Silk Degrees

The album was recorded at Davlen Sound Studios and Hollywood Sound Recorders in Los Angeles. Among the accompanying musicians, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, and David Hungate became members of Toto, while Fred Tackett became a member of Little Feat. The album marked Scaggs's commercial zenith, a mix of pop rock ("Jump Street" and "Lido Shuffle"), soul ("What Can I Say" and "Lowdown"), and ballads ("Harbor Lights" and "We're All Alone", which became a hit for Rita Coolidge). Scaggs wrote "Jump Street" 10 minutes before recording it, only having a rough idea of the lyrics. He stated he'd scream out words that "worked phonetically".

Scaggs recalled that the album's title "was just something I had scribbled on the side of a page. The last thing I do after I record an album is name it. Silk Degrees doesn't mean anything specifically. It's just an image I couldn't get out of my head."{{Cite web|url=https://www.tallahassee.com/story/entertainment/2016/04/21/boz-scaggs-talks-lost-album/83359994/|title=Boz Scaggs talks about his lost album}}

The front cover photograph was by Moshe Brakha of Scaggs at Casino Point, Avalon, California.{{cite web | url=http://www.musicalmaps.com.au/search/label/silkdegrees | title=Musical Maps }}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web|last=Henderson|first=Alex|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/silk-degrees-mw0000191750|title=Silk Degrees – Boz Scaggs|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=August 31, 2013}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

| rev2score = A−{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|chapter=Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees|chapter-url=http://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=432|access-date=November 14, 2021|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor and Fields|year=1981|isbn=0-89919-026-X|page=345}}

| rev3 = Pitchfork

| rev3score = 8.8/10{{cite web|last=Sodomsky|first=Sam|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/boz-scaggs-silk-degrees/|title=Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees|website=Pitchfork|date=November 14, 2021|access-date=November 14, 2021}}

| rev4 = Rolling Stone

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Leishman|first=David|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/304968/review/6068001/silkdegrees|title=Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=January 21, 1997|orig-date=April 22, 1976|access-date=November 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106072548/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/304968/review/6068001/silkdegrees|archive-date=November 6, 2007|url-status=dead}}

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book|last=Puterbaugh|first=Parke|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|chapter=Boz Scaggs|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/719 719–20]}}

| rev6 = The Village Voice

| rev6score = B+{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv7-76.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|date=July 12, 1976|access-date=August 6, 2013}}

}}

"Lowdown" reached the top 5 on the club play, black, disco, and pop charts and also did respectably on the AC chart, with its peak at number 3 on the pop chart. The song is an airplay staple to this day, particularly on AC, oldies, and smooth jazz radio stations. "It's Over", "What Can I Say", and "Lido Shuffle" reached numbers 38, 42 and 11, respectively, on the pop chart. At the Grammy Awards of 1977, "Lowdown" won the Grammy for Best R&B Song. Scaggs also received nominations for Album of the Year, Best LP Package, Best Pop Vocal by a Male, and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Male for "Lowdown" and Joe Wissert received a nomination for Producer of the Year.{{Cite web |title=19th Annual GRAMMY Awards {{!}} GRAMMY.com |url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/19th-annual-grammy-awards |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=grammy.com}}

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1976, Robert Christgau praised the album as "white soul with a sense of humor that isn't consumed in self-parody." The Leader-Post determined that, "occasionally, the melodies and arrangements ... are rather too perfected, and fall into soulful anonymity."{{cite news |last1=Deane |first1=Gary |title=Deane's discs |work=The Leader-Post |date=2 Jul 1976 |page=14}} Alex Henderson of music database website AllMusic wrote that Scaggs "hit the R&B charts in a big way with the addictive, sly 'Lowdown' [...] and expressed his love of smooth soul music almost as well on the appealing 'What Can I Say'", nonetheless noting that "Scaggs was essentially a pop/rocker, and in that area he has a considerable amount of fun". Henderson found that while the more adult contemporary-leaning ballads are less remarkable, they "have more heart than most of the bland material dominating that format."

On February 27, 2007, Silk Degrees was reissued by Legacy Records with three bonus tracks recorded live at the Greek Theatre on August 15, 1976.

