Los Angeles, California: And the hits keep on coming as the good ship Yacht Metal draws closer to port, as La Paz (and ex-Rainbow) frontman Doogie White hooks up with Dictators/Man o’War axeman Ross The Boss to find out what might happen if they fooled around with blues guitarist Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around And Fell In Love.”
“Growing up, Elvin Bishop was one of my idols!" says Ross "It was an honor to play on 'Fooled Around And Fell in Love!'“
An eternal staple of the Yacht Rock boom, it’s one of those songs that you probably know, even if you’ve never heard it… “I must have been through about a million girls,” sang future Jefferson Starship crew member Mickey Thomas, and that’s about how many people bought it back in 1976, as it sailed majestically to #3 on the Billboard chart.
“I always liked the song,” says Doogie. “I was offered three or four to choose from and ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love’ just jumped at me. All three verses are different, which left me space to ham and jam it up and have fun stepping out of the kinda music I am used to playing.
“There was no solo on the track, just a big hole and anyone who knows me understands if there is a hole I will fill it. Great fun.”
Great fun, and great Yacht Rock? Well, yes… if you insist… although nobody called it Yacht Rock at the time. It would be forty years more before that term was coined, initially as something of a mocking pejorative, before taking on a fresh new perspective of its own.
Today, of course, Yacht Rock is huge… ah, but Yacht Metal makes a far bigger noise, and “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” should probably come with its own pair of ear plugs, a raucous anthemic sing-and-swing-along, Doogie’s vocal practically waving its arms in the air, while Ross bosses the melody with taut rock riffery and fiery buzz-hungry soloing. And the coda will anchor itself in your skull for days to come.
Yacht Metal itself is fast shaping up as one of the most audacious compilations of the year, bringing together a boat load of metal icons to pay tribute to one of the most beloved genres in the entire classic rock spectrum.
Doogie’s fellow Rainbow alumni Joe Lynn Turner, Graham Bonnet and Bob Daisley; Marcus Nand, Bumblefoot, Cherie Currie (Runaways), Mick Box (Uriah Heep), BulletBoys and Vinnie Moore (UFO) are among the other heavy metal heavyweights to have climbed aboard the album, tying up alongside such Yacht Rock staples as “Kiss You All Over” (Exile), “Takin’ It To The Streets” (the Doobie Brothers), “Magnet and Steel” (Walter Egan with Stevie Nicks) and, of course, the song that might well have launched the Yacht Rock phenomenon in the first place (thematically, if not chronologically), Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).”
And, of course, it goes without saying that anybody stumbling into Yacht Metal without truly considering the ramifications of the title is in for one helluva shock… this single’s cover alone is sufficient to dispel any daydreams of deck shoes and daiquiri that the title might conjure.
Which is exactly how it ought to be. As another of Yacht Metal’s denizens, Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest), recently remarked, the very foundations of Yacht Rock rest upon “so many amazing songs and songwriters.” Now they’re being shaken by some amazing arrangements as well.
Play it loud!
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/jzd0ja
