Sometimes instead of doing album reviews, trivia or vignettes featuring Captain Koko, I'll be doing "feature" posts that zero in on someone in the Westcoast-AOR world and takes a collective look at their work and why you should care. I'll also be providing a "best" of download of that artist at the end of the post.

Netherlands-based singer/songwriter/producer Bernard Oattes is an uncommon example of someone completely un-Californian and removed from the scene yet, nevertheless, being heavily influenced by Westcoast music and then incorporating some of his own interesting ideas into the mix. He only did four-ish albums in his short lived career from the late 80's through the 90's before disappearing off the face of the planet, but there's a surprising amount of variety across those albums to warrant a cursory analysis, which includes lush 80's pop, early Euro-house and jazzier lyrically minded material not too far removed from late 70's Steely Dan.

Instead of boring you guys with tedious song descriptions and the like, I'll just post a few YouTube vids for your pleasure and a personally uploaded .zip "Best Of" collection I've compiled from my personal vaults. His albums are pretty much impossible to find online in good quality, so enjoy!

Parting Note: The title of the compilation, 'Feed Your Hate To The Dragon', is a lyric from track 11 on the compilation, 'When I Go To Sleep', which was also the closing track from his 1992 solo release Frame By Frame.