This auction is for a 4 CD lot of Yacht Rock: Steely Dan A Decade of Steely Dan; Boz Scaggs Hits; Gerry Rafferty City to City; Lionel Richie Can't Slow Down. Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs are quintessential yacht rock bands. Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty has been a perennial yacht rock masterpiece. Lionel Richie has the yacht rocker All Night Long.

Steely Dan A Decade of Steely Dan:  The CD is in very good condition. The jewel case is in good condition. The booklet is present but there is no back artwork.

A Decade of Steely Dan was one of the first compilations designed for CD, so it was intended to showcase digital sound as much as the music itself. Consequently, it's balanced to showcase at least one song from each of the band's albums, leaving off the compilation such minor hits as "Pretzel Logic," "The Fez," and "Josie." Nevertheless, the songs here -- including "Do It Again," "Reeling in the Years," "My Old School," "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "Kid Charlemagne," "Peg," "Deacon Blues," "Hey Nineteen," and the non-LP "FM (No Static at All)" -- provide a good overview of Steely Dan's career, making the disc a fine introduction to the innovative jazz-rock group.

Boz Scaggs Hits: The CD is in very good condition. The jewel case and inserts are complete and in ok condition.

Released in 1980, Hits! capitalized on the end of the decade as well as Boz Scaggs' commercial success from 1976-1980. That's not to say everything is here. The 1972 classic "Loan Me a Dime" is missing, as this concentrates on Scaggs' more radio-friendly efforts. From the pre-Silk Degrees era, "Dinah Flo" and "You Make It So Hard to Say No" are here. Not surprisingly, this set takes a few tracks from Scaggs' best-selling album Silk Degrees. While the sleek and funky "Lowdown" is no doubt here, the underrated "What Can I Say" strangely didn't make this overview. Hits! seemed to stray far from the commercial disappointment of 1978's Down Two Then Left by not including one track. Having "A Clue" on this would have helped in the areas of continuity. Middle Man's biggest hits, "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and "Jojo," are included. The best track from Middle Man, "You Can Have Me Anytime," is one of Scaggs' strongest ballads.

Gerry Rafferty City to City: The CD has a big scratch on it that does affect track number 11. It skips a couple times then plays through. There do not seem to be any other tracks affected. The jewel case and inserts are complete and in good condition.

Spin Magazine lists City to City as one of the 8 essential yacht rock albums.  Gerry Rafferty still writes with the sweet melodiousness of Paul McCartney and sings with John Lennon’s weary huskiness, and his synthesis of American country music, British folk and transatlantic rock is as smooth as ever. But his orchestrations have acquired a stately sweep. For all their rhythmic variety — from the suave Latin lilt of “Right down the Line” to the thump of “Home and Dry” — these are uniformly majestic songs. 

The instrumental refrain on one of the best of them, “Baker Street,” is breathtaking: between verses describing a dreamer’s self-deceptions, Rapheal Ravenscroft’s saxophone ballons with aspirations only to have a synthesizer wrench it back to earth with an almost sickening tug. If City to City doesn’t rise to the top of the charts, its commercial failure will be equally dismaying. And our loss will be greater even than Rafferty’s. After all, when was the last time you bought an album boasting more than fifty minutes of music? And great music at that.

Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down: The CD is in very good condition. The jewel case and inserts are complete and in good condition.

Richie doesn't swing for the fences like Michael did in 1982; he makes safe bets, which is more in his character. But safe bets do pay off, and with Can't Slow Down Richie reaped enormous dividends, earning not just his biggest hit, but his best album. He has less compunction about appearing as a pop singer this time around, which gives the preponderance of smooth ballads -- particularly "Penny Lover," "Hello," and the country-ish "Stuck on You" -- conviction, and the dance songs roll smooth and easy, never pushing the beats too hard and relying more on Richie's melodic hooks than the grooves, which is what helped make "All Night Long (All Night)" a massive hit. Indeed, five of these songs (all the aforementioned tunes) were huge hits, and since the record ran only eight songs, that's an astonishing ration.

Shipping will be $5.00.