but often isn't striving for poetry) we can see where a lot tracks featuring Michael McDonald's voice go sailing over the heads of the scribbling set.  
Also these types tend to segregate music which is why incredibly complex music by black artists (like EW&F) are spared the put-down of being called Yacht Rock. But Blue-eyed Soul is fair game. 
When it comes to your consumer, I believe many people don't like to venture beyond "Three Chords and… ('the Truth' or 'a Blues Lick' or 'an Attitude').
They might be able to handle diminished chords in a Garth Brooks song, but only because it leads to a "big dumb chorus". 
Anything that hints at Jazz is confusing and a little scary. 
That's why when someone sneers about Yacht Rock I immediately dismiss them as simpletons, in the purest sense of the word. 
KISS isn't just a mediocre band, it's an acronym for the unadventurous. 

Keith Brown

_________________________________

BBC did a 2-parter 5 years ago that dug deeper…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHawFYv_Vts

--
Zach Goode

_________________________________

Oh Bob…
We've stomached a few weeks of your takedowns of MSNBC and the yesteryear Dems, but now you've gotta take down our Yacht Rock!??
I just keep thinking while reading your review of this "POS" (your term) Yacht Rock "dock"…

Lighten up, man!!!!

Yeah they misspelled "Ostin".  For the 6 industry insiders that care.  And yes they should have gotten it right.  
But does that really discount the whole affair….?
I WAS there, as a kiddo… I was inspired by these musicians, I friggin' BECAME one of these musicians!
And they're all having fun reflecting on their canon, their reputations, their image (or lack thereof), their hits and misses.  Even Kenny Loggins comes around to recognize why people parodied and also celebrated the genre and cast of characters.
I've gotten more texts about "have you watched the Yacht Rock doc" since it dropped 24 hours ago than anything in years! No one cares where it streams.  We find what we want to watch.   And everyone's getting a kick out of this thing.
The film casually references KNX-FM, twice. As a kid, my ears recognized that station to epitomize what high class deep stereo-store adult rock radio should sound like.
Luke, Steve Porcaro, Mike McDonald, Paich (all guys you've had on your podcast in recent months) are proud of this documentary. Because they have SENSES OF HUMOR, Bob!  Because, even though they worked their asses off to make polished records, like the genre, maybe this documentary doesn't have to take itself too seriously and neither do they.  Maybe it can just be 90 minutes feeling good about "feel good music".  
By the way- you point out exactly what you didn't seem to get from the doc.  Kenny Loggins indeed made great music with Messina, but it was basically in the folk vein, which he pointed out, and when he went solo, the genre morphed into something else.  White R&B?  Soft soul rock?  Who knows. Who cares. (And is it coincidence that Jim's career didn't exactly "sail smoothly" post duo?)
Kudos to Bill Simmons, a great guy and a fan, and to the participants.

I had FUN watching this f@cking thing. God forbid!

Jeff Babko
The Valley

_________________________________

You straight up trippin', bro .

That was a perfectly serviceable rock doc..It does what it set out to do..I'm sorry you're disappointed.. Sounds like a "you" problem..

Paramount Plus did a three part take on Yacht Rock..("Sometimes When We Touch")..Pretty much identical..You're looking for a there that just ain't there..Those studio cats looked kinda' nerdy..Not sure they were privy to the same level of debauchery as a Motley Crue..

Maybe a movie/book about the Porcorro family dynamics would yield more dramatic possibilities..Maybe NOT, it could just be all about the work..

At least, they (Max) devoted twenty seconds to the unsung hero, the FENDER RHODES.. Finally! "Rhodes Rock" would be the better moniker for the genre..When the DX7 (Yamaha digital synth) got featured on "Sweet Freedom", that (yacht rock) shark had jumped..It was all about the ANALOG..


At least it wasn't as woke as the Little Richard (Max) doc..Boomer talking heads talking about the MUSIC..Zoomer talking heads complaining that Little Richard didn't do enough for the LGBTQ community..Woke apologists claiming he could have done more for the black community..

Wanna' try being an openly gay black person in the 1950s!? Those kids have NO idea..

And so it goes..MAGA trying to copy and paste yesterday's values onto the present moment.. Social Justice Warriors trying to copy and paste today's values onto the past..Yeah, THAT will end well..

