Mamas Gun - Golden Days (2018)

Horrible band name, fantastic music. The main singer/songwriter behind the British group Mamas Gun is Andy Platts, half of the wonderful Young Gun Silver Fox. And this music is much the same as YGSF, smooth-retro-yachty-soul played by a real band and cut to analog equipment. In other words, it sounds like the music I heard on my Radio Shack "Realistic" AM solid state transistor radio in the '70s. Derivative and I couldn't care less.

But that's how I describe it, let's see how the "pros" do it:

"amalgamation of soul, carefully blended stew of ‘70’s vibes, vintage R&B grooves, refreshing Stevie-esque neo-soul and hefty Stax-like horns, alongside robust musicianship and Platts’ butterscotch-flavored pipes" - Soul Tracks

"feels simultaneously dated and timeless, comparable to pioneers that were prominent in the ‘60s and ‘70s." - The 405

"The best description of their latest album? Well, I guess that 'New Classic Soul' merged with warm West Coast flavours would be the most fitting description." - Soul Express

"a resolutely late 1970s/early 1980s dance groove that will have older soul boy and girl listeners digging out their penny loafers and white socks. This is the sound of the summer, without question." - Sunday Express

It's odd how an album of new music can immediately take you back 40+ years to the hot summer days of youth, but somehow they done did it.

Your humble blogger, water skiing in the summer of 1978.
We lived in the arid West Texas desert, so would routinely travel
1300 miles (round trip) to find water near Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Best cuts are You Make My Life A Better Place, I Need A Win, London Girls, We, and Strangers On A Street. Influences I hear on these tracks: Hall & Oates, 10cc, and Todd Rundgren. Mainly due to the production, I don't care much for the final track, This Is The Day, so I usually end the album early.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought this CD last summer and it was never far away. I let it hibernate for a bit over the winter and have now pulled it off the shelves for another spring/summer of listening.