Loggins & Messina (Angry Eyes)
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Loggins & Messina (Angry Eyes)
Loggins and Messina were an American rock-pop duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina who achieved their success in the early to mid 1970s. Among their well-known songs are "Danny's Song" and "Your Mama Don't Dance". Jim Messina, formerly of Poco and Buffalo Springfield, was working as an independent record producer for Columbia Records when he met Kenny Loggins in November 1970, a little-known singer/songwriter who was signed to ABC Dunhill. Messina together with Loggins recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's home living room. When Columbia signed Loggins to a six-album contract (with the assistance of Messina), recording began in earnest for Loggins' debut album, with Messina as producer. Messina had originally intended to lend his name to the Loggins project only to help introduce the unknown Loggins to Messina's well-established Buffalo Springfield and Poco audiences. But by the time the album was completed, Messina had contributed so much to the album - in terms of songwriting, arrangement, instrumentation, and vocals - that an "accidental" duo was born. Their debut album was released November 1971 as Sittin' In. Although the album went unnoticed by radio upon release, it eventually found success by autumn 1972, particularly on college campuses where the pair toured heavily. Loggins' and Messina's harmonies meshed so well that what was begun as a one-off album became an entity unto itself. Audiences regarded the pair as a genuine duo rather than as a solo act with a well-known producer. Instead of just continuing to produce Loggins as a sole performer, they decided to record as a duo - Loggins & Messina. Over the next four years they produced five more original-material albums, plus one album of covers of other artists' material, and two live albums. A greatest-hits album, The Best Of Friends, would be released a year after the duo had separated. The later studio albums often found both Loggins and Messina more as two solo artists on the same record rather than as a genuine partnership. As both Loggins and Messina noted in 2005, their collaboration eventually became more a competition - a frequent, almost-inevitable dynamic of show business duos. Never really a team of true equals due to the "teacher/apprentice" nature of their music experience levels, the pair had by early 1976 quietly but amicabally parted to pursue solo careers, following the release of Native Sons. Messina found solo success elusive but Loggins went on to become one of the biggest hitmakers of the 1980s. They reunited in 2005 to choose tracks for an expanded compilation album of singles and album cuts The Best: Sittin' In Again, which proved successful enough for them to embark on tour together. Their successful "Sittin' In Again" tour was launched in mid-2005 and played out the remainder of the year. The two were pleased enough to consider future Loggins and Messina projects, but as of yet none have been announced. Their backing band changed from album-to-album but the core members are listed below. Many albums featured backing members who were well known in their own right, such as Stephen Stills who contributed to their self-titled second album. John Townsend and Ed Sanford, later of the Sanford & Townsend Band ("Smoke from a Distant Fire") contributed vocals and songwriting to the Native Sons, their final studio album.
YouTube | February 15, 2009
