Name: Smoke from a Distant Fire/Nail Me to the Wall
Brand: Real Gone Music
SKU: 26742565
Availability: OutOfStock

Smoke from a Distant Fire/Nail Me to the Wall

Rating

Album: Smoke from a Distant Fire/Nail Me to the Wall
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Smoke from a Distant Fire	More Info...	0:03
2)	Moolah Moo Mazuma (Sin City Wahh-oo)	More Info...	0:04
3)	Oriental Gate (No Chance of Changin' My Mind)	More Info...	0:03
4)	Shake It to the Right	More Info...	0:04
5)	Squire James	More Info...	0:04
6)	Does It Have to Be You	More Info...	0:03
7)	Lou	More Info...	0:03
8)	Sunshine in My Heart Again	More Info...	0:02
9)	In for the Night	More Info...	0:04
10)	Rainbows Colored in Blue	More Info...	0:05
11)	Nail Me to the Wall	More Info...	0:04
12)	Gopher Broke	More Info...	0:03
13)	Every Day	More Info...	0:03
14)	Shady Grove	More Info...	0:04
15)	Jubilee	More Info...	0:04
16)	Just Another Lie	More Info...	0:04
17)	Just a Fool	More Info...	0:04
18)	Hour of Love	More Info...	0:05
19)	Tell Me How Love Survives	More Info...	0:04

Album: Smoke from a Distant Fire/Nail Me to the Wall
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Smoke from a Distant Fire	More Info...	0:03
2)	Moolah Moo Mazuma (Sin City Wahh-oo)	More Info...	0:04
3)	Oriental Gate (No Chance of Changin' My Mind)	More Info...	0:03
4)	Shake It to the Right	More Info...	0:04
5)	Squire James	More Info...	0:04
6)	Does It Have to Be You	More Info...	0:03
7)	Lou	More Info...	0:03
8)	Sunshine in My Heart Again	More Info...	0:02
9)	In for the Night	More Info...	0:04
10)	Rainbows Colored in Blue	More Info...	0:05
11)	Nail Me to the Wall	More Info...	0:04
12)	Gopher Broke	More Info...	0:03
13)	Every Day	More Info...	0:03
14)	Shady Grove	More Info...	0:04
15)	Jubilee	More Info...	0:04
16)	Just Another Lie	More Info...	0:04
17)	Just a Fool	More Info...	0:04
18)	Hour of Love	More Info...	0:05
19)	Tell Me How Love Survives	More Info...	0:04

Performer Notes

Personnel: Barry Beckett (keyboards); Billy Townsend (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Barry Beckett.
Liner Note Author: Gene Sculatti.
Recording information: Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Sheffield, AL; Salty Dog Studios, Van Nuys, CA.
Photographers: Jim McCrary; William Wright.
Arranger: Barry Beckett.
Real Gone's 2012 two-fer pairs Sanford & Townsend's breakthrough 1977 debut Smoke from a Distant Fire with Nail Me to the Wall, their 1979 swansong. Their sophomore set, Duo-Glide, is skipped over, possibly because that 1977 LP saw a CD reissue in 2005, and Nail Me to the Wall had never seen the light of day prior to this. If you didn't look at the details, either in the liner notes or some other discography, it'd be easy to think these records followed each other; they're cut from the same shimmering polyester cloth, exemplary totems of breezy SoCal soft rock. Smoke from a Distant Fire is the hit thanks to the groovy, swinging title track, about as perfect an illustration of the aural appeal of Yacht Rock that can be imagined, but even that doesn't quite illustrate the goofiness at the core of Sanford & Townsend. After all, the second song on Smoke from a Distant Fire is called "Moolah Moo Mazuma (Sin City Wahoo)" and the first on Nail Me to the Wall is "Gopher Broke," and that only hints at how comfortable with silliness this duo is. This is especially true on the debut, which swings in its slickness and has exultations about ants in the pants, but Nail Me has a similar leisure-suited giddiness tempered by just a touch more studio slickness, enough to make the duo sound like a Doobie Brothers that consciously avoid soul and blues. Nothing here sticks in the mind like "Smoke from a Distant Fire" -- nothing has the hook or the groove -- but the satin and polyester surfaces gleam alluringly, and both albums are sterling examples of the breezy SoCal pop of the late '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine