Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

One thing this Not Feeling Guilty series has an abundance of is singers with names like school teachers whose solo careers were brief. That wasn’t necessarily a consequence of the quality of their music; I suspect many got lost because their record companies didn’t promote them in an oversaturated field of AOR and soft rock. Some recorded as a side project while doing session work. Others simply had poor luck, as the random roll of the dice left their LPs stuck on the shelves.

One of the many one-or-two-album acts in this series was Hal Bradbury, whose solitary solo album, You Win, I Lose, is a favourite among the “yacht rock” (that awful term) cognoscenti. The title track, featured here, was a cover of a recently released song by British singer Lulu. Issued in 1981, Hal’s album didn’t set the charts alight. But he had a happy outcome: he went on to become the lead singer of the popular Hawaiian band The Krush.

For 46 years, Dane Donohue had one album on his resumé, until he returned in 2024 with a new set. His eponymous 1978 debut had the backing of some big hitters: Bill Champlin produced it, and Stevie Nicks, JD Souther, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmitt contributed backing vocals. The first two sang on the featured track, on which Larry Carlton plays guitar, Jai Winding piano, and Steve Gadd drums. Despite such stellar friends, the album wasn’t a hit, and Donohue was dropped by his label. Instead of shopping for a new label, he moved into behind-the-scenes work as a session and backing vocalist, and doing commercial and jingle work.

South African rock band Stingray (Image from SA Charts)

Briefly popular in their native South Africa, Stingray released two albums in 1979 and 1981. They featured on Any Major Band Vol. 1 with the great The Man In My Shoes. Their biggest hit, however, was the hard-rocker Better The Devil You Know. The featured track here is a deep cut from their debut album. For their sophomore album, the band had to replace drummer Shaun Wright after he lost a leg in a shark attack. Lead singer Dennis East went on to have a long solo career in South Africa. He died in 2022.

The group Airplay also released only one album, but they had bigger fish to fry than soft-rocking the West Coast. Their line-up included Bill Champlin and session backing singer Tommy Funderburk on vocals; the great producer, songwriter and guitarist Jay Graydon; and the legendary David Foster on keyboards. Backing musicians included almost all of Toto, and Ray Parker Jr. on rhythm guitars. Airplay were also the first to record the Earth, Wind & Fire hit After The Love Has Gone (written by Champlin and Foster), but their version was released after EWF’s, on that solitary 1980 Airplay album.

Graydon delivers a lovely little solo on the featured track, and also played on Dusty Springfield’s album, from which a track appears here too. Graydon also did that great guitar solo on Steely Dan’s Peg, which featured on Any Major Guitar Vol. 3.

One act that had a very long career was The Imperials, one of the biggest names in gospel music. The featured track, a breezy number called Living Without Your Love, came from their 26th album. Founded in 1963, an iteration of the group is still going. Russ Taff, lead singer on Living Without Your Love, was part of the group from 1977–81 — the first Black member of The Imperials at a time when multiracial bands were still uncommon. His stint was the group’s most commercially successful, and Taff went on to have a strong solo career in contemporary Christian music.

Frankie Bleu featured already on Vol. 14. That time, he dedicated his song to Vanessa; this time around the recipient of his devotion is Suzanne. The singer-songwriter, erstwhile guitarist of Seattle band Gabriel, released one album in 1982, having contributed to the soundtrack of the 1979 film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, including the excellent Moses’ Theme — yacht rock’s answer to Theme From Shaft. And that’s about all I know of Frankie.

Also featuring on Vol. 14 were Jolis & Simone, another one-album act. They were songwriter James Jolis and singer-songwriter-keyboardist Kevin DiSimone, who did a lot of session work for Barry Manilow and the likes of Bob James. On their one outing together, the pair created an album of jazz-funk grooves. They wrote Manilow’s 1982 hit Stay, which had first been released by soul trio Goodman Ray Brown.

Two of the more obscure acts here were introduced in previous volumes: Dick St. Nicklaus in Vol. 11 (which also introduced Michael Johnson), and the Little River Band’s Birtles & Goble in Vol. 14.

All previous NFG mixes are live. As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-fifteen-albumed covers and the above text in a PDF. PW in comments.

1. Rick Springfield – Don’t Talk To Strangers (1982)
2. Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky (1982)
3. George Duke – You (1982)
4. Robbie Dupree – Nobody Else (1980)
5. Michael Johnson – This Night Won’t Last Forever (1979)
6. David Gates – Goodbye Girl (1978)
7. Dusty Springfield – You Can Do It (1978)
8. Hal Bradbury – You Win, I Lose (1981)
9. Frankie Bleu – Just For You (Suzanne’s Song) (1981)
10. Carly Simon – Tranquillo (Melt My Heart) (1978)
11. Dane Donohue – Woman (1978)
12. Air Supply – Even The Nights Are Better (1982)
13. Stingray – How Much (1979)
14. Melissa Manchester – Party Music (1975)
15. Eric Carmen – Change Of Heart (1978))
16. Airplay – It Will Be Alright (1980)
17. The Imperials – Living Without Your Love (1979)
18. Dick St. Nicklaus – Born To Love You (1979)
19. Bruce Hibbard – You’re So Good To Me (1980)
20. Birtles & Goble – Last Romance (1980)
21. Jolis & Simone – I Love Makin’ Love To You (1979)

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Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 12
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 13
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 14

ALL IN ONE PLACE

Much of the music in these 14 volumes may be classified by some people as “Yacht Rock”, a term I deeply dislike. But in that, I am probably fighting a losing battle; the recent entertaining HBO documentary on the genre once known as soft rock, AOR or West Coast rock actually celebrated the term “Yacht Rock”, even incorporating it in its title.

