Middle Man

Middle Man
Studio album by Boz Scaggs
Released	April 1980
Recorded	1979
Genre	Blue-eyed soul
Length	41:27
Label	Columbia
Producer	Bill Schnee
Boz Scaggs chronology
Down Two Then Left (1977) Middle Man (1980) Hits! (1980)

Middle Man is the ninth album by Boz Scaggs, released on Columbia Records in 1980. Scaggs re-hired the members of the band Toto as session musicians, and shared song-writing credits with them. He re-embraced the commercial rock appeal of Silk Degrees.

The album reached #8 in the Billboard 200 album chart, and two singles reached the Billboard Hot 100: "Breakdown Dead Ahead" at #15, and "Jojo" at #17.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Allmusic's retrospective review commented that the album "caps off the decade with equal nods to [Scaggs's] '70s hitmaking formulas and the newer, shinier production techniques of the coming decade." They made a point of noting the album's repeated imitation of then-popular fads, while at the same time opining that these imitations were successful.^[2]

Track listing

All songs written by David Foster and Boz Scaggs, except where noted.

1. "Jojo" (Foster, David Lasley, Scaggs) – 5:51
2. "Breakdown Dead Ahead" – 4:33
3. "Simone" – 5:05
4. "You Can Have Me Anytime" – 4:56
5. "Middle Man" – 4:51
6. "Do Like You Do in New York" (Scaggs) – 3:44
7. "Angel You" – 3:38
8. "Isn't It Time" (Scaggs) – 4:53
9. "You Got Some Imagination" (Steve Lukather, Scaggs, Bill Schnee) – 3:56

Personnel

• Boz Scaggs - guitar, vocals
• Jeff Porcaro - drums
• Carlos Santana - guitar
• Lenny Castro - percussion
• David Foster - synthesizer, keyboards, string arrangements
• Don Grolnick - piano, keyboards
• Joe Vitale - drums
• James Newton Howard - keyboards, Clavinet
• David Hungate - bass
• Steve Lukather - guitar
• Rick Marotta - drums
• David Paich - organ, synthesizer, keyboards
• Ray Parker, Jr. - bass, guitar
• John Pierce - bass
• Adrian Tapia - saxophone
• Bill Thedford - background vocals
• Julia Tillman Waters - background vocals
• Oren Waters - background vocals
• Paulette Brown - background vocals
• Rosemary Butler - background vocals
• Chuck "Fingers" Irwin - background vocals
• David Lasley - background vocals
• Bill Champlin - background vocals
• Charlotte Crossley - background vocals
• Venetta Fields - background vocals
• Sharon Redd - background vocals

References

External links

• Middle Man Lyrics

v d e Boz Scaggs Studio albums Boz · Boz Scaggs · Moments · Boz Scaggs & Band · My Time · Slow Dancer · Silk Degrees · Down Two Then Left · Middle Man · Other Roads · Some Change · Come On Home · Fade into Light · Dig · But Beautiful · Speak Low Live albums The Lost Concert · Greatest Hits Live Compilations Hits! · My Time: A Boz Scaggs Anthology Singles "Girl from the North Country" · "Let the Good Times Roll" · "Stormy Monday Blues" · "C.C. Rider" · "We Were Always Sweethearts" · "Near You" · "Dinah Flo" · "Slow Dancer" See also Book:Boz Scaggs