BOZ SCAGGS
GREATEST HITS LIVE DVD
GRAY CAT (CHS10029)
Lowdown, Slow Dancer, Heart Of Mine, It All Went Down The Drain, Harbor Lights, Jojo, Ask Me ‘Bout Nothin' The Blues, Breakdown Dead Ahead, Look What You've Done To Me, I Just Go, Georgia, Miss Sun, Lido Shuffle, Runnin' Blue, Loan Me A Dime, We're All Alone. Plus photo gallery, behind-the-scenes documentary & a special bonus track.
I have a soft spot for Boz Scaggs - his cool elegant sounds and chugging white soul- based hits dominated the West Coast music scene during the mid and late 70s when his Atlantic LP "Boz Scaggs" and the big hit "Silk Degrees" were burning up the airwaves.
Boz always kept one eye on our kind of music, engaging some huge blues performers at Slim's - his Bay Area club and recording plenty of blues songs during his long career. His first big hit was Fenton Robinson's "Loan Me A Dime" and he often veered into the Bobby Bland/Percy Mayfield groove, especially on his 1977 LP "Come On Home".
This DVD was filmed live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in 2004 and he's playing his hits so there was only room for four blues numbers including an assertive version of Earl King's cynical take on love-gone-wrong, "It All Went Down The Drain". This one hits the same groove as his tremendous performance of Bobby Bland's "Ask Me ‘Bout Nothin' But The Blues" where he plays some sumptuous lead guitar. He picks up the blues guitar again for another good helping of BB King licks on the big band number "Runnin' Blue" which allows some room for the band to showcase their talents. Keyboards player Jim Cox is particularly impressive. Of course, "Loan Me A Dime" makes an appearance and what a blockbuster this is with lovely piano, superb guitar intro and stunning solos from Boz and his velvet fog of a voice and the dry, brittle, toughness of the whopping guitar solo by the other guitarist Drew Zingg. Great name and boy! The kid can go. In fact, he soars all over this concert - especially on the heart-string-stretching solo on their hit "I Just Go".
But it's the old stuff this audience wants and if you know Boz's seventies recordings you'll be knocked out by this band on classics like the boppin' "Georgia", the sheer cool elegance of "We're All Alone" and the pounding R&B shine of "Lido Shuffle". Not forgetting the laid-back beat that drives "Lowdown" and the brilliance of the jazz tinged "Harbour Lights".
This DVD is a big classy job full of masterful arrangements of unforgettable songs, played by one of the most impressive bands I've heard in a while. Boz Scaggs is a true legend of intelligent innovative music, still at the top of the game. I'll be watching this again and again.
Ask for CHS10029. Price £14.25 plus p&p
Review Date: March 2009