The documentary makers seemed to acknowledge that not everybody likes the term “Yacht Rock” when they replayed their phone conversation with Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen. Upon hearing that term, he tells them to get fucked and hangs up on them. It is a stupid term which turns highly-accomplished musicianship into something of a joke. It may be affectionate, but it lacks respect. We might as well call Mozart, Handel and Vivaldi “Wig Concerto” music.

And the sight of crowds wearing skipper caps at “Yacht Rock” revival shows… ugh! You are not Tenille’s husband; take off those damn caps. You don’t see patrons at performances of “The Messiah” turning up wearing powdered wigs, do you?

It seems the makers of the pre-YouTube video series that gave the genre its ridiculous name were inspired more by a Loggins & Messina album cover than by the more obvious suspect, Christopher Cross’ hit Sailing. Both Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina would occasionally venture into the domain of “Yacht Rock”, but as a duo, they were firmly a folk-pop enterprise.

The offending album cover that gave a ridiculous name to a great sub-genre. Not a captain’s cap in sight.

It seems, though, that Christopher Cross has bought into the term. I stand with Fagen. Cross features on this mix, with Michael McDonald on backing vocals — and McDonald comes across really well in the docu. Also appearing in the film was Kenny Loggins. Here we have Loggins with the Bob James-produced original of What A Fool Believes, which he co-wrote with McDonald. The Doobie Brothers’ version, which came out a few months after Loggins’, is superior and rightly regarded as a gamechanger in Not Feeling Guilty music.

This so quintessentially American genre wasn’t confined to only the USA. A number of acts on this mix were not from the USA, though some recorded there.

Dusty Springfield makes another appearance here, after debut in this series on Volume 13.

Morocko hailed from South Africa, comprising musicians who had made their bones before forming their jazz-funk-rock band, most notably South African music legend Cedric Samson, drummer and lead singer of the band. They didn’t last long. Founded in 1980, they released one album in 1981 and then split.

From Australia we have Birtles & Goble, who as Beeb Birtles and Graeham Goble were members of the Little River Band. Goble wrote their finest song, Reminiscing (featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 4), as well as hits like Lady, The Night Owl (on Vol. 2), Take It Easy On Me, The Other Guy, and It’s A Long Way There (on Vol. 6).

Funk-rock duo Denne & Gold, known to their moms as Michael and Ken, were British songwriters for several soul acts, including Aretha Franklin, The Pointer Sisters and Jackie Moore. Their best-known compositions are The Real Thing’s hits You To Me Are Everything and Can’t Get By Without You, and The Delegation’s mighty Where Is The Love (We Used To Know). Denne and Gold wrote many songs together, but recorded only one album as a duo.

Also British is Nigel Olsson, a drummer in the 1970s for Elton John and, briefly, Uriah Heep who decided that, as the title of one of his two albums has it, drummers in fact can sing.

Olsson drummed on Elton John classics like Rocket Man, Honky Cat, Daniel, Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, Crocodile Rock, The Bitch Is Back, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Candle In The Wind, and Love Lies Bleeding, singing backing vocals on most of them, and played on all of John’s tours in the early- to mid-1970s. Then Elton fired Olsson, who went on to release a few records under his own name, scoring a US Top 20 with the featured Dancin’ Shoes in 1979. Olsson and Elton made up a while ago, and Nigel backed the Elton when he headlined Glastonbury in 2023.

Another non-US act here is Dutch jazz-rock guitar hero and alumnus of prog-rock band Focus Jan Akkerman, whose admirers include Queen’s Brian May. The vocalist on the featured song is a US singer and drummer named Willy Dee (singing drummers is a bit of a sub-theme here, it seems).

Handel and Mozart on a yacht. (Actual photo)

Toby Beau certainly is an American act. The name might suggest a lamé-jacketed country-pop singer. They were not that, but a country-rock act from Texas. Their name was taken from a shrimp boat, which may be a unique source of a band name. They toured with acts like the Doobie Brothers, Bob Seger, and the Steve Miller Band. Between 1978 and 1980 they released three albums, and had one big hit, the featured My Angel Baby. Their recording career might have stalled 44 years ago, but the band is still a going concern.

Also sporting a maritime name are Sea Level, but that moniker is a pun on the name of frontman C(huck) Leavell. The band was formed when members of the Allmann Brothers Band — keyboardist Leavell, drummer Jaimoe, and bassist Lamar Williams — set up their own band, complemented by additional members.  They lasted for five albums, from 1977-80.

Today, Chris Mancini is known as a writer, director, comedian, podcaster and son of legendary film composer Henry Mancini. As a young man, Chris played in his dad’s orchestra; and in 1983 he released a solitary AOR album. Its title, No Strings, might well have been a very clever artistically distancing allusion to his father.

A stalwart of AOR is guitarist Larry Carlton, who was worthy of a Collection of songs he played on. His wife was Christian rock singer Michele Pillar, whom he married in 1988. Her featured song precedes that, but the sound is AOR. Pillar’s voice has featured several times on The Simpsons, including doing the voice of Karen Carpenter.

All previous NFG mixes are live again. As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-skippered covers (and, yes, the image on the cover is a bit of a gag) and the above text in a PDF. PW in comments.

