For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.
Today's CoronaVinyl category is "V," and my remaining options are pretty limited. As I mentioned on Monday, I'm trying to go with African-American artists or groups during the month of February in honor of Black History Month, to the extent there are remaining selections in my collection for the various letters. For "V," I don't have any remaining albums by any black artists, but several of the backing musicians on Billy Vera & The Beaters' 1988 album Retro Nuevo are African-American. Specifically, veteran session pianists Greg Phillinganes and Richard Tee appear on several songs. So that's why I'm going with this album.
Of course, if you know Billy Vera & The Beaters, it's because of their #1 hit "At This Moment," which is one of those songs that didn't do that well when it was initially released, but then was re-released years later and became a hit. For those of you not around in the '80s or unfamiliar with '80s TV trivia, I got ya covered. Vera originally released "At This Moment" in 1981, and it topped out at #79 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1985, a writer for Family Ties saw Vera & The Beaters perform in L.A. and heard "At This Moment," which he thought would be a perfect song as a backdrop for a storyline they were working on regarding Alex P. Keaton and his girlfriend Ellen (played by Tracy Pollan, who would marry Michael J. Fox in real life).
Family Ties used "At This Moment" in several episodes in the fourth and fifth seasons during dramatic and romantic scenes with Alex and Ellen. Because the only recorded version of the song was a live version, Vera & The Beaters had to re-record various snippets of the song to be used in the show, so that the audience from the live version wouldn't be heard in the show, though portions of the original recording were also used. I was a huge Family Ties fan as a kid, so I remember this story arc vividly. Whenever I hear the song, I automatically think of the shot of the Volvo station wagon backing up and heading to Pennsylvania rather than Leland University, and then Alex waiting for Ellen at the train station to tell her she shouldn't elope with her boyfriend. Click here to see a montage of scenes set to the song.
The song made such an impact in the show that audience members started calling NBC and radio stations to find out anything about the song, and it was soon re-released, along with a "greatest hits" album, as Vera had not released any music in five years. The song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in January 1987, and the 45 vinyl single of the song sold over a million copies in the U.S., making it one of the last Gold singles released as a 45.
So this is all quite an intro for a song that isn't even on the album I'm listening to today. Retro Nuevo was Vera's first post-Family Ties album. It's credited to Billy Vera & The Beaters, although "The Beaters" were more of a rotating cast of characters. For this album, Vera has some great session musicians, including drummer Jim Keltner, several great horn players, and the aforementioned Phillinganes and Tee on piano.
If you're not familiar with either, Phillinganes contributed to every one of Michael Jackson's solo albums (and played that famous synthesizer part on "Thriller"!), and has appeared on albums by and/or toured with dozens of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musicians, including Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson, Stevie Nicks, Elvis Costello, and Paul Simon. Tee's pedigree is just as impressive, having recorded with the likes of Paul Simon, The Bee Gees, Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, George Harrison, Diana Ross, Duane Allman, Nina Simone, Billy Joel, Etta James, Eric Clapton, Kenny Loggins, Lou Rawls, Peter Gabriel, Joe Cocker, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, and many others.
The album is blue-eyed soul, and it's not bad, but it couldn't capture the magic of "At This Moment." The album didn't chart, although "Between Like and Love" reached #9 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
But it's not all bad for Vera. He had done some acting prior to "At This Moment," but afterward, he was able to get some bigger parts, both in movies and TV. He has also done a ton of voiceover work in LA, done voice acting work on cartoons, produced albums for other artists, continued to make his own music, continued to play clubs in Southern California with The Beaters, written several books (mostly non-fiction), written liner notes for over 200 album reissues and sets for classic artists (and even won a Grammy Award in 2013 for Best Album Notes for the Ray Charles box set, Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles), and written and performed several TV show theme songs, including the themes for King of Queens and Empty Nest. Vera also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Retro Nuevo is not on Spotify or YouTube, so I'm just embedding a "best of" album below.
This is a bluesy, soulful song, and Vera's vocals on this remind me of Daryl Hall, which is obviously a compliment.
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