AAW: Silk Degrees - Boz Scaggs

(Originally posted 14 January 2022)

Silk Degrees jumps from punchy blues romp to ornate, saccharine smooth jazz romance. This is hardly an album- it feels more like a pile of songs Boz played one time. It has a pretty weak overarching narrative structure, and feels overall pretty disjoint. On the whole, it’s nothing special. It’s very seventies, and I don’t think any of these songs would sound out of place in a conversation pit or waterbed. As for the cover, the text seems lifted from a Casio watch and the cover photo reminds me of when John Prine thought he’d try to be a bad boy for two albums, which I think is kind of funny. I wonder who was imitating who…

The instrumentation and production is nice though. Glittering drum fills and punchy basslines, combined with the occasional jazz flute and brass section make for a grand ol’ time, and Boz’ voice has a character that adds to the music without distracting from it. Lowdown is a particular instrumental highlight, with nice dynamic range. For post-breakup romantic tension, look no further than It’s Over, which features backup vocalists, strings, piano glissandos, as well as some really funky bass and guitar hiding just beneath the surface- I don’t know why it was so orchestral at the top, and then so funky below, but that’s the Scaggs Strategy, I suppose. 

A nice surprise for me came towards the end of the album, in the form of Lido Shuffle- For whatever reason, when this came on classic rock radio when I was a kid (and it did, somewhat too frequently I think.) I always thought it was a Steely Dan song. If you haven’t heard this one, it’s a good time. It tells a fun story, there’s some synth that appears out of nowhere near the end, and it is just a bluesy romp. 

Oh, remember what I said about Boz’ voice earlier? Well, the one exception is We’re All Alone, where his voice bears comical resemblance to that of a particular felt frog. Nothing if not kermitted. This is the one song that I noticed actually has an ending- the others keep going and fade out for the most part, contributing to the “not really an album” thesis.

There are three live tracks tacked on the end of the album, which I don’t think contribute to the album as an album, but they’re good recordings of fun songs, with high energy and a really smooth saxophone solo. 

Georgia, the song that brought me to the album, still holds up, but my favorite song this week is Harbor Lights; If you want to really disappear into a song, this is a great place to get lost. There are some places where the lyrics don’t make a lot of sense in terms of meter, they have sort of an odd flow, but the instrumentation is just lovely and seems to ebb and flow with the tides through the song. 

Next week’s album will be Whatever and Ever Amen from Ben Folds Five. I’m a little worried that it’s too similar to Woodface but I’m going to do it anyways I think.