Boz Scaggs – Silk Degrees (Pure Pleasure)

"Silk Degrees" is the seventh solo album by Boz Scaggs. The album reached #2 and spent 115 weeks on the Billboard 200. Boz (and "Lowdown") received awards for Best Single of the Year and Best R&B Single of the Year.

Boz about his album:

"The album "Silk Degrees" was an experience for me that I would wish for any musician, any creative person, because it was the fulfillment of a lot of work. It was an arrival, it was finally one that really got through to a lot of people. I was ready to go. I had a good band, I had been playing a lot, and this thing was finally reaching an audience and striking a chord. I was able to play a lot more places and do a lot of things that I wanted to do.

Musically, I was discovering a whole new territory, a whole new foundation for me. I came across a group of musicians who really understood my music and were able to lend their talents to get it out of my head and onto the record. It was a very fulfilling experience, and of course when you have something that reaches such a pinnacle, there's always the challenge of following up and doing it again and so on..."

Boz Scaggs is a unique and fabulous singer. His soulful voice can be silky and sensual as well as funky and upbeat, depending on the mood of the song, but always irresistible. The ten great songs of "Silk Degrees" are an ideal opportunity for Boz Scaggs to demonstrate the range of his voice.

Scaggs, also an accomplished composer, wrote three of the tracks and co-wrote five others with David Paich. Paich contributed the wonderful "Love Me Tomorrow," while the remaining song is a reinterpretation of Allen Toussaint's excellent "What Do You Want the Girl To Do." Stylistically, all compositions are pop and rock influenced philly soul.

The production is very professional and refined thanks to the arrangements of Toto's future keyboardist David Paich, Sid Sharp's orchestral direction (strings and brass) as well as the soulful backing vocals and last but not least the skill of all musicians involved.

A classic of elegant and well-crafted music!