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = What Can I Say

| writer1 = Boz Scaggs, David Paich

| length1 = 3:01

| title2 = Georgia

| writer2 = Scaggs

| length2 = 3:57

| title3 = Jump Street

| writer3 = Scaggs, Paich

| length3 = 5:14

| title4 = What Do You Want the Girl to Do

| writer4 = Allen Toussaint

| length4 = 3:53

| title5 = Harbor Lights

| writer5 = Scaggs

| length5 = 5:58

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title6 = Lowdown

| writer6 = Scaggs, Paich

| length6 = 5:18

| title7 = It's Over

| writer7 = Scaggs, Paich

| length7 = 2:52

| title8 = Love Me Tomorrow

| writer8 = Paich

| length8 = 3:17

| title9 = Lido Shuffle

| writer9 = Scaggs, Paich

| length9 = 3:44

| title10 = We're All Alone

| writer10 = Scaggs

| length10 = 4:14

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = 2007 reissue bonus tracks

| title11 = What Can I Say

| note11 = live

| writer11 = Scaggs, Paich

| length11 = 3:24

| title12 = Jump Street

| note12 = live

| writer12 = Scaggs, Paich

| length12 = 5:06

| title13 = It's Over

| note13 = live

| writer13 = Scaggs, Paich

| length13 = 3:37

}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

• Boz Scaggs – lead vocals, guitars, backing vocals (4, 7, 8){{cite news | url=http://www.noise11.com/news/boz-scaggs-explains-how-he-became-the-father-of-toto-20140414 | title=Boz Scaggs Explains How He Became The Father Of Toto | work=Noise11 Music Newsletter|date=2014-04-14 |author1= Cashmere, Paul|df=mdy-all}}
• David Paich – arrangements, acoustic piano (1-4, 7-10), Hohner clavinet (2), Fender Rhodes piano (5-8), Moog synthesizer (5, 6, 9), ARP synthesizer (6), Minimoog (6, 8, 9), Hammond organ (6, 9), Wurlitzer electric piano (7, 8), harpsichord (7)
• Fred Tackett – guitars
• Les Dudek – slide guitar (3)
• Louis Shelton – guitars, slide guitar (8), acoustic guitar (10)
• David Hungate – bass
• Jeff Porcaro – drums, percussion (4), timbales (8)
• Joe Porcaro – percussion (1, 3)
• Plas Johnson – tenor saxophone solo (1), saxophone (8)
• Jim Horn – tenor saxophone (4)
• Bud Shank – saxophone (8)
• Chuck Findley – flugelhorn solo (5)
• Sid Sharp – string conductor and concertmaster
• Vincent DeRosa, Jim Horn, Paul Hubinon, Dick Hyde, Plas Johnson, Tom Scott and Bud Shank – horns
• Jim Gilstrap – backing vocals (1, 6),
• Augie Johnson – backing vocals (1, 6)
• Marty McCall – backing vocals (1, 6)
• Carolyn Willis – backing vocals (1, 6)
• Maxine Green – backing vocals (4, 7, 8)
• Pepper Swenson – backing vocals (4)

{{col-2}}

Production personnel

• Joe Wissert – production
• Tom Perry – engineering
• Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Los Angeles, CA).
• Ron Caro – design
• Nancy Donald – design
• Moshe Brakha – photography

{{col-end}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|title=Silk Degrees|artist=Boz Scaggs|type=album|relyear=1976|certyear=1977|region=Australia|award=Platinum|number=7|certref={{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1983/BB-1983-05-28.pdf|title=Australia - Explosive Talent Gains Temper Year of playing Dangerously

|magazine=Billboard|first=Glen A.|last=Baker|via=World Radio History|page=12|date=28 May 1983|access-date=31 October 2020}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|artist=Boz Scaggs|title=Silk Degrees|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1976|certyear=1979}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|artist=Boz Scaggs|title=Silk Degrees|award=Silver|relyear=1976|certyear=1977|id=5879-3344-2}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=Boz Scaggs|title=Silk Degrees|award=Platinum|number=5|relyear=1976|certyear=1994}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.discogs.com/Boz-Scaggs-Silk-Degrees/release/1354783 "Silk Degrees" at discogs]

{{Boz Scaggs}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1976 albums

Category:Albums produced by Joe Wissert

Category:Boz Scaggs albums

Category:Columbia Records albums

Category:Rhythm and blues albums by American artists