For those about to Yacht Rock
In the mid-1970s, a warm summer breeze blew across the nation. It was a time of wide-open water and wide-open collars, of golden sunsets and golden chains. A boatload of milky-voiced white guys filled the charts and airwaves, spinning non-threatening odes to special lovely ladies, light innuendo sung over light grooves—the musical manifestation of a Bob Ross painting, with implied sex. The age of Kenny Loggins, Loggins & Messina, and a man called Boz. The age of Yacht Rock.
How did this cultural cat-nap happen? Were we hungover from late ’60s bacchanalia, or did we need some California sunshine to dispel the five o’clock shadows of Watergate? Greg Prato’s The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s goes straight to the sources for answers. Through interviews with its demigods—Loggins, Christopher Cross, John Oates, Daryl “The Captain” Dragon, and more—Prato’s book explores the Yacht Rock universe from its inception and mellow rise to its recent revival, including its elusive definition.
Here, for the uninitiated, Prato presents his top 10 yacht rock album covers, a cavalcade of bare chests, feathered hair, and stylized ampersands.
The Top 10 Yacht Rock Album Covers of All-Time
By Greg Prato
#10: Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees
The iconic cover shot of Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees needs to be included for two reasons – first of all, the sunglass-sporting Boz is apparently taking it easy in close proximity to a beach, and secondly, because the album spawned such yacht rock masterpieces as “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle.”
#9 Firefall, Firefall
While it’s understandable to assume that the gorgeous image that adjourns the self-titled debut by Firefall depicts a “firefall,” this is not the case, according to the band’s original single/guitarist, Rick Roberts. “It’s interesting, because a firefall has nothing to do with shooting stars. A firefall is a real thing that happens out in Yosemite National Park in California—they have a waterfall, Glacier Point, and for three weeks in February due to the shift in the sun, the sun hits this waterfall at a particular angle, and it looks like fire was coming over the cliff. It looks exactly like falling fire. For nearly a hundred years, it was a tourist attraction in Yosemite National Park.”
#8 Walter Egan, Fundamental Roll
Undoubtedly, one of the more creepy album covers of all the yacht rockers would have to be Walter Egan’s debut album, Fundamental Roll—which features Egan standing next to a Mercedes (which was on loan from Stevie Nicks), while two Beverly Hills High School teenagers dressed in cheerleader costumes are crouching next to him. According to Egan in the book, photographer Moshe Brakha supposedly convinced him to take part in the photo (which took place at the top of Beverly Glen Boulevard and Mulholland Drive), after exclaiming, “It’s Americana! It’s Americana! You’re the new James Dean!”
#7 Hall & Oates, Daryl Hall and John Oates
This will be the first of a trio of album covers in succession that have a decidedly homoerotic vibe to them. For Hall and Oates’ self-titled release from 1975, a chap by the name of Pierre LaRoche is credited with coming up with the “make-up and cover concept,” while it was photographed by Bill King. With LaRoche having recently served as David Bowie’s stylist for the glam-heavy Aladdin Sane album cover, he replicated the androgynous look for Hall & Oates. And as Oates explains in the book, “And [LaRoche] said, ‘I will immortalize you.’ Those were his exact words. And he was right—to this day, it’s pretty much the only album cover that anyone ever talks about.”
#6 Orleans, Waking and Dreaming
In addition to containing the massive/enduring hit “Still the One,” Orleans’ Waking and Dreaming is probably best remembered for its cover photo, which features all five members shirtless, and apparently in quite a “touchy/feely” mood. As Orleans singer/guitarist John Hall recounts in the book, it was all photographer Norman Seeff’s idea. “So he shot for two hours, and then he said at the very end of our time, ‘I’ve got two frames left. How about you all take your shirts off?’ So we did, and he took two more pictures. And wouldn’t you know that the record company picked that one to be the album cover!”
#5 Pablo Cruise, Lifeline
Orleans’ Waking and Dreaming was not the only album of 1976 to feature a band apparently “in the buff,” as evidenced by Pablo Cruise’s Lifeline. As Orleans bassist Lance Hoppen recounted in the book, “What’s really funny to me is about the same time, Pablo Cruise had a cover … and they are all butt-naked! And you don’t hear anybody talking about that. You only hear about our thing. So I don’t get it. But it’s publicity, and it’s a story, so, why not?”
#4 Kenny Loggins, Keep the Fire
What’s not to love about a photo in which Kenny is dressed like a wizard, while clutching a glowing orb in both hands (in front of a backdrop comprised of an ocean, shooting stars, and a sunrise… at nighttime!). Turns out that photographer Ed Caraeff and Kenny had some grand ideas for the cover shot, but the singer’s proposed “ball of light” ended up looking merely like a ball with a lightbulb in it (which is exactly what it was). It will remain one of my top journalistic standouts that Kenny admitted to yours truly that he never told the story about this mysterious album cover until he was asked about it for The Yacht Rock Book.
#3 Loggins & Messina, Full Sail
This needs to be placed near the top of the list for obvious reasons, as both musicians are not only aboard a yacht… but are also seemingly serving as co-captains! In the book, Messina recollected that they were trying to create a period piece with the photo of sometime before 1940. Hence, a yacht from 1929 was used (called the “Flying Cloud”) and vintage Hawaiian shirts were donned.
#2 Crosby, Stills & Nash, CSN
Similar in style and feel to Loggins & Messina’s Full Sail, the cover image of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s CSN certainly embodies the essence of the genre—three pals aboard their vessel, wind blowing through their hair, not a care in the world.
#1 Christopher Cross, Christopher Cross
While certainly not the snazziest-looking album cover ever, the illustration of a pink flamingo balancing on one leg Ian Anderson-style probably automatically pops into the noggins of many music listeners upon hearing the phrase “yacht rock”—due to the inclusion of such YR gems as “Sailing” and “Ride Like the Wind.” Hence, it’s selection as numero uno on this list.