1. Jackson Browne – Running On Empty (1977)
2. Kenny Loggins – What A Fool Believes (1978)
3. Christopher Cross – I Really Don’t Know Anymore (1979)
4. Michael Johnson – Right Through The Heart (1980)
5. Bill LaBounty – Nobody’s Fool (1982)
6. Photoglo – Steal Away (1980)
7. Frankie Bleu – Take Your Time (Vanessa’s Song) (1981)
8. Greg Guidry – Show Me Your Love (1982)
9. Michele Pillar – Walk Across Heaven (1982)
10. Denne & Gold – Let’s Put Our Love Back Together (1977)
11. Morocko – Giving It Up (1981)
12. Jan Akkerman – She’s So Divine (1979)
13. Sea Level – Living In A Dream (1978)
14. Jolis & Simone – Roundabout Midnight (1979)
15. Dusty Springfield – Living Without Your Love (1978)
16. Toby Beau – My Angel Baby (1978)
17. Carole King – Dancin’ With Tears In My Eyes (1980)
18. Chris Mancini – Where’s That Feelin’ (1983)
19. Nigel Olsson – Dancin’ Shoes (1979)
20. England Dan & John Ford Coley – It’s Sad To Belong (1977)
21. Birtles & Goble – I Didn’t Stand A Chance (1980)

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix 4
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 5
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 12
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 13

Lately I have found that at times when I am at a loss as to what music to put on, the Not Feeling Guilty series is a convenient go-to. I’m still playing Vol. 11 and Vol. 12, and now Volume 13 joins the rotation. All previous volumes have been re-upped to Mega.

The playlist features several names that have featured frequently in this series. Leading them are soft-rock heavyweights Bill LaBounty (on eight mixes) and Robbie Dupree (seven times). Jim Messina turns up for the fourth time (once with Kenny Loggins), as does the Little River Band. David Pack appears as a solo artist for the second time, but as singer of Ambrosia he featured another four times. The superbly named Jim Photoglo (it’s his real name) features for the third time.

But a couple of well-known names debut on this collection: Eric Carmen is overdue, but Dusty Springfield is a rather unexpected inclusion. In 1978, the English singer released a soft rock album of variable quality. The session musicians included guitarist Jay Graydon, fresh from playing that great solo on Steely Dan’s Peg.

Karla Bonoff also makes her debut in this series. The backing crew on her song Personally is impressive: Eagles Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmitt are on backing vocals (Glenn Frey was supposed to produce), Carole King sidekick Danny Kortchmar on guitar with Andrew Gold, who also plays the percussion, David ‘Hawk’ Wolinski of Rufus & Chaka Khan on organ, Al Stewart’s saxophonist (on albums like Year Of The Cat and Time Passages) Phil Kenzie, and on drums Russ Kunkel, a legend among folk-rock and soft-rock dummers (in 1971 he played on Tapestry AND Blue!).

Russ Kunkel was married to Nicolette Larson at the time. His ex-wife, Leah Kunkel, also features on this mix. The younger sister of Cass Elliott was born as Born Leah Cohen. She had little commercial success, despite being championed by Art Garfunkel. She recorded only two albums. She featured on the Any Major Jimmy Webb Songbook Vol. 2. She now works as a lawyer.

Also coming for the first time is David Lasley, whom we lost in December 2021. But a song he wrote featured in this series before: Boz Scaggs’ JoJo (it was on Vol. 2). Lasley’s high tenor voice was heard as backing vocals of various hits by Chic (such as Dance Dance Dance and Everybody Dance), Odyssey (such as Native New Yorker) or Sister Sledge (We Are Family, Lost In Music, He’d The Greatest Dancer, Thinking About You). He also backed acts like James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr, Garland Jeffreys, Boz Scaggs, Cher, Tim Curry, Valerie Carter, Aretha Franklin, Randy Crawford, Teddy Pendergrass, Culture Club, Whitney Houston, Rita Coolidge, and especially his close friend Luther Vandross. Lasley and Vandross did a lot of the back-up singing together, especially on the Chic collective’s songs. Luther did backing vocals on Lasley’s 1982 solo album, though not on the featured track.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-fingerclicked covers, and the text above in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. Little River Band – Lonesome Loser (1979)
2. Jim Messina – Do You Want To Dance (1978)
3. Karla Bonoff – Personally (1982)
4. Robbie Dupree – Are You Ready For Love (1981)
5. Bill LaBounty – Didn’t Want To Say Goodbye (1982)
6. Eric Carmen – End Of The World (1978)
7. Bruce Hibbard – All Of Me (1980)
8. Jim Photoglo – Beg, Borrow, Or Steal (1980)
9. Leah Kunkel – Step Right Up (1979)
10. John O’Banion – Love You Like I Never Loved Before (1981)
11. David Pack – That Girl Is Gone (1985
12. Jeff Lorber – It’s A Fact (1982)
13. Niteflyte – If You Want It (1979)
14. Dusty Springfield – Living Without Your Love (1978)
15. Larry Lee – Don’t Talk (1982)
16. John Valenti – Why Don’t We Fall In Love (1976)
17. David Lasley – Never Say (1982)
18. Pieces – Heaven Must Have Made You (1979)
19. Kazu Matsui Project feat. Robben Ford – Standing On The Outside (1983)
20. Dr Hook – Sharing The Night Together (1978)

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix 1
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 2
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 3
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 4
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 5
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 12

I have previously expressed my disdain for the term “yacht rock” to describe… well, the kind of music featured in the Not Feeling Guilty series, whose name itself is a play on another hated phrase, “guilty pleasures”. But this 12th volume does sound like sunshine and wind in your hair (if you have any). Like you might experience on a yacht.

Though, since most of us are not oligarchs, the sun and wind effect might be more likely achieved by driving in an open-top car. But since most of us aren’t rich, we may need to make do with riding on a bicycle on a sunny day while playing this mix. But that, in turn, creates health-and-safety problems: firstly, you ought to wear helmet on your hair, and secondly you should be alert to traffic noises, unadulterated by the great music on this collection. Either way, the term yacht rock is crap, even if the music it describes evokes beautiful summer days and sweet summer nights.

On this collection we meet again several acts that featured on previous mixes, and a number which enter the series at this stage. One of these in an English act from Manchester, Sad Café. The featured song, Every Day Hurts, was a UK #3 hit in 1979. Lead singer Paul Young (not that one) later became co-lead singer with Paul Carrack in Michael + The Mechanics. Carrack, in turn, had been the lead singer of Ace, another English band which featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 1 and Vol. 5.

