Down Two Then Left Boz Scaggs

Rip It Up, Issue 8, 1 February 1978, Page 11

Down Two Then Left Boz Scaggs

Ken Williams

CBS Boz Scaggs may be the most elusive artist I know. Repeated listenings to his music leave a sense of not having heard, the tunes ethereal and beguiling. The new album is no exception. The first impression is of a bland dehydration. Persistence forces a reversal of opinion. This is extraordinarily good'. Down Two Then Left is produced by Joe Wissert who did Silk Degrees and is in a similar mould, with the musicians creating an "atmosphere' for Boz. There's no impression of a "band'' in the usual sense. This move can be traced to the Johnny Bristol-produced Slow Dancer, which has been re-issued.

Like Silk Degrees the songs ease their way into your spine. It's an insidious process.

Scaggs' accessibility depends on repeated exposure and it may be this that for so long kept him a beloved cult figure, seldom venturing beyond the Bay Area. And perhaps it’s the slow-burning quality of his music that made the sleeper Silk Degrees such a lingering success. Scaggs has been playing impeccable music since his sojourn with Steve Miller, another trouper only recently to gain worldwide prominence. He deserves his new-found success.

I find it hard to name my favoured Boz tracks (apart from the gigantic "Loan Me A Dime" a desert island disc). My favourite is usually the one that’s playing. It's that kind of music. Maybe I’ll plump for "Hard Times", "A Clue" and ‘l993’’. But ask me later; I’ll be playing this one for a long time.