Nicolette Larson, In The Nick of Time (1979)
The other week I played a run of a few soft-rock/yacht-rock classics while DJing – including some tracks from the wonderful Too Slow To Disco comp. A guy comes up and goes, “is this that Neil Young song?” when I’m playing the Nicolette Larson version of Lotta Love – and I go, “yep”. And he asks me a bit about her and I tell him what I know – Nicolette Larson cut some BVs with ole Neil and then hit a solo record deal. She turned into a country singer, really. But before that there were a few soft-rock/nearly-disco albums. And I quite liked some of them. I’m old enough now, perhaps, to just let it all go and enjoy any of this stuff without it seeming like a guilty pleasure. The truth though is I’ve always been that way. So after being asked about Nicolette I dug out this album – gave it a whirl for the first time in a long, long while. I used to pick up all these sorts of albums for dirt-cheap when I spotted a name associated with someone else I liked. I knew Larson’s cover of Neil’s Lotta Love, liked it. Liked her versions of songs with Neil and bought her first couple of records. You go through the credits – find other names you know. Here Ronnie Montrose spray-paints one of his solos all over the title track. And there’s a duet with Michael McDonald. Well it’s soft-rock heaven really, init? I’m not shitting, I reckon this record has held up very well. I like it more now than when I first heard it actually.

Sample Track: Rio De Janeiro Blue

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