The lead singer of The Doobie Brothers makes a solo appearance here. Having left the band in 1982, Patrick Simmons had a bit of a hit with the disco track So Wrong (and it was). The featured track, Why You Givin’ Up, is from the same album, Arcade. You can almost hear Michael McDonald in that song (there is another song on which you actually do hear McDonald, but more on that later).

Also not exactly obscure, Felix Cavaliere makes his first appearance here. The former singer and organist of the Young Rascals had a successful soft-rock period, scoring a hit in 1980 with Only A Lonely Heart Sees, which is on my Not Feeling Guilty shortlist, but I doubt it will ever feature. The far superior featured track is from 1975.

That’s the same year The Rhinestones issues their eponymous album which includes the happiness-inducing One Time Love. The group was led by Kal David (formerly of Illinois Speed Press) and Harvey Brooks (Electric Flag) and for their first few excellent albums went by the name of The Fabulous Rhinestones. Their R&B-flavoured rock was popular with the critics but that didn’t translate to commercial success. For their last album in 1975, without founding member Marty Gebb (formerly of The Buckinghams) as a permanent member, they dropped the “Fabulous” from their name.  We encounter Kal David a few songs and five years later, doing backing vocals on Robbie Dupree’s It’s Too Late.

It’s a pity Homi & Jarvis released only one album. On their one effort, in 1983, they were backed by some fusion heavyweights, including Marcus Miller, Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour. English-born Amanda Homi, who was of Indian descent, had a lovely voice with an impressive range, reminiscent of Deniece Williams. It was well-complemented by the soft-rock stylings of Brian Jarvis. Homi never achieved commercial success, but has made a career of picking up musical traditions from countries as various as Greece, Jamaica and Senegal.

South Africa’s Karl Kilkillus featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 4 with the excellent Another Shore. Here is the rare flip-side. At the time Kikillus was a popular radio DJ, and he’d go on to become a popular TV presenter of South Africa’s only pop videos show in the 1980s. To my knowledge, he recorded nothing else.

The mix closes with a track from 1980 by the Canadian band Straight Lines. They went on to have a big hit in 1982 with the ballad Letting Go. But when the follow-up singles flopped, the band split later that year. By the time Straight Lines won a Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys) for Letting Go in 1983, they no longer were together. Everybody Wants To Be A Star — but they weren’t.

As promised when I posted the Carole Bayer Sager Songbook, here’s her original of It’s The Falling In Love, which is better known in Michael Jackson’s version on Off The Wall. Carole Bayer Sager’s version, which is gloriously arranged, features Michael McDonald on backing vocals.

Bayer Sager co-wrote a few tracks on the album from which Melissa Manchester’s Just Too Many People comes from, titled Melissa, but this featured track was written by Manchester united with producer Vini Poncia. Another track on that album is Party People, with The Rhinestones on backing vocals (they also recorded it on their album).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R for that retro CD player in the car you’ll cruise down the summer roads as you play this superb mix. Home-sailed covers are included, as well as an illustrated PDF with all the bumph above. PW in comments.

1. The Rhinestones – One Time Love (1975)
2. Felix Cavaliere – Never Felt Love Before (1975)
3. Rita Coolidge – You (1978)
4. Heat – Whatever It Is (1980)
5. Average White Band – For You, For Love (1980)
6. Robbie Dupree – It’s A Feeling (1980)
7. Brooklyn Dreams – Fallin’ In Love (1980)
8. David Roberts – Never Gonna Let You Go (1982)
9. Karl Kikillus – Fallen Angel (1983)
10. Patrick Simmons – Why You Givin’ Up (1983)
11. Homi & Jarvis – I’m In Love Again (1983)
12. Carole Bayer Sager – It’s The Falling In Love (1978)
13. Terence Boylan – Shake It (1977)
14. Pages – If I Saw You Again (1978)
15. Sad Café – Every Day Hurts (1979)
16. Bill Champlin – Gotta Get Back To Love (1981)
17. Melissa Manchester – Just Too Many People (1975)
18. America – You Could’ve Been The One (1980)
19. Exile – Take Me Down (1980)
20. Straight Lines – Everybody Wants To Be A Star (1980)

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix 1
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 2
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 3
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 4
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 5
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 12
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 13

In the latest installment of the Not Feeling Guilty series, we are looking at singers whose names sound like those of school teachers; that is, artists who went by their given names, regardless of how ordinary and un-rock & roll they were (the gallery below, which is intended to inject a little gentle humour into the proceedings, might bear out my point. A bigger version of the collage is included in the package). You weren’t going to become a big star with the name Ruhnke (though LaBounty is a pretty cool name).

Many of these singers also looked like they might have been your teacher. And that is not a slur on teachers nor the artists. These singers were recording artists, not creations of image. Their names, bad beards and bald heads assured us that they were here to create music, for the sake of music. Their craft was honest. And, as this mix shows, there was plenty talent behind the ordinary names. If their music’s point is to make you feel good, these people have probably succeeded.

Only few of the acts here struck it really big, though one is married to a man who is one of the godfathers of this genre. Amy Holland married Michael McDonald, who produced and played keyboards on the featured song, the title track of the album which won her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1981. Holland and McDonald have been married since 1983.

The biggest hit here is Alan O’Day’s Undercover Angel, which was a US #1 and a global hit. It wasn’t his first chart-topper: three years earlier his composition Angie Baby was a #1 hit for Helen Reddy. He also co-wrote the The Righteous Brothers’ 1974 hit Rock And Roll Heaven (originally by a group called Climax). Later O’Day won an Emmy for his music on the Muppets Babies show. O’Day, whose hairline moved forward as he got older, died at 72 in 2013.

