Boz Scaggs

This self-titled release was Boz Scaggs 2nd solo album, released soon after a two year stint providing guitar and vocals for his friend Steve Miller, appearing on The Steve Miller Band's first two albums. The pair had met at the age of 12, at school, before attending the same University (Wisconsin-Madison) and performing together in a bands such as: The Ardells, and The Fabulous Knight Trains. After landing a contract with Atlantic he set out to try and become a star in his own right.

                   

With the full weight of the Muscle Shoals musicians backing him this recording has much to like and admire. The soulful blues of "Another Day (Another Letter)". The understated organ and guitar backdrop of "Finding Her". But it was the tracks which ended side one and began side two which were the stand outs. Slices of Americana long before the term had been coined as a musical genre. First the country-soul-blues of "Look What I Got" followed by an excellent re-working of Jimmie Rodger's "Waiting For A Train". These lead us to the track that was the standout of the sessions "Loan Me A Dime". At just shy of 13 minutes it became a fan favourite at Boz's concerts and showcased the talents of a then unknown 22 year old, Duane Allman. But the song would also close down Boz's recording career for the next couple of years when, on the album cover, the song was wrongly attributed to him, when the writer was in fact Chicago bluesman Fenton Robinson. Fenton did finally win the legal battle and the song has gone on to become a blues standard. 

Side One

"I'm Easy"

"I'll Be Long Gone"

"Another Day

"Now You're Gone"

"Finding Her"

"Look What I Got"

Side Two

"Waiting for a Train"

"Loan Me a Dime"

"Sweet Release"

The album was not a commercial success and it would be his only album recorded on the Atlantic label. It wouldn't be for another 6 years and 5 albums later before his career took off with the album "Silk Degrees" and the single "Lowdown". Over the years the album has grown in reputation even sneaking in to the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at 496, maybe because one of Rolling Stone's founders, Jann Wenner, was one of the album's producers!

Somebody Loan Me A Dime

Original Version Featuring Duane Allman