CoronaVinyl Day 273 (P): Player by Player

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I'm out of Ns and Os, so today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and we're going with some yacht rock, with Player's self-title 1977 debut album.

Player formed in LA in 1976, from the ashes of several local bands.  The cover of their first album tells you all you need to know about their music.  Get ready to get it on, ladies.  "Excuse me, miss, I ordered the long navy silk scarf with roses."

The album did pretty well, going to #32 on the Billboard album charts, behind the strength of two Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  "Baby Come Back" was a chart topper, and it's a yacht rock classic, even serving as one of the promo songs on SiriusXM's Yacht Rock Radio stations.  They followed that up with "This Time I'm In It For Love," which went to #10.

The band parlayed their early success into touring in support of the likes of Eric Clapton, Heart, Kenny Loggins, and Boz Scaggs.  As things happen, they had internal tensions -- not sure if it was scarf related -- and they went through some lineup changes over the next couple years before breaking up in the early '80s.  They did reunite in part in the mid '90s and put out another album then, as well as another album in 2013.

Interesting tidbit:  when the band had a lull in 1980, bassist Ronn Moss -- he's the one in the scarf -- decided to focus on acting.  From 1987 to 2012, he played the role of Ridge Forrester in the soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful.

Favorite song on Side 1:  "Baby Come Back"
There's a reason this was a #1 song.  It's pure '70s sexy soft rock.  How could she not come back after hearing this?

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Cancellation"
This is one of the more rocking songs on the album, which is to say that it would fit well on a Styx or Foreigner album from around that same time.  I don't mean that pejoratively.  It's a good song.