The Album Club: "West End Coast" by Young Gun Silver Fox
 

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Anteater's pick for this round. Do I really have to tell you what you need to do at this point?

Andy Platts is from CA, and Shawn Lee if from London. So the album title reflects the connection where the duo comes from.
West End + West Coast = West End Coast

You Can Feel It The guitar on the first track reminded me of Ian Bairnson playing leads on a 12 string. And the electric piano gave it a real 70s sound.

Emilia The second song reminds me more of modern band like Inner Wave than an amalgamation of a bunch of 70s groups.

Better There is a slight "eeewww" that reminds if 10cc, but that only last a few brief seconds. There is a lot of other stuff going on in this song. The main vibe I get from this song is that they are trying to rework ABBA's I Saw It In The Mirror.

Distance Between Us the intro literally forces one to think of Baby Come Back by Player. The vibe quickly switches to Bens Fold Five when he sings "I know when things get heavy ..." but no sooner after that line they bust into their rendition of the Manhattans.

See Me Slumber The introduction to this song it provided to you by Fastball.

In My Pocket The introduction is reminiscent of China Girl because of the Far East motif. You can almost hear the note sing "Papa Don't Preach."

... tbc

So far I like most of it. I don't hate it, so I definitely do not think this album is a meh at all. You gotta be crazy if you vote dislike or hate - IHMO. However I will have to give the album more consideration to figure out where I stand, whether I like or love the album.

It's fairly eclectic for a yacht rock album, and seeing that we have a lot of Curtis Mayfield fans I thought some aspects of the production might appeal to some folks here. There's some cool moments where it seemingly hops back and forth between blue-eyed soul and Motown influences without batting an eye, so that's why I picked it.

There's just no way I can take a positive spin on this one. I did give it a try but I couldn't. I tend to skip this sort of music pretty fast when browsing around for new tracks. It just doesn't grab me.

I can hear that this band has put some effort into creating a certain sound, but I'm just not feeling it. I've heard so much that sounds just like this and I find the vocals especially hard to care about. The delivery and vocal melodies are so predictable. This guy can sing, but my mind wouldn't stop screaming "Discount Prince! Poor man's Simply Red! And I don't even really like Simply Red!". Whenever I managed to silence that voice for a moment, I was feeling frustrated that the music seemed dead set on avoiding ever feeling involving for more than 5 seconds at a time.

And I felt like basically every single song went on for longer than it should have. The last minute of each song was pretty tedious for me.

There was a pretty cool sounding instrumental moment in one song, but I can't remember which one.

Of course it doesn't sound bad, but I'm honestly feeling an overwhelming desire to skip ahead early in every song, already on the second time through the album.

Gonna have to disagree with a certain sentiment expressed by Nea and vote "disliked it". I'm legit bored here.

Judie Tzuke's early to mid 80's period (as well as Joni Mitchell's) is very similar to what these guys do in regards to overall production and progression. Same general well of ideas. It takes a certain amount of laidbackness to enjoy the whole Californian / L.A. vibe but the craftsmanship and interplay is where the value is at. They're like one of Tarantino's imaginary dream-team bands come to life.

Ant - you do a great job of finding enjoyable overlooked gems

First listen winner but definitely has that feeling that time and familiarity will serve the record well

Easily gets a “loved it” vote

Don’t want to go overboard with hyperbole on a single listen but I’m excited about building a relationship with this record

Love the production - subtle variety - comforting soft rock vibe

KOOL

lulzzz did I really post that or are you taking the p iss ?

I coulda sworn I saw it somewhere. :laughing:

I feel like they are re-gifting the 70s, so I am pretty apprehensive whether I could build a relationship with this record. I mean they are not referencing bands like ABBA and Player, they are down right stealing from them. "Building a relationship with this record?" It would be more like dating a kleptomaniac.

I can see a bit of similarity to the two first Tzuke albums, Welcome to the Cruise and Sportscar, but let's not pretend they're sound all that similar in the end. Tzuke's early albums personally remind me a bit more of Kate Bush's first couple albums in some ways.

Judie Tzuke's early albums feel very pop rock to me. Emphasis on pop.

It did feel a bit like some sort of Frankenstein's monster, sewn together from various familiar acts and songs. I'm not sure if I think that's a sin, but it was a bit hard to feel like the album had all that much personality.

Just in the very sort of clean, measured delivery, the album even reminded me of Steely Dan. Not sure if anyone else can see what I mean.

I did indeed date a klepto in my day. Two words: Free ****

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/06/artists-steal/

I have a love/meh reaction to Shawn Lee's music. I think he's an exceptionally talented musician/songwriter/arranger/producer with some great stuff like 'World of Funk' (my pick for round 1 of the album club) and some rather well made but forgettable albums that drift in one ear and out the other without sticking in my mind. This album is very well done all around and perfectly captures the 70's sound of radio-friendly soft-rock groups like Hall & Oats, Seals & Crofts, The Doobie Brothers and more ( I even heard some Captain & Tennille influences) but it just didn't grab me or thrill me. Overall, it sounds like top 40 music from the 70's that you would often hear on the radio, while you were in a car or at the beach (for example) without bothering to pay much attention to it while it played in the background.

I gave it a "like" because it really nails the top 40 soft-rock sound of that time so well and it's easy on the ears but it's not an album that I'll be adding to my collection any time soon.

6.5/10

But like the process of those top 40 tracks making their way into your consciousness was fun. This record gives us the chance to do it again and on our own terms.

Welcome to the Cruise and Sportscar are 1979 and 1980 respectively. I guess Ant is talking more Ritmo/I am the Phoenix/Shoot the Moonterritory.

I voted for liked it. Mostly because I only had time this week to listen to it once.

Any sort of familiarity with this album/artist, or are both entirely new to you? None at all
Expectations (if any): I expect to like this a lot, given what I've heard from others
Initial impression: Excellent, gives me a real Eagles/Seals and Crofts vibe
Favourite track(s): "You Can Feel It", "Long Way Back", "Better"
Least favourite track(s): "In My Pocket"
Overall impression: Kind of bored me in the end
Chances of listening to further material from this artist? Not terribly high
Rating (not mandatory): 6/10
Comments:
Wow. I had expected to like this a lot more than I ended up doing. I think it pins down the seventies Doobies/CSNY sound really well, and there are some good tracks, but about halfway through it just started to irritate me. Not quite sure why. Maybe it's because it tries so hard to be so seventies, and, well, it isn't. But I did manage only the one listen, so my opinion might change on further attempts to get into it.

Eh, 'Spiral' and 'Saturday' are both great songs. Latter's got that primetime Hall & Oates bounce that's a real bitch to capture, but these guys make it sound easy.