CoronaVinyl Day 171 (E): Mixed Emotions by Exile

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "E," and I guess I have more albums by "E" artists other than the Eagles and Earth, Wind & Fire than I thought.  One of those is Exile's 1978 album Mixed Emotions.  It's pure late '70s yacht rock, and it's the kind of record you want to put on when you and your special lady are lying by the fire on your polar bear skin rug, sippin' on champagne, and feeding each other white chocolate-dipped strawberries (because milk or dark chocolate could stain the rug), both of you wearing nothing but corks, body wax, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter masks.

Mixed Emotions was the band's third studio album and the first that charted on the Billboard album chart, reaching #14 behind the strength of their hit single "Kiss You All Over," a disco yacht rock classic that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.  It came in at #163 on Billboard's all-time Hot 100, which was compiled in 2018 and contained the Top 600 most successful charting songs in the Hot 100's 60-year history.  It also went Top 10 in eleven other countries, including #1 in Australia and New Zealand.  The album also contained another minor hit for the band, "You Thrill Me," which cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 by hitting exactly #40.

Oddly, after the follow-up album, lead singer Jimmy Stokley was kicked out of the band, and then band completely changed musical direction in the early '80s, going country.  They actually had a good bit of success as a country act, garnering four Top 10 albums on the Billboard Country albums chart, including one #1 (1984's Kentucky Hearts), as well as 13 Top 10 singles on the Billboard Country singles chart, including 10 #1s.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Never Gonna Stop"

With its funky bass line, jangly guitar, harmonies in the chorus, and theme of never gonna stop loving you, this is yacht rock all the way.  And at nearly six minutes, it gives you plenty of time to get your engines revved.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Kiss You All Over"
There's a reason this song was so successful.  It's a great pop song.  The beginning of the song and the guitar riff kind of remind me of Climax Blues Band's "Couldn't Get It Right" and Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing."  And the lyrics are the kind of thing that should make any woman moist, even those who don't like the word "moist."  Moist.  Moist.  Moist.