James Spencer

_________________________________

"My dad's music is so lame, I'm going to make fun of it." -Fred Armisen. This guy's music mocking schtick is pure sh*t. Not funny. Not inventive. Just lazy. He has milked Portlandia as far as it can go. Like these yacht racketeer film makers. 

What goes on here?

Every generation makes fun of the one before. Sinatra was considered lame for his last few attempts. Have you heard LA Is My Lady? Pure sh*t. Quincy of course wrote for and conducted the Count Basie Band for Frank in the 50's-60's but LA Is My Lady came out only because Quincy was back on top cause of Michael Jackson. There's no way that album would have otherwise been made. I remember the nausea watching Frank trying to be relevant in the pop culture. 'Bad Bad Leroy Brown.' McCartney's 'Something' where Frank sings "Stick around Jack! It might show….." 
He had no need to. Go back to the Capital years conducted by Nelson Riddle where Sinatra was at the peak form. No need to try and keep up. Time to retire and play golf. Tour if you want. But only if you can hit the notes. If you can't sing, please. STOP. We all know the remaining 70's music artists currently whose voices fail them before our eyes. Just like Sinatra's.

So the Doobies and Boz and Steely are now the new Sinatra. But instead of sitting it out they're gonna let Fred and some lame ass music bloggers define an entire generation with no push back? F@ck that. Honor what you did, don't be part of the joke. 

Why not step down and let the new generation come in, maybe changing it up after a time like Tony Bennett Unplugged or Robert Plant and Alison Kraus. He knows he can't hit those notes in the Zep years. Why should we want him too? Music is an art form that has to come from the muse. That's it. 

Thundercat is singing their praises but the whole doc comes off like "we tried to make fun of them but we were caught with our lame joke so now we're going to back-peddle. Just PLEASE pay attention to us and our opinion cause this is all we've got. Talking about someone else's music."
This is not music journalism. This is media whore roulette. Pick an obvious music culture that's easy to mock cause of the mustaches and tube tops and run with it. 

Michael McDonald is so humble which is admirable but he's almost apologizing for his amazing voice and songs because some lame yacht web site poked fun. It's always best to be in on the joke but please do not lay down, Michael. You are our generation's Ray Charles. Your touring with the Doobies again and acknowledging them in the Beato interview (especially Keith Knudsen on Minute by Minute) shows your humility but please do now lump yourself in this lame ass genre doc. As Joni Mitchell says, "Honor the gift"

Questlove places judgment on what is soft rock (what, because it's not blazing Van Halen, it's therefore soft?) while HIS music is NOT to be called into question? An entire generation doesn't play musical instruments but samples and performs with turntables because it was music of the streets and there was no money to buy instruments? So you just piggy back on the previous hard working musician's content?  The same lame tired ass beats and non singers "singing" "ye ye yeh." 

I guess Quest has a few years before HIS documentary Subway Rock comes out. Hip hop is art but the Doobies and Steely are white guy rock? Please. This is an old conversation that is likely to gain speed in the new Trump era. I heard an NPR interviewer ask Michael McDonald if he was appropriating black music with his voice? What? Stevie Wonder mentions the Doobie Brothers on his album Songs In The Key Of Life! Smokey Robinson loved The Beatles BEFORE they covered "You Really Got A Hold On Me" 

Musicians and singers, composers don't think in those terms of black and white. Media does. They did in the 50's when Little Richard's Tutti Frutti was too sexed up for the white radio but Pat Boone's version is legit?

Patsy Cline was one of the most soulful singers ever and she was white. 
Music is colorless. 

This doc is a lame attempt to categorize more than one style of music into a genre because everyone who created the music was afraid to take it on as an insult. No backbone. (Except I love when Lukather yells, "Where's my f*cking yacht?") Jeff Porcaro would NOT have just let his entire career be sized up as a genre reflecting a boat at the marina because of the Loggins & Messina album cover.  

Their managers must have said, "Just go with it, you're not selling CD's or downloads anymore, all you've got left is touring, maybe you can take part in the Yacht Rock tour and we can sell more tickets. It's a sad commentary on how music artists are able to earn.