US-born and Australia-raised Steve Kipner had some success as a young man in Australia, sang backing vocals on a number of the Bee Gees’ early recordings (which were produced by his father), and had a couple of hits as part of the band Tin Tin. He released only one solo album, in 1979. But his greater success came as the co-writer of a string of hit records spanning four decades. These include Olivia Newton-John’s Physical, Chicago’s Hard Habit To Break, Christina Aguilera’s Genie In A Bottle, Natasha Bedingfield’s These Words, The Hardest Thing by 98 Degrees, He Loves U Not by Dream, Kelly Rowland’s Stole, The Script’s Breakeven and The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, Cheryl Cole’s Fight for This Love, Camilla Cabello’s Crying In The Club, James Arthur’s Say You Won’t Let Go…

Another prolific songwriter was Bruce Roberts, whose co-writing credits includes the Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand disco classic No More Tears. He also co-wrote Streisand’s The Main Event, Bette Midler’s You’re Moving Out Today, Starmaker for Paul Anka/Judy Collins/The Kids from ‘Fame’, Rita Coolidge’s Fool That I Am, Laura Branigan’s The Lucky One, Dolly Parton’s You’re The Only One, Jeffrey Osborne’s You Should Be Mine (featured on Any Major Soul 1986/87), and more. He also co-wrote Lani Hall’s Where’s Your Angel?, which featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10.

If AOR singers were teachers…

Yet another singer here with an impressive record of writing hits for others is Randy Goodrum, to whom we owe, as writer or co-writer, the Ann Murray hit You Needed Me, Kenny Rogers & Dottie West’s What Are We Doin’ In Love, Steve Perry’s Oh Sherrie, DeBarge’s Who’s Holding Donna Now, Toto’s I’ll Be Over You, and George Benson’s 20/20, among others. Goodrum also wrote songs for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns.

Goodrum also wrote two other (colour-coordinated) songs here. Pop-gospel-country singer Micki Fuhrman recorded Goodrum’s Blue River Of Tears in 1979; it was a single release only, and made no impact, which is a pity. Fuhrman released three albums and a bunch of singles until 1983.

Goodrum’s Bluer Than Blue was a hit in 1978 for Michael Johnson, an musical all-rounder. As a youth, he studied classical guitar in Barcelona; in the 1960s he was a member alongside John Denver in the folk outfit Chad Mitchell Trio. In the late 1970s he ventured into AOR, and in the 1980s became a country musician. One of Johnson’s hits was This Night Won’t Last Forever, a US #19 in 1979, which features here in Bill LaBounty’s 1978 original version. Johnson died in 2017 at 72.

In the 1960s, the British musician Graham Dee — the only artist in this lot operating with a stagename; his real name is Davidson — worked with future Led Zep members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, filled in for Syd Barrett in Pink Floyd and in Them, and played for Elkie Brooks, The Walker Brothers and Carl Perkins.

Near-namesake Larry Lee must not be confused with the guitarist of the same name who played with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. This Larry Lee was a founder member of the Ozark Mountains Daredevils. As the band’s drummer, Lee wrote and took lead vocals the band’s best-known song Judy Blue, which like the Warnes song mentioned above featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10. Later he joined The Vinyl Kings, with Not Feeling Guilty alumnus Jim Photoglo (introduced on Vol. 7).

Terence Boylan had cool classmates, who helped him record his debut album in 1969: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, yet to become Steely Dan. Boylan released three LPs between 1969 and 1980, and that was it for his recording career. Happily, Boylan had science to fall back on. He is now director of a foundation he founded to facilitate research and international scientist exchange fellowships.

The best teachers’ name here must be Dick St Nicklaus. I couldn’t find much about him, except that he once worked with Lamont & Dozier, released two albums which were huge hits in Japan, and wrote a number of sings which were recorded by the likes of Laura Branigan, Peter Allen, Vanilla Fudge and Bill Medley.

Craig Ruhnke was introduced in Vol. 9, Peter McCann in Vol. 10. Oh, and I think I’ll opt for religious instruction classes.

As ever, this mix is timed to fit on as standard CD-R and includes home-cruised covers, the whole caboodle above in PDF format, and the yearbook gallery above in larger format. PW in comments.

1. Roby Duke – Seasons Of Change (1982)
2. Alan O’Day – Undercover Angel (1977)
3. Randy Goodrum – Fool’s Paradise (1982)
4. Amy Holland – How Do I Survive (1980)
5. Graham Dee – Too Good To Last (1977)
6. Jim Schmidt – Love Has Taken It All Away (1983)
7. Bill Champlin – Tonight Tonight (1981)
8. Bill LaBounty – This Night Won’t Last Forever (1978)
9. Craig Ruhnke – It’s Been Such A Long Time (1983)
10. Terence Boylan – Tell Me (1980)
11. Larry Lee – Number One Girl (1982)
12. John Valenti – Did She Mention Me (1980)
13. Teri De Sario – The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of (1978)
14. Dwayne Ford – Lovin’ And Losin’ You (1981)
15. Richard Torrance – Anything’s Possible (1978)
16. Dick St. Nicklaus – Can’t Give Up (1979)
17. Michael Johnson – Bluer Than Blue (1978)
18. Micki Fuhrman – Blue River Of Tears (1979)
19. Peter McCann – Do You Wanna Make Love (1977)
20. Bruce Roberts – Cool Fool (1980)
21. Steve Kipner – The Ending (1979)

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Here we reach a decade of these Not Feeling Guilty mixes of 1970s/early-’80s songs that may be labelled AOR or MOR or — that horrible cliché — “yacht rock”. The series started in 2014 (well, in 2009, but it was relaunched six years ago), opening with Kenny Loggins’ song This Is It.

Since then, Loggins has featured four more times. Also featuring five times have been Player, while Ambrosia and Bobby Caldwell have appeared four times. Paul Davis joins them on four with this mix.

The record holder is Boz Scaggs, who has been represented six times; Bill LaBounty equals that record on this mix.

