Product ReviewsFade Into Light

Nothing Could Be Sadder Then a Glass of Wine Alone

The Japanese were onto this one first, but it was made for their market where Scaggs is huge. FADE INTO LIGHT was released in Japan 1999, we had to wait until 2005. The title song was commissioned for a movie, the company then wanted four songs, then an album. Scaggs got his choice of the best hired guns, and while making it found his muse again. The results were a revelation; Scaggs fans went wide eyed for years about this stunning 'lost album'.
It also cost you a small fortune to get as an import over here.
Until the dual disc release...
FADE INTO LIGHT is where everything kicks in after his renewal joining Virgin Records. He made SOME CHANGE and an R&B cover album, but his urge to get back to a stripped down, more basic sound started to WORK here.
Think the ELVIS 68 COMEBACK with the guys doing their own acoustic version of history. The WILD HONEY sessions recorded in Brians' living room. Dylans' JOHN WESELY HARDING, featuring instruments and technique the boys at Sun had to work with. In a country where no one remembers last year, let alone last decade, Scaggs found the heart stopping beauty of going back to the basics of rock, R&B, and soul, of AMERICAN music that flowed effortlessly between genres. Music that could make you pull off the road when you heard it on the radio because you were overcome by it's beauty. He could have gone into Vee Jay or Atlantic or Imperial with a lot of this sound in their hay day and probably gotten a hit and a deal.
You get 12 songs total. 4 from the Columbia years. (They wisely start with 'Lowdown' as a statement of principal. You see where it's going, where Boz is NOW.) 5 cuts from SOME CHANGE - half the album. One cut ('Just Go') from the MY TIME collection. 'Fade Into Light' the movie song that started it all. And Scagg's version of 'Love TKO'.
See what I mean? With WILD HONEY it seemed NATURAL The Beach Boys could cover Motown and make it their own. And it's just as natural here when Scaggs does 'Love TKO', and totally assumes ownership. You are reminded of how lonely and isolated we have become, how locked in genres, how specialized and cut off from everything not in our immediate predetermined test driven marketing range.
So where IS Boz now, and what's Boz been up to all this time? Learning to sing.
I mean SING. That voice is still there, nearly the same as SILK DEGREES, but boy howdy, he's learned to MASTER it. He's been listening to Sinatra, I'll bet a steak dinner. The phrasing, the economy, the control...the emotion. And I think, listening to Solomon Burke. What's the best track? I can't pick one...but if you can listen to this version of "We're All Alone" and not even be tempted to shed a tear, I'm taking back the ring.
FADE INTO LIGHT (the dual disc from Virgin released over here) might be the best deal you'll find this week. You get the album on one side. Then again in 5.1 enhanced stereo on side two. (You'll worry you'll trip on the water bottles the musicians have beside them in the chairs, you'll feel THAT close to things.) Also 3 video cuts from the GREATEST HITS LIVE DVD. The video cuts (like the album) are a free flow of soul, jazz and R&B with an audience that actually shuts up, sits down and LISTENS...almost worth the price of admission to see THAT...
Even with the release 2 years behind us, you can still pay over 60 bucks for the Japanese version with the cute obi. Or you can get this dual disc. My copy cost me $12 here on ebay.Read full review...

a must-have

Excellent. It;s Boz Scaggs. All you need to know.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: echobunny2000