CoronaVinyl Day 248 (L): Keep The Fire by Kenny Loggins

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "L," and in my most recent acquisition of albums from my neighbor were several Kenny Loggins records, so let's go with 1979's Keep The Fire, his third solo studio album.

In between his time in Loggins & Messina and his time in the '80s as the King of Movie Theme Songs, Loggins was making pop and soft rock (including what we now call yacht rock) albums with pretty decent success.  Keep The Fire is a nice mix of pop, rock, and soft rock with some Caribbean influence in there as well (see "Junkanoo Holiday (Fallin' Flyin')"), and he had some help from a few big names.  The album was produced by legendary producer and future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Tom Dowd, who by that time had produced and/or engineered albums for the likes of The Allman Brothers Band, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Cream, Derek & The Dominos, The Drifters, Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wilson Pickett, The Rascals, Otis Redding, and Rod Stewart, among many others.

The biggest hit from the album, "This Is It," was co-written by Michael McDonald, who also provided backing vocals for the song.  McDonald always seemed to be involved when great yacht songs were being made (see also Christopher Cross's "Ride Like the Wind").  In addition, Michael Jackson and Mr. Mister lead singer Richard Page sang backing vocals on "Who's Right, Who's Wrong."

The album reached #16 on the Billboard album charts, and it was eventually certified platinum in the U.S.  The aforementioned "This Is It" went to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the title track went to #36, becoming Loggins's second and third solo Top 40 hits.

And we have to discuss the album cover, which features a very messianic Loggins -- staring straight at us -- in what appears to be a cream colored silk wizard's robe holding a glowing orb in front of a moonscape that features some sort of lava rainbow.  It's essentially perfect.

Less than a year later, Loggins would begin his '80s movie theme reign, with "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack, which went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.  He then had "Footloose" (#1) and "I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man)" (#22) from Footloose in 1984, "Danger Zone" (#2) and "Playing With the Boys" (#60) from Top Gun in 1986, "Meet Me Half Way" (#11) from Over The Top in 1987, and "Nobody's Fool" (#11) from Caddyshack II in 1988.

In total, Loggins had 14 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist, including 5 Top 10s and one #1 ("Footloose").  On the Billboard Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary chart, he had 8 Top 10 songs, including one #1, 1996's "For The First Time," which, as you may have guessed, was for the soundtrack to a movie (the Michelle Pfeiffer/George Clooney vehicle One Fine Day).

Favorite song on Side 1:  "Mr. Night"
This is an uptempo pop rock song, with kind of a New Orleans jazz/funk feel.  The funny thing is that I was going to say it foreshadows "Holiday Road" from Vacation, but as I was about to write that sentence, I remember that Lindsey Buckingham did "Holiday Road," and not Loggins.  That's how much I associate Loggins with '80s movies themes.  I assume he did them all.

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Keep The Fire"
The second side of the album is definitely the softer side.  I'm going with the title track as my favorite song, as it's the most yacht rocky.