Silk Degrees Boz Scaggs

• 1What Can I Say (2023 Remaster)02:59
• 2Georgia (2023 Remaster)03:54
• 3Jump Street (2023 Remaster)05:10
• 4What Do You Want the Girl to Do (2023 Remaster)03:49
• 5Harbor Lights (2023 Remaster)05:57
• 6Lowdown (2023 Remaster)05:17
• 7It's Over (2023 Remaster)02:50
• 8Love Me Tomorrow (2023 Remaster)03:14
• 9Lido Shuffle (2023 Remaster)03:41
• 10We're All Alone (2023 Remaster)04:12
• Total Runtime41:03

Info for Silk Degrees

"Silk Degrees" by Boz Scaggs was not only one of the finest examples of crossover soul, pop and rock ever recorded, but it was also one of the biggest albums of the seventies and included some of the finest grooves ever played by Boz Scaggs, which netted him a Grammy for his mega number one hit, "Lowdown." Other major hit singles included "Lido Shuffle," "Georgia," "What Can I Say" and "It's Over." Other artists like Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli covered songs from this watershed album and had major hits themselves, which further illustrates the importance and influence of this highly loved and regarded masterwork.

"Both artistically and commercially, Boz Scaggs had his greatest success with Silk Degrees. The laid-back singer hit the R&B charts in a big way with the addictive, sly "Lowdown" (which has been sampled by more than a few rappers and remains a favorite among baby-boomer soul fans) and expressed his love of smooth soul music almost as well on the appealing "What Can I Say." But Scaggs was essentially a pop/rocker, and in that area he has a considerable amount of fun on "Lido Shuffle" (another major hit single), "What Do You Want the Girl to Do," and "Jump Street." Meanwhile, "We're All Alone" and "Harbor Lights" became staples on adult contemporary radio. Though not remarkable, the ballads have more heart than most of the bland material dominating that format." (Alex Henderson, AMG)

Boz Scaggs, guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals (4, 7, 8)
Fred Tackett, guitar
Les Dudek, slide guitar (3)
Louis Shelton, guitar, slide guitar (8), acoustic guitar (10)
David Paich, arrangements, acoustic piano (1-4, 7-10), Hohner clavinet (2), Fender Rhodes (5-8), Moog synthesizer (5, 6, 9), ARP synthesizer (6), Minimoog (6, 8, 9), Hammond organ (6, 9), Wurlitzer electric piano (7, 8), harpsichord (7)
David Hungate, bass
Jeff Porcaro, drums, percussion (4), timbales (8)
Joe Porcaro, percussion (1, 3)
Plas Johnson, tenor saxophone solo (1), saxophone (8)
Jim Horn, tenor saxophone (4)
Bud Shank, saxophone (8)
Chuck Findley, flugelhorn solo (5)
Sid Sharp, string conductor and concertmaster
Vincent DeRosa, horns
Jim Horn, horns
Paul Hubinon, horns
Dick Hyde, horns
Plas Johnson, horns
Tom Scott, horns
Bud Shank, horns
Jim Gilstrap, backing vocals (1, 6)
Maxine Green, backing vocals (4, 7, 8)
Augie Johnson, backing vocals (1, 6)
Marty McCall, backing vocals (1, 6)
Pepper Swenson, backing vocals (4)
Carolyn Willis, backing vocals (1, 6)

Recorded September–October 1975 at Davlen Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California; Hollywood Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, California
Produced by Joe Wissert

Digitally remastered

Boz Scaggs
Born William Royce Scaggs in Canton, Ohio on June 8, 1944, he grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, where he spent his teenage years immersed in the blues, R&B and early rock 'n' roll. While attending school in Dallas, he played in local combos. After several years as a journeyman musician around Madison, WI and Austin, TX, Scaggs spent time traveling in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, eventually settling in Stockholm where he recorded the album Boz.

Returning to the U.S. in 1967, Scaggs joined the Steve Miller Band in San Francisco, performing on that group's albums Children of the Future and Sailor, before launching his solo career with 1968's seminal Boz Scaggs LP, recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL for Atlantic Records. Scaggs continued to mine a personalized mix of rock, blues and R&B influences, along with a signature style of ballads on such influential '70s albums as Moments, Boz Scaggs & Band, My Time, Slow Dancer and 1976’s Silk Degrees. The latter release became a massive commercial breakthrough, reaching Number Two and remaining on the album charts for 115 weeks. It spawned three Top 40 hit singles: "It's Over," "Lido Shuffle" and the Grammy-winning "Lowdown." Subsequently, "We're All Alone” from that same album, would become a #1 single for Rita Coolidge. Silk Degrees was followed by the albums Down Two Then Left and Middle Man, and such hit singles as "Breakdown Dead Ahead," "Jo Jo" and "Look What You've Done to Me."

Despite his '70s successes, Scaggs spent much of the 1980s out of the music-biz spotlight, traveling, opening a family business, fathering young children and founding the San Francisco nightclub, Slim's, He returned to the studio after an 8-year hiatus and released, Other Roads, Some Change, Dig, the Grammy-nominated Come on Home, the unplugged Fade Into Light, the in-concert retrospective Greatest Hits Live as well as a stint touring with Donald Fagen’s New York Rock & Soul Review; all while continuing to maintain a loyal audience in the U.S. and overseas, particularly in Japan. A pair of albums of jazz standards, But Beautiful and Speak Low, the latter topping the Billboard Jazz chart, demonstrated Scaggs' stylistic mastery, as did the Southern-flavored Memphis and the rhythm & bluesy A Fool to Care.

"Music has been a constant companion and I'm feeling more free with it than ever," Scaggs comments. "I feel like I've found my voice through all these years, and I've gotten closer to where I want to be with my approach."

This album contains no booklet.