Thank God the doc ends with Donald Fagen saying "Go f*ck yourself" to the director.

Michael Koehler

_________________________________

I meant to write on Friday regarding your Mike Pinera item....simply to highlight your comments on Yacht Rock.  What IS Yacht Rock?  THEN, along came the doc we both saw Friday.

I am a student of all things Toto.  I love the fact Lukather reads and responds to your column.  I spend half my life preaching from the pulpit about their reach, their depth, their endless contributions to the fabric of the music we all listen to.  Been lucky to see them live dozens of times and meet every surviving member so I can thank them personally for being part of my life's soundtrack.  The only one I never met was Jeff Porcaro.  I did meet his widow at a record store I worked at in Orlando, she was buying up all the Toto memorabilia she could for her kids, so they'd remember dad.  Only when she paid did I realize her name and who she was.  Will never forget that.  So to be able to get any of the band members to participate in this doc is remarkable, considering what they went thru in 2019.

I was introduced to this Yacht Rock deal, just like many, in 2005 when a friend sent me the web series in email.  What stood out was their inclusion of Hall & Oates "Portable Radio", from their much-overlooked 1979 album X-static.  I'd never heard the term before and, frankly, until the doc I didn't have any one clear definition on what this genre is.  I don't get the Yacht Rock tribute bands and all of that, not my thing.  It has evidently struck a nerve with the general public, and I think this doc was essentially made for that audience.  It is actually quite good, but I understand your desire to dive deeper.

According to the doc, Hall & Oates and Fleetwood Mac aren't bonafide Yacht Rock.  I guess that's up for debate, I can see why Fleetwood Mac might not be, despite their SoCal appeal, but the series' own creators lampooned Hall & Oates in episode one.  Let's talk about what ISN'T Yacht Rock.  The Hues Corporation "Rock The Boat".  The Jacksons "Give It Up".  Al Wilson "Show & Tell".  Lionel Richie "All Night Long".  I have a very long list.  All tunes our beloved Sirius/XM plays with unmerciful regularity on their Yacht Rock channel, which has a huge audience.  How do we now change that mindset?  This doc helps.  The "Yacht Rock Deep Cuts" variant on the app is far more to the point, and makes that deep dive we crave, but still offers some bonafide R&B cuts.  The doc connects the dots for these folks that may be still pondering that point.  And the references in other shows/outlets helps illustrate the impact of this music.

Diving deeper.  Would a general audience appreciate the fact that Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" was based on the Toto demo that was passed over?  Would they be interested to hear that the Al Jarreau classic "We're In This Love Together" was meant for the Larsen-Feiten Band? Will they appreciate that Steve Lukather has a writing credit on George Benson's "Turn Your Love Around"?  Well, THAT they could have mentioned, since the song is highlighted in the doc....but no.  It's like you say, we live in a sound bite world now, attention spans can only absorb so much.  This doc has everything the inquiring mind wants to know.  Those of us interested in what makes the music, how its designed and recorded, sliced and diced, made ready for public consumption...likely already know.

Thanks for your input.  I was glowing about the doc and already showed it off to a couple people who did like it.  The phone call with Donald Fagen being the mic drop.

Kevin Andrusia
Orlando, FL

_________________________________

I haven't even finished your letter and you are so 1000% WRONG...

As a guy who has listened to ALL Yacht Rock podcasts with JD, Hunter, Dave and Steve, I can tell you without hesitation that these guys LOVE this music. I just can't believe what I'm reading here. It is laughable. They read every liner note, know ALL the connections.. .they have MUTLIPLE podcasts about music and know this stuff backward and forward!

You don't put that much effort into something you're making fun of. 

You are so off the mark here. I loved every minute of it. The discussion on the 'Doobie Bounce' was exactly the kind of analysis that nobody talks about.
That rhythm motif from 'What A Fool Believes'? Michael McDonald was emulating The Four Tops, 'Sweet Understanding Love':
The Four Tops - Sweet Understanding Love

Beyond Yacht Rock
Yacht or Nyacht
Billion Dollar Record Club

Listen to these podcasts by JD, Hunter, Steve, Dave and tell me they don't love this music. 

Bananas, sir. What you said is bananas and so out of touch.

Bill Seipel



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