The worst part about this memorable Boz Scaggs concert recording is that it only features four songs ("Breakdown Dead Ahead," "What Can I Say," "Hard Times," and "You Got Some Imagination") from a set list that also included "Georgia," "We're All Alone," "JoJo," "Lido Shuffle," and "Look What You Done To Me." Scaggs had done New York's Radio City Music Hall earlier in the tour, and used this occasion to return and make an appearance on the King Biscuit Flower Hour.
After an extensive period off between the late-1970s and early-'80s, Scaggs returned with his best touring band…entire summary
Boz Scaggs - vocals, guitar
Mike Landau - guitar
Randy Kerber - keyboards
Scott Plunkett - keyboards
Mike Pocarro - bass
Carlos Vega - drums
Venetta Fields - background vocals
Paulette Brown - background vocals
The worst part about this memorable Boz Scaggs concert recording is that it only features four songs ("Breakdown Dead Ahead," "What Can I Say," "Hard Times," and "You Got Some Imagination") from a set list that also included "Georgia," "We're All Alone," "JoJo," "Lido Shuffle," and "Look What You Done To Me." Scaggs had done New York's Radio City Music Hall earlier in the tour, and used this occasion to return and make an appearance on the King Biscuit Flower Hour.
After an extensive period off between the late-1970s and early-'80s, Scaggs returned with his best touring band (featuring former Toto bassist Mike Pocarro and ex-Linda Ronstadt guitarist, Mike Landau), for what was likely his best musically cohesive tour. This show was captured for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, even though what is featured here is only a portion.
Born in 1944, the successful singer/songwriter/guitarist recorded this memorable show as part of a multiple night showcase staged at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland during March of 1974. Scaggs was promoting Slow Dancer, an album that would give him enough momentum to write and record Silk Degrees, his commercial breakthrough album, which was released two years after this show. And though his national recognition was still very much in a growing phase, in the Bay Area he had become a genuine musical hero. For this run of shows, Scaggs assembled a brilliant backup band of the area’s best players and supplemented them with additional vocalists, as well as a string section.
Originally from the heartland of Ohio, Scaggs spent time growing up in both Oklahoma and Texas, where he attended boarding school. While there, he began playing guitar. Soon after, Scaggs met and befriended Steve Miller, another blues enthusiast and guitarist. The two played in cover and blues bands (most notably the Marksmen) before leaving to attend the University of Wisconsin. But Scaggs opted for a life on the road. He got another blues-based band together, and after touring Europe, he stayed while his band-mates returned home. Scaggs became a street musician in Sweden, where he eventually generated enough interest to record his first album, Boz, in 1965. Today this album is a rare collector’s item, but back then it failed to find an audience in Europe and was soon forgotten.
Discouraged but not defeated, Scaggs returned to the U.S. and settled in the Bay Area, where his good friend Steve Miller was living and working as a professional musician. Miller asked Scaggs to join the then-unknown Steve Miller Band. Scaggs didn’t like the idea of being a backing musician, but because it was his old friend, he agreed. Between 1967 and 1968, Scaggs made sizable contributions to Sailor and Children of the Future, two acclaimed albums that came out during this period.
His friendship with Miller, who was fast becoming a star, proved to be advantageous. Scaggs had become friends with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, who was able to help secure a solo deal with Atlantic Records for Scaggs. Simply entitled Boz Scaggs, his first solo was a critical success, but a commercial flop.
One notable exception was the soulful blues track, "Loan Me A Dime," which featured another unknown studio musician: Duane Allman. The Atlantic album gave Scaggs enough clout to make a move to Columbia Records, where Clive Davis was still at the helm as president. Columbia stuck it out with Scaggs until Silk Degrees made him a pop music champion between 1976 and the early 1980s.
Scaggs then took a decade off to open a popular Bay Area restaurant called Slims, but he returned to music and touring in the mid-1990s.
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