And then there’s the overlord of all AOR, Michael McDonald. He has featured three times solo, twice as a Doobie Brother, and who knows how many times as a backing singer, including on the aforementioned Kenny Loggins song (which is almost a duet with McDonald).

So with so many regulars, it’s notable how much space there has been for artists whom time has largely forgotten. As it was on previous Not Feeling Guilty mixes, there are quite a few of them here.

Lani Hall isn’t exactly obscure, having released 14 solo albums, after serving as lead singer for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66 on hits like Mas Que Nada and The Fool On The Hill. She also sang the theme of the 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again.

It would also be wrong to say that Peter McCann is obscure, though he is much better known as a songwriter and producer. As a recording artist he released two LPs. As a songwriter you might know as the co-writer of Whitney Houston’s Take Good Care Of My Heart, Earl Thomas Conley’s Nobody Falls Like A Fool, or Jennifer Warnes’ Right Time Of The Night, which also features on this mix.

You also found Byrne & Barnes more behind the scenes than in front of the microphone. Together they released just one 1981 album, but they made their mark as songwriters. Robert Byrne, who died in 2005, co-wrote hits such as How Do I Turn You On for Ronnie Milsap; and Earl Thomas Conley’s string of hits:  I Can’t Win For Losin’ You, Once In A Blue Moon, That Was A Close One and What I’d Say.

For Dave Raynor, the recording career as a singer also lasted for just one album. After that he made is way as a recording engineer and occasional guitarist.

Turley Richards may be better known as a rockabilly singer, a genre in which he had a classic 1959 hit with Makin’ Love With My Baby. In the 1970s he had some success as a country-rock singer; among the songs he recorded was the original version of You Might Need Somebody, later a hit for Randy Crawford and again for Shola Ama.

After his attempts at a solo career Joseph Williams became the lead singer of Toto between 1986 and 1988. He resumed a solo recording career, but also followed in the footsteps of his father John Wiliams as a film score composer.

English singer-songwriter Ian Gomm made his name as the rhythm guitarist for Brinsley Schwarz, being named “Best Rhythm Guitarist” by the New Musical Express in 1971. He later toured with acts like Dire Straits, while also running a recording studio in Wales, and releasing his own music. In 1979 he had a Top 20 US hit with Hold On, which features here. He also co-wrote Cruel To Be Kind with former Brinsley Schwarz bandmate Nick Lowe, who had a big hit with it in the UK and US in 1979.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-basslined covers. PW in comments. Also, all previous mixes are up.

1. Dave Mason – Let It Go, Let It Flow (1977)
2. Turley Richards – I Will (1976)
3. Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Jackie Blue (1974)
4. Atlanta Rhythm Section – I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight (1978)
5. Marilyn Scott – Highways Of My Life (1979)
6. Heat – Don’t You Walk Away (1980)
7. Dave Raynor – I Can’t Take It (1981)
8. Bill LaBounty – I Hope You’ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me (1975)
9. Peter McCann – Step Right Up (1979)
10. Lani Hall – Where’s Your Angel (1980)
11. Joseph Williams – That First Night (1982)
12. Brooklyn Dreams – I Won’t Let Go (1980)
13. Jennifer Warnes – Right Time Of The Night (1976)
14. Paul Davis – Sweet Life (1977)
15. Michael Johnson – Bluer Than Blue (1978)
16. Fred Knoblock – A Bigger Fool (1980)
17. Ian Matthews – Shake It (1978)
18. Greg Guidry – How Long (1982)
19. Byrne & Barnes – Love You Out Of Your Mind (1981)
20. Ian Gomm – Hold On (1978)
21. Peter Frampton – I Can’t Stand It No More (1979)
22. Stephen Bishop – It Might Be You (1982)

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Just as I thought that I might have wrapped up the series of AOR stuff about which one need never feel guilty, I felt like putting together another mix — in fact, two, but presently I shall share the first of those; and the ninth in the series. This stuff is addictive.

Aside from an aversion to the letter G in the endin’ of a word and some really awful lyrics, the acts here share in common a knack for a good hook, and high standards of musicianship.

Some come from a jazz fusion background. Jeff Lorber is better-known as a fusion musician; doing vocals for him here are Arnold McCuller and Sylvia St. James. McCuller is a recording artist in his own right, having released six albums, but also has prolific track record in backing vocals, including on The Jackson’s Can You Feel It and Odyssey’s Native New Yorker. He has also backed two acts that appear on this mix: Brooklyn Dreams and Stephen Bishop — and Sylvia St. James on one of her two albums.

Brooklyn Dreams had greater success as the backing outfit for Donna Summer in the late 1970s than with their own records (they wrote Bad Girls, among other songs). The trio scored two minor hits; one of them was the track featured here, which has been liberally sampled in hip hop. Lead singer Joe Esposito went on to write scores for hit movies like Flashdance and The Karate Kid; keyboardist Bruce Sodano went on to marry Donna Summer.

Featured here as The Dukes, Dominic Bugatti & Frank Musker recorded also as a duo under their own names. But they made more of a mark as songwriters. Not everything they wrote was gold: our friends wrote the 1977 UK hit Reggae Like It Used To Be (which should have had as its subtitle A White Man’s Lament) for Paul Nicholas. They wrote another track featured here, Air Supply’s Every Woman In The World.

You might not know Junior Campbell, but you likely have heard his biggest hit: Reflections Of My Life, which he co-wrote as Marmalade’s lead guitarist with singer Dean Ford (the guitar solo is by Campbell). After leaving Marmalade in 1971, he scored a couple of UK hits with Hallelujah Freedom and Sweet Illusion. He later went into producing and arranging, as well as writing scores. In the latter endeavour, he wrote prolifically for the children”s TV series Thomas The Tank Engine.

