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It's time to break out the piña coladas. This Friday, the long-running NOW series will release its second volume of NOW That's What I Call Yacht Rock. This collection of classic songs in the "yacht rock" genre - think: seventies and early eighties soft rock with memorable melodies, sparkling productions, and plenty of saxophones - arrives on CD and in digital/streaming formats, with a 2-LP vinyl set arriving on July 3.
With eighteen songs, NOW That's What I Call Yacht Rock 2 boasts return appearances from many favorite artists featured on the initial volume, including Kenny Loggins (joined by Stevie Nicks for "Whenever I Call You Friend," co-written by Loggins and Melissa Manchester), Michael McDonald ("I Keep Forgettin'"), Toto ("I'll Be Over You"), and Little River Band ("Reminiscing"). They're joined by Seals & Crofts ("Summer Breeze"), Chicago ("If You Leave Me Now"), Elvin Bishop ("Fooled Around and Fell in Love"), Paul Davis ("I Go Crazy"), Gerry Rafferty ("Baker Street"), REO Speedwagon ("Keep on Loving You"), Captain and Tennille ("Love Will Keep Us Together"), and other hitmakers. Stevie Nicks makes a second appearance here along with her then-Fleetwood Mac bandmate Lindsey Buckingham on Walter Egan's 1978 hit "Magnet and Steel," co-produced by Buckingham. Some of the more surprising but still appropriately mellow choices include Gordon Lightfoot's 1974 folk-pop chart-topper "Sundown" and Santana's 1982 cover of Ian Thomas' "Hold On." (Yacht rock connoisseurs might still lament the absence of format staples by artists such as Christopher Cross, The Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan, presumably missing for licensing reasons.)
With COVID-19 delaying the start of the baseball season, SiriusXM has been airing its popular Yacht Rock station on a channel typically used for sports coverage. The sunshine sounds and shimmering productions of yacht rock clearly can't come too soon. Look for NOW That's What I Call Yacht Rock 2 in stores this Friday on CD from Universal and Sony. The digital release also happens Friday, while vinyl follows on July 3. You'll find pre-order links and the full track listing below.
Various Artists, NOW That's What I Call Yacht Rock 2 (UMG/Sony, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Kenny Loggins featuring Stevie Nicks, "Whenever I Call You Friend"
- Michael McDonald, "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)"
- Gerry Rafferty, "Baker Street"
- Chicago, "If You Leave Me Now"
- REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Loving You"
- Air Supply, "All Out of Love"
- Eric Carmen, "All By Myself"
- Paul Davis, "I Go Crazy"
- Toto, "I'll Be Over You"
- Little River Band, "Reminiscing"
- Seals & Crofts, "Summer Breeze"
- Gordon Lightfoot, "Sundown"
- Elvin Bishop, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love"
- Atlanta Rhythm Section, "So Into You"
- Walter Egan, "Magnet and Steel"
- Exile, "Kiss You All Over" (1986 version)
- Captain & Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together"
- Santana, "Hold On"
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Be careful when ordering via Amazon; I bought volume 1 through them and got one of their Manufactured On Demand CD-Rs. Promptly returned it.
I hate those CD-Rs; they are the scourge of the music retail business.
Amazon typically makes clear which titles are offered as CD-Rs; unfortunately, I too can confirm that this has not been the case with numerous (though not all) Sony releases in recent years, particularly from their Masterworks division.
I bought a Sony soundtrack around Christmas and didn’t open it until last week. Turned out to be a CD-R. Computer drive won’t read it. CD player does play but audio has static all over it. Anyone know some way to contact Sony about it?
I would certainly return the disc to Amazon if possible and let them know that their description is inaccurate. To my knowledge, Sony has never confirmed the CD-R situation that happens with many of their releases on Amazon.
I have the Vol 1 on vinyl, good stuff.
I picked up volume 1 at Target earlier this year. Not a bad collection of songs.
I too have Volume 1...this series is just a cool rebranding of "Soft Rock Hits of the 70s & 80s"...like...so uncool it's cool, or so bad that it's great...pure musical irony...I just have a coupla peeves about this music...one, nothing raw, loud or distorted & production too clean...two, nothing obscure, all radio hits, nothing up for discovery, unlike this 8CD box from Japan I have...and three, many of the artists branded as Yacht Rock are miscategorized as such because of a coupla radio hits they had, like Ambrosia, who are really a hardedged Brit prog/art rock band, but because they had a few mellow hits, are branded as Yacht Rock...hogwash...listen to 1982's "Road Island" for a real taste...and Toto blew Yes off the stage when coheadlining & they too have a hard edge & roots in British prog...just my two cents...a coupla hits on the radio do not define a band, at all, espesh if they are diverse & with many layers...
