Stories behind memorable albums of the 1970s as told by the artists

Tag: boz scaggs

‘Takin’ It to the Streets’ with Michael McDonald on the Atlantic City Boardwalk

Michael McDonald closed his show Saturday night at the Tropicana in Atlantic City with “Takin’ It to the Streets,” which made sense.

The song, from a 1976 Doobie Brothers album by the same name, was the first single written by McDonald released from the first album on which he appeared as a member of the Doobie Brothers. The song made it to No. 13 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles chart. It’s a great tune and likely holds a special spot for McDonald among his vast library of songs.

McDonald had replaced Tom Johnston, who was sidelined in 1975 with health issues, in the Doobie Brothers, and “Takin’ It to the Streets” – both the song and album itself – was a signal that the band was going in a completely different direction.

The intro to “Takin’ It to the Streets” came to McDonald in his car while driving through … Read more

Here’s the lowdown on Boz Scaggs: He’s still smooth as silk

When Bobby Caldwell had a hit with “What You Won’t Do For Love” in 1978, one of his label-mates at TK Records was Boz Scaggs.

And officials at TK Records recognized the similarities between the two artists.

“Disco was burning out. But don’t forget, three years prior to me releasing my first album, Boz Scaggs had the ‘Silk Degrees’ album. That kind of like almost ushered in that type of path for me. And TK Records took full advantage of that,” said Caldwell in an interview I did with him for “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume III: Wax On,” due out this summer. “I did recognize myself that there were some similarities between myself and Boz, especially in the music we grew up on.”

Many of us had Scaggs’ “Silk Degrees” album in 1976. It went to No. 2 and spent 115 weeks on the Billboard 200 albums charts. The album … Read more

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