CoronaVinyl Day 203 (L): Loggins & Messina by Loggins & Messina

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "L," and I happen to have three Loggins & Messina albums, so why don't we check one off the list.  I'm going with their self-titled second album from 1972.

Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina teamed up in the early '70s, after Messina had left the country rock band Poco and had signed a production contract with Columbia Records.  At the time, Loggins was a staff songwriter for ABC Dunhill, but wasn't a performer.  At first, Messina was only there to kind of help launch Loggins's career, but then they officially became a duo and put out six studio albums between 1971 and 1976.

This album is kind of a mix of rock, soft rock, mellow funk, country rock, and folk.  It reached #16 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went platinum in the U.S.  They trade off lead vocal duties and sometimes handle vocals together.  The album spawned their biggest hit, "Your Mama Don't Dance," which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as another Top 20 hit, "Thinking of You," which went to #18.

In 1976, they decided to both pursue solo careers.  Until Hall & Oates surpassed them late in the decade, they were the best-selling duo of the '70s.  Of course, Loggins went on to a very successful solo career and was the king of movie soundtrack songs in the '80s, with "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack, "Footloose" from Footloose, and "Danger Zone" from Top Gun, among others.  Messina's solo career was less successful.  The two reunited in the mid 2000s for a reunion tour and live album.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Good Friend"

The first track on Side 1 is kind of a funky pop-rock song that kind of foreshadowed the soft rock sound that would become popular throughout the '70s that we know today as yacht rock.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Angry Eyes"
The last song on the album is a nearly eight-minute soulful country rock jam that sounds like it could very well be on a Neil Young album.