Larry, here's an interesting set of Yacht Rock obscurities:
http://www.numerogroup.com/d/seafaring-strangers-private-yacht
Looks interesting...will look into this...I dig Numero Group releases...
Hey, could you please tell me more about this Japanese box. How did I miss this?!?!?
This Japanese box on Sony Japan from like 1995 or so, is so obscure that I couldn't even find info or details on it on the label's website!! See, I found it junked on the floor of this used record store about 2 years ago & was missing the booklet & track info...at least half the songs I did not know & had to use the Shazam app to identify them...also Wikipedia...I don't know the title off top of my head...when I get home, I will get it out...it was thru this set that I discovered an obscure David Foster-led band on RCA called Airplay...the original version of "After The Love Is Gone" was from their lone album, which 4 or 5 songs are on the box...so is Pages (pre Mr Mister band on Capitol)...
this box is called, weirdly, "AOR Heaven", on Sony Japan from 1995, with each disc of a different label & title...Disc 1 (on Sony) is called "You're Only Lonely/I Go Crazy" with artists: J.D. Souther/Al Johnson/Toto w/ Cheryl Lynn/Ned Doheny/Nigel Olsson/Ray Kennedy/John Hall of Orleans/Stanley Clarke & George Duke/Pages/Dan Fogelberg/Dane Donohue/Bill Champlin/Paul Davis & mystery song "Are You Ready For Love??"
Disc 2 (on Sony) is called "Casablanca/Magic"...with artists: Pages/Larry Lee of Ozark Mountain Daredevils/Bertie Higgins/Dan Fogelberg/Paul Anka/Felix Cavaliere of Rascals/Jimmy Messina/Paul Davis/Ray Kennedy/Toto/EWF/ Far Cry/and mystery songs "Magic" (not Pilot) & "First Livin"
Disc 3 (on RCA) is called "Sara/After The Love Is Gone" with discs: Airplay (with David Foster)/Robert Kraft/Starship/John Valenti/Norman Saleet/Mr Mister/& Toby Beau
Disc 4 (on Capitol) is called "Hearts/Reminiscing" with artists: Marty Balin/Michael Johnson/Pages/Nielsen Pearson/Jay Graydon/Little River Band/Skylark/Gerry Rafferty/Ned Doheny/ & mystery song "I Will Be Loving You"
Disc 5 (on MCA) is called "On And On/Him" with artists: Stephen Bishop/Nick DeCaro/Paul Nicholas/Timothy B Schmitt/Glenn Frey (2 solo Eagles)/Rupert Holmes/Carl Anderson/ & mystery song "Miles Of Sea"
Disc 6 (on WEA/Warner) is called "Biggest Part Of Me/Generalities" with artists: Ambrosia/Bonnie Raitt/Doobie Brothers/Michael Franks/Marc Jordan/Christian Bautista (that one I'm not totally sure about, the song is: "Miore Than You'll Ever Know")/Yellowjackets/Christopher Cross/Lauren Wood/Robbie Dupree/JD Souther/ & Kenny Rankin
Disc 7 (on WEA/Warner) is called "Steal Away/Antonio's Song (The Rainbow)"...with artists: Kenny Rankin/Robbie Dupree/Maria Muldaur/Larsen Feiten Band/Peter Cetera/Michael Franks/Bill Champlin/Christopher Cross/Stephen Bishop/Chaka Khan/ & Marc Jordan
Disc 8 (on WEA/Warner) is called "Ride Like The Wind/Put Away Your Love"...with artists: Christopher Cross/Kenny Rankin/The Wilson Bros/James Ingram/John O'Banion/Ricky Peterson/Hirth Martinez/Gordon Lightfoot/Alessi Bros/David Pack of Ambrosia solo/Jay Gruska/Peter Cetera/Carly Simon/and a mystery song called "Ticket To My Heart" (??)
Not bad eh?? if anyone has info of these mystery songs, let alone this mystery box "AOR Heaven", let me know please...
Yeah, this is a soft rock collection, not a yacht rock collection.
Same thing...
I love this series from "Now". I hope they continue to add additional volumes to the collection. I will buy them ! Great Article, Thanks.