Boatz offer up some very tasty radio rock with a Southern flavour, this is one of the better albums of its kind in 1979.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Boatz
ALBUM: Boatz
LABEL: Capricorn
SERIAL: CPN 0222
YEAR: 1979
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Thom Flora – lead vocals, keyboards * Gary Baker – lead vocals, bass * Pete Carr – guitars * Rick Powell, Roger Clark – drums * Steve Nathan – keyboards * Ronnie Eades, Harvey Thompson – sax * Charles Rose – trombone * Harrison Calloway – trumpet
TRACK LISTING: 01 In The Middle Of The Night * 02 It Was Only The Rasdio * 03 Big Deal * 04 Straight To My Head * 05 Out Of This World * 06 Boomerang Logic * 07 The Ice Age Is Coming * 08 Gone So Long * 09 Sun Comes Down * 10 Blame It On The Future
Background
Many of you will remember LeBlanc & Carr and their hugely successful 1977 single ‘Falling’ from their only LP ‘Midnight Light’ (a 1978 promotional album ‘LeBlanc & Carr at the Atlantic Studios’ exists as well).
Tours with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band and Journey followed, but Carr wasn’t interested in performing as he was working in the studio and the duo went their separate ways in late 1978.
Carr would return a year later with Boatz and a new deal with the Macon, Georgia based Capricorn label. Just how much success the imprint expected from Boatz with no tour support is a mystery since almost every interview I’ve read with Carr passes over the Boatz story as if it never happened.
The Songs
Boatz offer up some very tasty radio rock, featuring two excellent lead vocalists in Thom Flora and Gary Baker. Honestly, I wonder why so little attention has been given to this album in light of the excellent AOR found herein. Time to correct this injustice and say this is one of the best AOR/Pop albums of 1979 and definitely one you should seek out post haste!
Let’s start off with side one and ‘In The Middle Of The Night’ which has a slight southern vibe and is catchy as hell, but it’s the second track ‘It Was Only The Radio’ that sounds very much like REO Speedwagon and screams hit single, but of course never was. ‘Big Deal’ is a mixture of Pages and Hotel which equals nothing short of pure melodic bliss.
‘Straight To My Head’ carries on the radio rock tradition with a bouncy number and a killer hook while I am thinking ‘why don’t more fans of Hotel, the first Silver Condor and All Sports Band know about this LP’? Want more? Sure you do and side two’s ‘Boomerang Logic’ again sounds like REO Speedwagon at their best.
The gorgeous ‘Gone So Long’ sounds like a remake of LeBlanc & Carr‘s ‘Falling’ but who cares. It’s a wonderful track in the typical 70’s style with beautiful vocal work from Flora and Baker. Closing with two up tempo rockers recalling the first Tycoon album I’m hard pressed find any negatives when it comes to Boatz.
In Summary
The production for the time is top notch and as pointed out the song quality is stellar, but.. Ok, maybe just one grumble and slap on the wrist to Capricorn’s art department for mixing up the track listing on the album sleeve. These types of things shouldn’t happen, but we have corrected the running order above.
