Have You Heard? Rhino’s CALIFORNIA GROOVE Vol. III [2011]

I think we can all agree that some really cool things have come out of France: fries, bread, toast, dip sandwiches, connections and kissing, to name but a few. And from David Dutreuil and his small but dedicated team at Warner/Rhino France came the magnificent series of three 4CD box sets (and a single-disc Special Edition) known as California Groove. The illustration of a woman on the cover seems like a hybrid of Pat Benatar and Terri Nunn to me. Does it remind you of anyone? California Groove Vol. III is subtitled <<<From L.A. to Miami>>> and was released in 2011. 73 songs, 4 compact discs, 1972-2011 though never in chronological order - you know how they do. By this time, the series is reaching so far down that anyone other than an obsessive fan of the yacht rock that gives the series its name will not find much to like. I'll be kind and say the whole thing kicks off on a wonderful note with the vocal talents of Stevie Lange but it goes quickly downhill from there, with only brief glimpses of more good stuff like Benjamin Orr and Russ Ballard. I'm gonna be my usual generous self here and say California Groove Vol. III is best heard as a single disc. Give it a listen and let me know what you think. And for heaven's sake, can someone tell me why David Lee Roth is on this album?!? Did someone lose a bet? Wait, is he worshiped over in France like Jerry Lewis? My bad.

	title	artist	year
1	Hot Summer Nights	Night	1979
2	Don’t Turn My Music Down	Roger Voudouris	1978
3	Ooh My Love	The Rowans	1976
4	Nathan Jones	Nicolette Larson	1982
5	Long Distance Love	Little Feat	1975
6	It Keeps You Runnin’	Carly Simon	1976
7	How Will You Feel Tonight	Poco	1982
8	No Time to Lose	The Tarney/Spencer Band	1979
9	Dancing in the City	Marshall Hain	1978
10	Do You Want to Dance	Bette Midler	1972
11	I Could Really Show You Around	Judy Collins	1980
12	From A Silver Phial	Gene Clark	1974
13	White Line	Jonathan Edwards	1976
14	I Feel for You	Barnaby Bye	1973
15	She’s Gone	Daryl Hall and JohnOates	1973
16	Midnight Prowl	J.D. Souther	1976
17	Someone to Lay Down Beside Me	Linda Ronstadt	1976
18	Mystery Girl	Bugatti & Musker	1982
19	Lovin’ and Losin’ You	Dwayne Ford	1982
20	Waiting for You Love	Toto	1982
21	Fool in Love with You	Jim Photoglo	1981
22	If There’s a Way	Waters	1977
23	Shine	Average White Band	1980
24	Easy to Love	Leo Sayer	1977
25	Figli Delle Stelle	Alan Sorrenti	1977
26	Nobody Else	Crackin'	1978
27	Once in a Lifetime	Michael Ruff	1984
28	Your Sweet Love	Al Jarreau	1980
29	Gotta Have the Real Thing	Rick Riso	1985
30	Let Me Go Love	Nicolette Larson & Michael McDonald	1979
31	Run Home Girl	Sad Café	1978
32	I Want to Love You	Rubicon	1978
33	No Strangers in Paradise	Charlie	1978
34	Love You Like I Never Loved Before	John O'Banion	1981
35	What Can There Be	Chris Christian	1981
36	How Can Yo Love Me	Ambrosia	1982
37	On My Way in L.A.	Phil Carmen	1985
38	Highway to the Sun	Geyster	2011
39	Snowbound	Fourplay	1999
40	To Know What You’ve Got	Bobby Caldwell	1980
41	Sweet Freedom	Michael McDonald	1986
42	On the Boulevard	Manhattan Transfer	1981
43	You Can’t Go Back (But You Can Go On)	Bill Cantos	2000
44	Look Who’s Lonely Now	Ricky Peterson	1990
45	Miracles	Leon Ware	1982
46	Every Home Should Have One	Patti Austin	1981
47	Through the Fire	Chaka Khan	1984
48	Til I Hurt You	Larry Carlton	2000
49	It’s the Falling in Love	Carole Bayer Sager	1978
50	This Feeling’s Killing Me	The Jones Girls	1979
51	Stay the Night	Jim Messina	1981
52	If You Leave Me Now	Sergio Mendes & the New Brasil ’77	1977
53	I’ve Been Spun	City Boy	1977
54	Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)	Christopher Cross	1981
55	Falling Man	Marc Jordan feat. Luke McMaster	2010
56	A Faraway Girl	Jeff Larson	2006
57	The Boys of the Summer	Sunway	2011
58	Highway Rain	Michael Tomlinson	1987
59	Piece of Paradise	PM	1988
60	Cheyenne	Peter Friedstat	2008
61	California Girls	David Lee Roth	1985
62	Voices	Russ Ballard	1984
63	Stay the Night	Benjamin Orr	1986
64	Say You Will	Foreigner	1987
65	Hot Summer Nights	Balance	1981
66	Somewhere Out in the Night	Beau Coup	1987
67	Listen to the Lonely	Whiteheart	1982
68	For Your Love	Peter Brown	1977
69	Wave to Friends & Family	Josef Melin	2010
70	Everybody	Moonshoes	2011
71	I Can’t Say I Love You	The Norwegian Fords	2008
72	Last Night at Danceland	Randy Crawford	1980
73	Flying Clouds	The Doobie Brothers	1974

But the story doesn't end there. David Dutreuil forged a partnership with Spotify under The Good Sound banner and one of the first playlists he and his team compiled in 2013 was - wait for it - California Groove, a 90 song playlist running a little over six hours. While the playlist features a lot of songs from the series of compilations, there are some worthwhile songs included that missed the cut for whatever reason.