Canadian singer Craig Ruhnke didn’t really have a great rock & roll name, and he looked more like a geography teacher than a rock star. Still, Mr Ruhnke was a regular on Canada’s airwaves, and periodically troubled the country”s charts. He also enjoyed attention in Japan, as you do. By 1983 he had founded his own independent label, from which the present track came. After a while he turned to producing music for commercials but continued to release new songs from time to time.

And if Ruhnke is not really the name to propel you to mega-stardom, the moniker Fred Knoblock is not likely to either. On the staff of Mr Ruhnke”s school, Mr Knoblock was the coach (others on the teaching body included Mesrrs. Walter Egan, James Felix, Bruce Hibbard and Stephen Bishop). Still, his name notwithstanding, Fred Knoblock has enjoyed a Top 20 hit, and his career has merited induction into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.

As ever, CD-R length, home-yachted covers, PW in comments.

1. Far Cry – The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ (1980)
2. Jackson Browne – Somebody’s Baby (1982)
3. James Felix – Open Up (1980)
4. Boz Scaggs – Georgia (1976)
5. Brooklyn Dreams – Music Harmony & Rhythm (1977)
6. Jeff Lorber – Your Love Has Got Me (1981)
7. The Dukes – So Much In Love (1982)
8. Walter Egan with Stevie Nicks – Magnet And Steel (1980)
9. Jim Capaldi – That’s Love (1983)
10. Robbie Dupree – Free Fallin’ (1981)
11. Fonda Feingold – Feelin’ Your Love (1978)
12. Eric Tagg – A Bigger Love (1982)
13. Pablo Cruise – Atlanta June (1977)
14. Craig Ruhnke – Give Me The Nighttime (1983)
15. Stephen Bishop – Save It For A Rainy Day (1976)
16. Air Supply – Every Woman In The World (1980)
17. Junior Campbell – Highland Girl (1978)
18. Karla Bonoff – Personally (1982)
19. Fred Knoblock – It’s Over (1980)
20. Bruce Hibbard – Never Turnin’ Back (1980)

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Here is the eighth Not Feeling Guilty mix — and about time, too. The last one was in October, since when Valerie Carter, featured here on track 9, has died.

I don’t think there any acts left to introduce in this lot. The famous ones you know, and the not famous ones I’ve written about before.

So, everything is self-explanatory and you know how it works: CD-R length, home-crafted covers, PW in comments.

1. Steely Dan – FM (1978)
2. Doobie Brothers – Minute By Minute (1978)
3. Gary Wright – Love Is Alive (1975)
4. Boz Scaggs – It’s Over (1976)
5. Bill LaBounty – Comin’ Back (1982)
6. Robbie Dupree – Brooklyn Girls (1981)
7. Ambrosia – If Heaven Could Find Me (1978)
8. David Roberts – Boys Of Autumn (1982)
9. Valerie Carter – Lady In The Dark (1978)
10. Rupert Holmes – Let’s Get Crazy Tonight (1978)
11. Dr. Hook – Sexy Eyes (1979)
12. Paulinho Da Costa with Bill Champlin – Seeing Is Believing (1979)
13. Pages – Who”s Right, Who”s Wrong (1979)
14. Paul Davis – ’65 Love Affair (1981)
15. Lauren Wood – Work On It (1981)
16. Orleans – Love Takes Time (1979)
17. Jim Photoglo – More To Love (1981)
18. Player – Let Me Down Easy (1978)
19. Atlanta Rhythm Section – Imaginary Lover (1978)
20. Christopher Cross – The Light Is On (1979)

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Man, how I enjoy this mix, the seventh in the Not Feeling Guilty series of songs one might call soft rock, or smooth rock, or the dreadful term “yacht rock”. I”ve played it so much in my car, the bitrate is deteriorating!

If you share my view that no such mix is complete without the sound of Michael McDonald“s distinctive baritone but are puzzled by his omission upon perusal of the tracklisting “” assuming that this is what you do before you read my blurbs, if you remember to read them “” take heart. The half-man, half-beard appears on two songs here: singing with Lauren Wood and helping out former Ambrosia frontman David Pack, alongside his pal James Ingram.

David Pack has featured previously in this series as lead singer of Ambrosia”s great soft rock hits The Biggest Part Of Me (Vol. 3), How Much I Feel (Vol. 1)and You”re The Only Woman (Vol. 5). Pack has since become a successful  producer, and was the music director for the 1993 and 1997 presidential inaugurations of Bill Clinton.

Lauren Wood is perhaps best known for her hit from the 1990 film Pretty Woman, Fallen. Her 1979 debut album featured McDonald, drummers Jim Keltner, Alvin Taylor and Jeff Porcaro (and his Toto mates Lukather and Hungate), bassist Abraham Laboriel, saxophonist Andrew Love (half of the Memphis Horns) and Little Feat”s Fred Tackett  and Bill Payne, the latter of whom contributes a synth solo on Please Don”t Go.

And then there is Pages, a group that sounds like Michael McDonald should be singing backing vocals with. Pages” two regular members, lead singer-bassist Richard Page and keyboardist Steve George, who would have greater success later in the 1980s as founder members of Mr Mister. Before Pages, the two and other future collaborators backed Andy Gibb on his big 1977 hit I Want To Be Your Everything. Their song Who”s Right, Who”s Wrong was later covered by both Kenny Loggins (on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 4) and to wonderful effect by Al Jarreau & Randy Crawford. That original version might yet appear in a future Not Feeling Guilty mix.

You might wonder whether I”ve lost my sequencing mind, putting Alice Cooper and Seals & Crofts after one another. Isn”t Alice Cooper more liable to bite off Crofts” head and then proceed to bash Seals? Well, here we catch Cooper in a smooth rock mood, and Seals & Crofts are waking grandma with some relatively loud guitars. But fear not for Cooper, who on his live album of the same year, 1977, sandwiched his soft You And Me between songs titled Devil”s Food, The Black Widow, I Love The Dead and Go To Hell.

