Track Listing

1. I'm Easy
2. I'll Be Long Gone
3. Another Day (Another Letter)
4. Now You're Gone
5. Finding Her
6. Look What I've Got
7. Waiting For A Train
8. Loan Me A Dime
9. Sweet Release

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66698 in Music
• Released on: 1993-05-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
Singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs started out flirting with blues-rock in the early Steve Miller Band, before achieving stardom in the '70s with suave pop-R&B hits like "Lido Shuffle" and "Lowdown". In between, he kicked off his solo career with a white-soul classic that put him right up among the likesof Van Morrison and Joe Cocker. Scaggs's 1969 debut album finds him in the good company of the musicians of Alabama's famed Muscle Shoals studio, who provided backup for countlessclassic soul records.
With just a touch of Southern-style blues-rock provided by the guitars of Duane Allman and fellow blue-eyed soulster Eddie Hinton, Scaggs makes the most of his sonic environs. Whether covering country pioneer Jimmie Rodgers ("Waiting For a Train") or belting out his own compositions, here he finds a perfect midpoint between sweet-toned crooning and gritty roof-raising.

Customer Reviews

William Royce "Boz" Scaggs' classic Atlantic solo album sounds great after almost three decades

Boz Scaggs left the Steve Miller Band after "Sailor", their second, classic, charting (pop # 24) Capitol album released in November 1968.

He soon secured a deal with Atlantic and travelled to the recently created Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. For a Texas born singer, songwriter and guitarist whose early musical influences were firmly rooted in blues and R&B, Muscle Shoals was a fine place to record. The palette used here is broader however, incorporating many soul, country, gospel and rock elements.

Two guitar hotshots, Duane Allman and Eddie Hinton, augment the regular rhythm section of Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood and Roger Hawkins. The sessions also benefit from the support of crack Memphis horn players and of first rate back-up singers. This said, Muscle Shoals had no magical powers of its own - what really counted was what Boz Scaggs himself could bring to town with him. Fortunately, Boz Scaggs came with talent to spare.

Scaggs displays a fine song writing style (he wrote six original tunes (including two co-written with Beckett) and a delightful singing voice.

"I'm Easy" opens the album in up-tempo mode. The bass and drums (also congas) are well to the fore and lay down a solid groove. Boz' vocals are assured, with female back-up sweetening and at least three different guitar parts.

"I'll Be Long Gone", a sad and mellow tune, is one of the highlights of the album. Boz understated vocal interplays well with Barry Beckett's organ and just a hint of horns. As Boz hits the high notes, Joe Arnold plays a very good tenor sax solo.

""Another Day (Another Letter)" is a plaintive ballad featuring piano, short electric guitar phrases, a pervasive wah-wah guitar part, vocal sweetening and electric piano. Very laid back!

The country shuffle of "Now You're Gone" speeds things up. Boz' vocals are first rate. A "processed" slide guitar is heard whilst Al Lester country fiddle imparts a lot of colour to the track.

"Finding Her" has a beautiful, sweet guitar part, organ, piano and something sounding like an electric harpsichord. The whole sounds very fresh.

"Look What I Got" is a solid Charles Chalmer/Donna Rhodes composition. Clarence Carter released his own version on his "The Dynamic Clarence Carter" album, also from 1969. This lament about lost love has a definite gospel feel thanks, notably, to the soulful female back-up singers.

Jimmie Rodgers' famous "Waiting for a Train" gets a sweet, clear and suitably lazy rendition from Boz. Very good Dobro, faint wah-wah guitar and nice touches of fiddle and honky-tonk piano greatly enhances the proceedings. Boz even yodels, although shortly, on this track.
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The longest track (at 12:48) is a radical re-interpretation of Fenton Robinson's "Somebody Loan Me a Dime." Robinson, uncredited on the original LP, is the sole composer listed on the CD. As a big fan of Fenton Robinson, I have to admit that I prefer Boz' version to Robinson's own 1967 original. I will add, though, that the much shorter and jazzier take released by Robinson on Alligator (1974) is equally splendid to my ears.
The track unfolds slowly with a delightful organ and piano backing, whilst Duane Allman plays a very sweet, understated guitar part (left channel). At about 1:22, Duane adds a louder guitar part (mixed dead centre.) The guitar here has a more full, though well-rounded, tone and the instrumental theme is played in a beautiful yet restrained way. Boz' passionate if mournful vocal begins at 2:24 into the track. At 4:31, Duane gets into a more stinging mode whilst the horn section is heard to good effect. Boz voice gets louder until the vocal ends at 7:40 with an encouraging "yeah!" From then on, it is Duane's show. As the tempo picks up, the guitar tone displays signs of sweet tube distortion. Duane starts an extended solo punctuated by heavy horn riffs. The overall sound gets louder and louder. All the players are on fire as Duane improvises bars after bars with great gusto until the track finally fades. Memorable, definitive, beautiful!

"Sweet Release" (by Scaggs and Beckett), performed at a brisk tempo, closes the album, again with a gospel touch. Boz Scaggs would further explore this kind of material, most notably on his delightful next album ("Moments", Columbia, 1971). My only quibble is that the track goes on a little bit too long at 6:17.

Despite lots of good reviews, the album did not sell although it has always remained available.

The album, I must add, is very different from what Boz Scaggs achieved after "My Time."

For a digital mastering of this vintage (1987), the sound is quite good. Overall, however, there is some lack in clarity and the instrumental work - especially from bass and drums - fails to pack the punch that it should. I really wish that this album would receive the full remastering job. The remainder of Boz Scaggs recordings, either solo or with the Steve Miller Band, is now available in digitally remastered version (the latter as Japanese imports only.)

I warmly recommend this album to any music fan that digs mellow, laid back, soul/blues material. I also want to stress the fact that this album delivers much more than just a superior version of " Loan Me a Dime", although many critics focus on this track.

AN OVERLOOKED PIECE OF ROCK / BLUES BRILLIANCE
Have you ever heard the best and most emotionally charged version of 'loan me a dime ' ever recorded ? This man made it and this album is worth it for that alone, harnessing the talents of both Boz and the late great Duane Allman it is simply soul wrenchingly superb ,and is my favourite blues recording of all time. The rest of the album showcases Boz in a very good light as a rock/blues act before he veered off into that disco-mirror-ball commercial-throw-away world that he only inhabited for a short spell. He probably still bears the scars from that,minus the money, but did start out great and is again great in his more recent recordings. An ability and voice like his has created many memorable, sterling ,recordings that are worth savouring.