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MOMENTS is the third album, from 1971, from American pop singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs. It features 10 tracks including "We Were Always Sweethearts", "Downright Women", and "Painted Bells". Personnel: Boz Scaggs (vocals, guitar); Rita Coolidge (vocals); Doug Simril (guitar, keyboards); James "Curly" Cooke, Curley Cooke (guitar); John McFee (steel guitar); Mel Martin, Bill Atwood, Pat O'Hara (brass, horns); Ben Sidran (keyboards, vibraphone, background vocals); Joachim Jymm Young (keyboards); George Rains (drums); Coke Escovedo, Pete Escovedo (percussion); Rita Coolidge Ladies Vocal Ensemble, Rita Collidge (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Glyn Johns. Liner Note Author: Hideki Masubuchi. Recording information: Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco; Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, CA. Photographer: George H. Conger. If his 1969 eponymous debut found Boz Scaggs digging down deep and creating some gritty soul-rock, highlighted by Duane Allman's extended work-out on "Loan Me a Dime," his 1971 follow-up Moments -- his first album for CBS -- found him sketching out the blue-eyed soul that would eventually bring him fame when he streamlined it for 1976's Silk Degrees. Boz Scaggs was a Southern record, but Moments is thoroughly Californian, sun-bleached and brightly colored, easily gliding along smooth surfaces. In the hands of producer Glyn Johns, Scaggs doesn't have any rough edges, and the change suits him well, as his soft, soulful croon almost cries out for a setting this lush, one that's just this side of being louche. Although Scaggs would go that down the gauche road in the '70s, Moments is far from the glitzy disco of Silk Degrees and its spawn. This is thoroughly a '60s hangover, right down to how the country shuffle of "Alone, Alone" slides between the warm soul grooves of the rest of the album. Most of this is decidedly laid-back -- the casually funky grind of "I Will Forever Sing (The Blues)" and slyly funny boogie of "Hollywood Blues" callbacks to the Southern strut of the debut, are the exception, not the rule -- and while this is mellow, it's not lazy: it's a relaxed exploration. By the time "Can I Make It Last (Or Will It Just Be Over)" quietly drifts away on extended instrumental coda, setting like a sun into the ocean, Scaggs has started down the path toward his signature blue-eyed soul. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