Really serious movie buffs may recognise the name Chris Montan. Once a soft-rock singer, Montan is now president of Walt Disney Music, which means that the music in Disney and Pixar movies from Pocahontas and Toy Story in 1995 to more recently Frozen are ultimately Montan”s responsibility.

Richard Clapton is not always a soft-rock kind of guy. The versatile Australian can rock hard, and even dabbled with the sounds of new wave. His The Great Escape LP was a favourite of mine when it came out in 1982. Not all of it has aged well, but The Best Years Of Our Lives, featured here, and the slow-burning Walk On Water are still very good tracks.

You don”t often get a marimba solo in rock music, but there it is on Starbuck“s 1976 hit Moonlight Feels Right. I am glad to know that the corporate coffeehouse chain of similar moniker did not take their name from this Mississippi group (it was borrowed from a minor character in Moby Dick). I trust you downloaded the Any Major Coffee mixes (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) and agree with my plea to use independent coffee places instead of McStarbucks.

The coolest name here must be Jim Photoglo, which sounds like the sort of name the bassist of A Flock of Seagulls should have (disappointingly, his name was the rather glamourless Frank Maudsley). Very pleasingly, Photoglo is the singer”s real name. After his career as a soft-rock singer he became the bass player for Dan Fogelberg — another artist whose real name sounds made-up and who features here “” and a country songwriter for an impressive list of stars. He still releases records as a folk singer.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes covers. PW in comments. Feel free to leave a comment in that section; even if you have nothing important to say, a hello and thanks is always appreciated.

1. Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks – Whenever I Call You “Friend” (1978)
2. Boz Scaggs – Lowdown (1976)
3. James Walsh Gypsy Band – Cuz It’s You Girl (1978)
4. Jim Photoglo – Fool In Love With You (1981)
5. Bobby Caldwell – Carry On (1982)
6. Pages – You Need A Hero (1981)
7. Nicolette Larson – Isn’t It Always Love (1979)
8. David Pack – I Just Can’t Let Go (1985)
9. Dan Fogelberg – Heart Hotels (1979)
10. David Roberts – Anywhere You Run To (1982)
11. Alice Cooper – You And Me (1977)
12. Seals & Crofts – Nobody Gets Over Loving You (1979)
13. America – You Can Do Magic (1982)
14. Starbuck – Moonlight Feels Right (1976)
15. Lauren Wood – Please Don’t Leave (1979)
16. Walter Egan – Magnet And Steel (1978)
17. Chris Montan – Intentions (1980)
18. Richard Clapton – The Best Years Of Our Lives (1982)
19. Bill Champlin – Fly With Me (1978)
20. Bertie Higgins – Just Another Day In Paradise (1982)

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Six mixes in, and still not feeling guilty. This kind of music has an inexhaustible well.

Most of the artists here have featured before or are well-known, such as Carole King who is making her series debut here.

I”m not quite sure whether Donnie Iris really belongs here; his Do You Compute sounds sufficiently like it might be a Toto song, albeit with a touch of American New Wave. Anyway, I think it fits. The song was used to promote the game console and computer company Atari.

Dave Mason was, of course, a member of Traffic, for whom he wrote the iconic Hole In My Shoe and Feelin” Alright. As a solo artist he previously featured on The Jim Keltner Collection Vol. 1. We Just Disagree, the 1977 track featured here, was Mason”s biggest solo hit, peaking at #12 in the US.

Jess Roden also had a Traffic connection: he collaborated with both Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood. Apart from fronting several bands, Roden was a songwriter and backing singer, doing vocals in the late 1960s/early 1970s on albums by the likes of The Who, Jim Capaldi, Sandy Denny and Mott the Hoople, and also backed Grace Jones on her 1981hit Pull Up To My Bumper.

Larry John McNally released very little music himself: three LPs and a clutch of singles. He was more of a songwriter, providing songs for the likes of Bonnie Raitt (Nobody’s Girl; Slow Ride), Rod Stewart (The Motown Song), Joe Cocker (Long Drag Off A Cigarette), Chaka Khan (Sleep On It; A Woman In A Man’s World), Mavis Staples (I Don’t Want To Lose My Real Good Thing), Aaron Neville (Struttin’ On Sunday; Somewhere, Somebody), the Eagles (I Love To Watch A Woman Dance), among others.

The excellent female vocals on Boz Scaggs” Miss Sun are by Lisa Dal Bello, who had previously sung it on a demo for Toto. When Toto passed the song on to Scaggs, the Canadian singer was invited to repeat her vocals.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes covers. PW in comments.

1. Little River Band – It”s A Long Way There (1975)
2. Player – Silver Lining (1978)
3. Donnie Iris – Do You Compute (1982)
4. Carole King – Lookin” Out For Number One (1982)
5. Santana – Hold On (1981)
6. Boz Scaggs – Miss Sun (1980)
7. Eric Tagg – Promises Promises (1982)
8. The Doobie Brothers – Real Love (1980)
9. Bobby Caldwell – Coming Down From Love (1980)
10. Dave Mason – We Just Disagree (1977)
11. Chicago – Take Me Back To Chicago (1977)
12. Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg – The Power Of Gold (1978)
13. Pablo Cruise – Love Will Find A Way (1978)
14. Nicolette Larson – Dancin” Jones (1979)
15. Robbie Dupree – I”ll Be The Fool Again (1981)
16. Gino Vannelli – Living Inside Myself (1980)
17. Larry John McNally – Just Like Paradise (1981)
18. Jess Roden – Brand New Start (1980)
19. Crosby, Stills & Nash – Just A Song Before I Go (1977)
20. Jay Ferguson – Shakedown Cruise (1979)

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