Down Two Then Left

Boz Scaggs

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: November 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000025A2
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,703 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Criminally Underrated Album Of All Time, January 2, 2001

By	F. Mugavero (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Silk Degrees" is the one remembered, and for good reason, but this is a fantastic album! The first "side" especially is pure masterpiece -- I literally dare anyone to listen to those first four cuts, capped off by the infectious "Whatcha' Gonna' Tell Your Man?", and not get sucked into the groove -- but the WHOLE THING has such a hot/cool mood to it, it's almost hypnotic. Scaggs has NEVER been given the respect he deserves, and I have no "clue" why. I put his stuff right up there with Stevie Wonder's as the best of the 70's -- the kind of slick, stylish, funky music that will never be done in quite the same way again. Oh well...if the rest a' the world don't get it, their loss. Forget Barry White, this is my pick as the best make-out album of all time. Thanks, Boz.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars irresistible--another classy blend of R&B, soul, & pop-rock, March 7, 2005

By	Dave "missing person" (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Boz Scaggs followed up his commercial blockbuster "Silk Degrees" with 1977's "Down Two Then Left". This album probably hasn't sold a fourth of what "Silk Degrees" has, but don't let that fool you. It's not hard at all to see why many of the listeners familiar with "Down Two Then Left" would claim it to be even better than "Silk Degrees". As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life, and as great of a song as "Lowdown" is, it's not hard to see why people would simply be sick of it since, even after 29+ years, it's such a hard song to escape just by going out to certain public places, as are many of the other songs from "Silk Degrees". I'm not aware of any of the songs from "Down Two Then Left" having 'suffered this fate', so if you're looking for something a bit fresher, so to speak, I think this should hit the spot. All that aside, "Down Two Then Left" is simply a superb album that puts Boz's super cool suaveness on full display, not to mention his highly unique and arrestingly passionate vocals. A big change with this album is that Boz's key songwriting collaborator on "Silk Degrees", keyboardist David Paich, is gone. However, "filling in" for Paich is Michael Omartian, a talented dude in his own right and he himself co-wrote 5 of the 10 tracks on here with Scaggs. However, as with "Silk Degrees", "Down Two Then Left" was produced by Joe Wissert, plus the late great Jeff Porcaro is still on drums, and in the end, if you love "Silk Degrees", you can't go wrong here. "Still Falling For You" and "Whatcha Gonna Tell Your Man" are splendidly catchy tunes with that good ol' irresistibly lush soft rock sound. The funky, infectious "Hollywood" is an absolute hook-fest with great female background vocals & cool orchestration, not to mention the vibraphone played by the late Victor Feldman. The stomping, tormented "Hard Times"; the rousing, very Steely Dan-ish "Gimme The Goods"; the breezy, splendidly tuneful "A Clue" with its great guitar solo from Steve Lukather that sounds uncannily like a Larry Carlton solo from Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam" (which is no coincidence--Lukather was and is a huge SD & Carlton fan); & the soulful ballad "Then She Walked Away"--these are all great songs. "1993", with its "Lido Shuffle" style rhythm, is a very strong track as well. There are some minor gripes such as the fairly dull, extended coda on "We're Waiting" with its annoying, excessive use of those syndrums that were state-of-the-art at the time. Overall though, "Down Two Then Left" is tasteful, excellently performed and produced, and has catchy hooks galore--it's definitely a must-have.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool as an ice statue, September 11, 2002

By	Brett Simpson (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album had a hard battle when it came to pleasing anyone after the brilliance - and success - of "Silk Degrees". But aside from the fact that Michael Omartian isn't quite the composer that David Paich (who was responsible for the music to all of the best known SD songs)is this set is just as good.

The late Jeff Porcaro returned to play drums on the entire album, and it's some of his best work ever, the quality of the musicanship throughout (including a couple of superb guitar solos from Scaggs himself)is of the highest standard possible.

It yielded two minor chart entries with "Hard Times" and "Hollywood" - a tune that should never have been left off the "My Time" anthology, but was, and while they are great songs so are the rest..."A Clue" is my personal favourite, but it's just so hard to find fault with any of Scaggs's best releases...and this is one of them.

As for why Paich wasn't involved with this project, presumably it had much to do with the success of "Silk Degrees" establishing him within the industry as a songwriter...it allowed him to shop his demo tapes around and be noticed, the result being that by years end he was reunited with Porcaro and hard at work on their band's debut album, another superb release, simply entitled "TOTO".