Boz Scaggs brings the sound of the seventies to the Hard Rock on Saturday

by Steve Newton on October 11th, 2017 at 1:44 PM

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I remember when Boz Scaggs was on the top of the charts.

It was back in the year of our lord, 1976, when the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist released his seventh album, Silk Degrees.

At the time I was a rock-crazed teenager trying to broaden my musical horizons from a steady diet of Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith, and UFO, and starting to get into more adult, "blue-eyed soul" acts like Hall and Oates.

I'm pretty sure it was my older sister's fault.

Anyway, the thing I remember most about Silk Degrees was that whenever you went into a stereo shop to check out the latest "high-tech" speakers they'd always put "Lowdown" on to show off the impressive bass and treble capabilities.

It was either that or Pablo Cruise's A Place in the Sun, if I recall correctly.

Both albums sounded mighty fine cranked through a couple of Pioneer HPM-100s--which is what I eventually scored to go along with my Yamaha turntable and Kenwood amp ("55 watts a side of pure power!").

As well as being the fave demo disc down at Kelly's Stereo Mart in downtown Chilliwack, Silk Degrees went five-times platinum and spawned the hit singles "It's Over", "Lido Shuffle", and "What Can I Say", as well as "Lowdown". Not surprisingly, when the 73-year-old Scaggs plays the Molson Canadian Theatre at the Hard Rock this Saturday (October 14), there's a good chance--judging by his recent setlists--that he'll play all four.

The good news is, he's also been playing "Georgia", which was always my personal fave tune off Silk Degrees.