Boz Scaggs - Other Roads (1988)

When Boz Scaggs released Other Roads in 1988, he'd been off the scene for a full eight years. Produced by Bill Schnee, it featured some of his most unlikely songwriting collaborations with instrumental backing by Toto along with some studio aces. Scaggs tried hard to walk a line between the decade's obsession with more processed studio sounds that utilized electronic keyboards and drum machines up front, while relying more heavily on electric guitars and kit drums. He doesn't always succeed in keeping the balance, but the attempt sets him apart from most mainstream acts at the time. "Other Roads" is odd from the start: the opener, "What's Number One?" is a spacey pop number written with the late poet and songwriter Jim Carroll and bassist/arranger Marcus Miller. "Right Out of My Head," written with Dan and David Huff, juxtaposes Steve Lukather's blistering guitar work against a synth fill right out of Gary Numan's "Cars." Scaggs nailed another number one with "Heart of Mine" co-written with pop-jazz songwriter Bobby Caldwell (and the only cut produced by Stuart Levine). There's a strange futurist club noir inherent in both "I Don't Hear You" and "Crimes of Passion" written by Carroll and the Huffs. "Cool Running" written by Scaggs with Patrick Leonard is a solid, grown up, island groover with staggered R&B horns contrasted with a female backing chorus and a bridge of vocal counterpoint. "Claudia," by Steve Williams is one of Scaggs' classic mid-tempo, broken love songs with a killer bridge, and stellar guitar work by Lukather. The set closer is a dreamy adult pop ballad entitled "The Night of Van Gogh," co-authored by him, Caldwell and Peter Wolf. Scaggs was in top vocal shape when he cut this: cool, bemused, but able to capture and communicate emotion mellifluously with freeze frame accuracy.

Track listing

01.  What's Number One?  (Boz Scaggs, J. C. Carroll, Marcus Miller)  - 3:58

02.  Claudia  (Scaggs, Larry Williams)  - 4:07

03.  Heart of Mine  (Bobby Caldwell, Dennis Matkosky, Jason Scheff)  - 4:12

04.  Right Out of My Head  (Scaggs, D. Tyler Huff)  - 5:24

05.  I Don't Hear You  (J.C. Carroll, D. Tyler Huff)  - 4:41

06.  Mental Shakedown  (Scaggs, Guy Allison Steiner, David Williams)  - 4:10

07.  Crimes of Passion  (J.C. Carroll, D. Tyler Huff)  - 4:00

08.  Funny  (Scaggs, Marcus Miller)  - 5:49

09.  Cool Running  (Scaggs, Patrick Leonard, David Williams)  - 4:14

10.  The Night of Van Gogh  (Scaggs, Bobby Caldwell, Peter Wolf)  - 4:20

Released:  August 30, 1988

Recorded:  Schnee Studio and Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles, California and at Conway Recording, Hollywood, California

Genre:  Rock, Pop 

Length:  45:00

Label:  Columbia

Producer:  Bill Schnee, Stewart Levine

Personnel

Boz Scaggs – vocals, background vocals, guitar

Robbie Buchanan – keyboards, synthesizer

Lenny Castro – percussion

Paulinho da Costa – percussion

Michael Fischer – percussion

Siedah Garrett – keyboards, background vocals

Dann Huff – guitar

Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitar

Michael Landau – guitar

Steve Lukather – guitar

David Hungate – bass

Buzz Feiten – guitar

Carlos Rios – guitar

David Williams – guitar

Rhett Lawrence – drums, keyboards

Patrick Leonard – keyboards

Larry Williams – keyboards

Peter Wolf – keyboards

Aaron Zigman – keyboards,synthesizer

Freddie "Ready Freddie" Washington – bass

Marcus Miller – synthesizer, bass, clarinet, guitar, percussion, keyboards

David Paich – synthesizer

Alan Pasqua – keyboards, synthesizer bass

Guy Allison Steiner – keyboards, bass, percussion, drums, synthesizer drums

Jeff Porcaro – drums

John "J.R." Robinson – drums

Boz Schmit – background vocals

Timothy B. Schmit – background vocals

Phil Perry – background vocals

Darryl Phinnessee – background vocals

Kate Markowitz – background vocals

Paulette McWilliams – background vocal

Myrna Smith – background vocals

Pam Hutchinson – background vocals

James Ingram – background vocals

Phillip Ingram – background vocals

David Lasley – background vocals

Edie Lehmann – background vocals

Carl Carwell – background vocals

Charlotte Crossley – background vocals

Jeanette Hanes – background vocals

Kevin Dorsey – background vocals