Silk Degrees

1976 was an epic year for great albums - Eagles' 'Hotel California', Jackson Browne's 'Pretender' and J.D. Souther's 'Black Rose' to name just three - and 'Silk Degrees' is right up there with the greats.

Commercially, 'Silk Degrees' was a slow starter, looking like it might sell 200-300,000 copies. But DJs gave "Lowdown" a lot of airplay, word got around and the album became a five-million-seller, charting for 115 weeks and yielding three hit singles. Truly a breakthrough album for Boz Scaggs.

And this success was richly deserved. 'Silk Degrees' is a seamless blend of pop, rock and blues, classy, stylish, beautifully performed and produced. Every song is memorable. The album's tone was 'balmy nights beside the pool'.

This legacy production has been beautifully if subtly remastered, restoring all and more of the clarity that was so noticeable on the vinyl original but rather lacking in earlier CD versions. A great bonus here is the inclusion of marvellous live versions of "What Can I Say", "Jump Street" and "It's Over". If you've ever wondered whether Boz and the band could replicate the studio power of the songs in a live setting, here's the proof.

If you're not familiar with 'Silk Degrees', treat yourself. A great album.

SILK DEGREES is Boz Scaggs' best album ever, and it just got even better, with extra songs and a deluxe remastering treatment that's warm and close, not harsh and shrill. There are many great songs here, especially "Lowdown and the full-tilt R&B-rocker "Lido Shuffle." If you have the old version, get rid of it after buying this CD.

I've downloaded my entire cd collection on my I Pod. Problem is, when I play it at social gatherings, someone always asks for tunes from this album. After much contemplation, I purchased it to add to my collection. After listening to it, it's not that bad though I prefer his earlier recordings.

Columbia, which spit out some terrible CDS in the early days of digital sound, has remastered some of its 70s recordings with success, but this isn't one of them. The original LP of "Silk Degrees" was compressed and short on the bass end. The remastering sounds equally bad: the sound is thick, unlayed, lacking separation and "air". It makes you wonder if the master tape was lost or damaged and all that's left in the vault is an awful, equalized dub. Compare the sound of the studio recording from 1975 with the live ones from a year later. Great music but this disc is sad.

A standard classic for this era. By far his best album and many of his dance floor favorites.