TS: Boz Scaggs' LIDO SHUFFLE vs. LOWDOWN

They both are classic but "Lowdown" is on another level.

whoa oh wayo tho

yeah Lido is a fun blast but Lowdown is an axiom of the universe

I'll be the guy voting "Lido" -- in the mind it's tethered to the chorus but when you listen there's that sick, sick beat kicking off into that modulation after what 4 bars, and then four bars of just bass & vocals & drums and then it goes widescreen and keeps fleshing itself out through the "one more time" and then you get the chorus, ok cool, extended chorus!!...then the slick vocal harmonies in the 2nd verse: but then, THEN, that little synth riff before the 2nd "one for the road," for me the heart of the song, its tension in one instrumental lick. silk degrees imo has this push-pull between Boz's jump blues/Meters worship mood and the mellower thing in "lowdown" that he's feeling out by instinct -- the reggae track, "love me tomorrow," is also in there, and the ballad, "we're all alone," these are definitive 70s tracks for me, if I'm building a case for Boz Scaggs they're the ones I point at first. He'd always mixed uptempo stuff with ballads but on "silk degrees" he finds someplace else to go with the ballads and although "lowdown" shuffles, to me it's still not punching like uptempo, the vocal's so relaxed, it lives on ballad street but it's not a ballad. "lowdown" is a complete and total miracle don't get me wrong. "georgia" and "lido" and "jump street" are all from that more familiar "what I've been doing" terrain, but "lido" especially is so hardwired to vivid sense memories of being a child in the 70s -- hearing it coming from radios behind the snack counter at a public pool, hearing it in pinball parlors -- probably "lowdown" was the Boz track that was omnipresent in the discos, but I wasn't in the discos. I was out being a kid in the world and "lido" was the sound of the world in all its unknowable cool, gathering strength, getting bigger right there in front of me.

"Lowdown" was also omnipresent in amusement parks in the 70's, as the soundtrack to rides with names like Tilt-A-Whirl and Alpine Bobsled, and as such will always be a summer signifier to me.

ha yes you're so right, I remember hearing it at the Pomona fairgrounds on a fast ride that had a "snow" theme like "the blizzard" or something, roller coaster cars on a circular track that ran around a small oval through a dark tunnel behind a backdrop painting of the abominable snowman and igloos and whatnot, fans blowing cold a/c as the car whips through the tunnel and "lowdown" loud as hell. scared the shit out of me tbh

holy shit alpine bobsled you said it yourself. that's the one

“Do you wanna go FASTERRRRR?????”

Great reminiscences, jclc

My knees still get a little weak when I hear "Lowdown", as it brings back instant memories of hearing the song while stumbling off the ride back to the midway. Or, more likely, to the end of the line for the same ride.

Lido Shuffle for me. Lowdown is great, but it's a little long and saxy, and he sort of tries to sound extra cool on the verse

“lowdown” is perfect, an instant vibe setter (and vibe enhancer), with probably the best electric keyboard sound of all time

The backing vocals on Lowdown are my favorite part of either song. Such a perfect compliment.

Incognito Toto thread this

oh oh OH OHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ya each song has a pristine porcaro shuffle

"lido shuffle" is alright, kinda peaks early on at "next stop chi town lido put the money down let em roll". maybe if i had been alive in the 70s i would understand it beter.

on the other hand... the sad truth, the dirty lowdown, the disco summer breeze, the horns and flutes in unison <3

primo thread

Well, what can I say?

Lowdown has the cooler rhythm bed but Lifo is the full buffet. Gonna put my money down on Lido

https://maps.app.goo.gl/32vcz1kveNuFJyeg8

Lowdown is the better song, but Lido is more fun maybe?

the groove set in those first 20 or so seconds of "Lowdown" makes whatever happen after irrelevant imho.

They really are diametric songs:

Lowdown: velvety 2 chord vamp with that turnaround the only real shift from the hypnotic groove

Lido: shuffling boogie verse in F but then heavily modulates for the epic chorus, walking all up and down Bb leaving no chord unturned

he sort of tries to sound extra cool on the verse

I do like the song, and I wouldn't be the one to mount a critique, but there's enough of a hint of minstrelsy in "Lowdown" that tilts this towards "Lido Shuffle" for me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

one more for the roooooad

Both great songs tgat loomed large during my childhood, but "Lido" is the one I'm singing as I grab a handle from the top shelf.

Outro guitar solo on 'Lowdown' is amazing. . .

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Whew, the exit polls were worrying me, but y'all did the right thing.

*shakes head* the sad truth, the dirty lowdown

As a Lido voter who expected a Lowdown landslide, I like it.

It's wild how different one's experience can be with 2 songs from the same album. I had "Lowdown" basically handed to me, whereas "Lido" was frustratingly elusive to track down.

If any of y'all lived in southern Cali in the mid-to-late '80s, you may remember a station called KIIS on your dial at 102.7 (I think they were the station that 'Rick Dees in the Morning' was based out of, as well as Benny Martinez and Bumpy Woods's awesome 'Saturday Night Live LA' dance party). While they were ostensibly a Top-40 station with a playlist that heavily embraced Latin Freestyle, they would inexplicably add an older track to their rotation every few months. In 1987 or 88, they started playing "Lowdown", as well as "Hey Nineteen", on moderate-semi-occasional rotation, which was fairly jarring to hear between, say, Expose', Jody Watley, or Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. But something about the context just *worked*, and I grew to absolutely love both of those songs. I also appreciated that they also ID'd them before they were played.

Whereas "Lido" I only knew from a commercial for a '70s compilation (you know the ones, where they scroll through the list of songs, while playing the chorus of like every 3rd track), though somehow I forgot the name and artist, so after we left Cali - and their commercials - in '88, I spent over a decade trying to get such info for the "one for the roh-oh-oh-oh-oad!" song. In '98, I found a copy of The Little River Band's Sleepercatcher at a thrift store, and saw that it had a song called "One for the Road." Paydirt! Or so I thought...

...nope, wrong song, although it shares the 12/8 shuffle and cool harmonies. The record does have "Reminiscing", which rules.

A year later, at a NYE party (Music Leaguers will know this as the 'I threw up red wine all over the wall' party during my comment about KMFDM), and the "Juke Joint Jezebel"-fan friend of mine told me that the song I'm seeking is called 'Lido Shuffle', "and it's by Gerry Rafferty (!)". No it isn't!

Well, one part down. After locating a few Rafferty albs at various record and/or thrift stores, and finding nary a "Lido", I decided to turn to the internet. in 2000, my then-roommate was showing me Napster, and one of the first songs I asked him to search was "Lido Shuffle", and finally, I learned that it was Boz!

Side note: I'm super-thankful that KIIS-FM mentioned the artist and title for their classic rock additions, as my mom was convinced "Hey Nineteen" was by Dan Fogelberg (!). Although the existence of a Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, and Dan Fogelberg - would that be the Madison Beer/Addison Rae/Tate McRae confusing nomenclature of its era? - that's a lot of Ds & Fs (insert 'George W Bush's report card' joke here), thus I kinda understand the mix-up.

(I voted "Lido")

nice

one for the road!

heard a rumor that the mtn goats covered the winning song last night

\m/