BGO
's 2013 double-disc set gathers three late-'70s albums from
Tom Scott
: 1977's
Blow It Out
, 1978's
Intimate Strangers
, and 1979's
Street Beat
. This is the moment when
Scott
entered the mainstream, leaving behind his backing band the
L.A. Express
, and getting progressively pop. Opening with "Gotcha," the theme from Starsky & Hutch,
is one of his slickest sets, which should come as no surprise given that it has a song called "Smoothin' On Down." It is heavily redolent of 1977, filled with gossamer electric pianos and percolating soul rhythms, as the funk jams alternate with open-necked seduction; the saxophone itself seems to be wearing a leisure suit.
picks up on that slick seduction and runs with it, its song cycle telling the tale of a one-night stand. That concept alone provides one of the pinnacles of the era of disco-jazz, but the album itself isn't as tacky as
; it's still certainly mood music, with the groove taking precedence over the improvisations, but
plays it cool, as if he's worried about frightening away his paramour. That leaves
, which is the weirdest of the bunch, as it ratchets up the fuzz guitars, the synthesizers, the funk, and the backing vocals; it's as jaw-droppingly ugly as its airbrushed album cover. It's hardcore
Bob James
music, sounding as if it could score any number of forgotten cop thrillers -- "Car Wars" indeed was used in Americathon -- and while that means it has very little merit for jazz purists (or indeed almost anyone with taste), it is certainly a worthwhile artifact for cultural crate-diggers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine