Andy Platts and Shawn Lee, whose fusion forms Young Gun Silver Fox, dream of images of California and the 1970s. I suspect they don’t pine for the gas lines, air pollution, lead in the wall paint and gasoline, corduroy pants and leisure suits, Nixon, Watergate, radical domestic terrorists, medieval orthopedics, inflation and unemployment – the Misery Index. Instead, the golden era of analog music recording (1970s-early 1980s) in big rooms (e.g., Record Plant, Sound City, Sunset, United, etc.) with crack producers, engineers (e.g., Scheiner, Schmitt, Dowd, Nichols), and a cadre of session musicians in “Wrecking Crew II” (e.g., Porcaro, Carlton, Lukather, Rainey, Paich, Parks, Marotta, Purdie, Graydon, Sklar) laying it down on Magnolia Boulevard draws their attention.
The stuff surprisingly, and I think accurately, was the initial of the recent Yacht Rock documentary – how the records were made and the attitude – jazzers and R&B afficionados playing pop music with high fidelity. Stuff projected into the airways by AOR radio and received by mega sound systems.
Today, ear buds and headphones have replaced Marantz and Pioneer speakers and the audio media of the day has shifted from vinyl to CDs, SACD, streaming, and now possibly back to vinyl. The Record Plant, Sound City, Power Station (NYC), etc. are closing or have been sold to individual producers. DIY studios, synthesizers, “producers with computers fixes all my s***y tracks” (thanks, Ben Folds), and mighty Nashville are the flotsam and jetsam left after the mega record companies ate themselves. For every Chris Stapleton, Silk Sonic, Teddy Swims, Tom Misch or Billie Eilish product there are a 100 autotuned plastic pop releases.
Into this environment stepped Lee with his vintage gear a decade ago and Platts with his vintage R&B and soul-inflected songwriting. After their initial album West End Coast, the single “Can You Feel It” drew attention on YR and other themed streaming media, the enormously appealing AM Waves (2018), Canyons (2020), and the vibrant Ticket to Shangri-La (2022) were released to positive responses from fans and critics.
If there’s a progression from AM Waves, Ticket to Shangri-La, and the one-off collaboration with the great Ted Temperton on “Moonshine” it is a modifying shift on some of the songs toward R&B, funk that producers and bands (EWF, Bobby Caldwell, Quincy Jones/MJ, Kool and the Gang, Commodores) of that vintage era recorded…artists with jazzier backgrounds or influences. For the first time, Andy Platts and Shawn Lee wrote many of the songs for Pleasure (May 2, 2025, Blue Élan Records) in the same room (Andy’s studio). The production and engineering are tighter than ever, so if it’s possible for Pleasure to sound more organic and dig deeper — yet more pristine — then this is your ticket.
Even with some of the paroxysmal 70s guitar and keyboard effects, Young Gun Silver Fox has an identifiable sound with Andy’s falsetto and Shawn’s locomotive force rhythm section that together are as smooth as whipped cream on chocolate mousse. Nifty chord changes, rich harmonies, modulations, massive hooks, clever transitions and bridges appear early, often, and even unexpectedly, and continue as staples of their sound on Pleasure.
“Stevie & Sly” is a fine album kick-off that reminisces about 1975 and music of that era, even though the sound is snappy and more 1979, with a melody that seems more 21st Century. Their characteristic thick harmonies and modulation in the transition to the chorus are front and center. “Born to Dream” continues the musical nostalgia trip with a flawless bouncy McDoobie number (like “Take It or Leave It” from AM Waves) with dizzying chord progressions, key changes, a wicked turnaround, and stratospheric falsetto.
One of the most appealing aspects of YGSF albums are their deep tracks, such as on West End Coast (e.g., “Long Way Back”), AM Waves (e.g., “Lenny,” “Mojo Rising”) and Ticket to Shangri-La (e.g., “Simple Imagination,” “Sierra Nights,” “Starting Wars”). The ‘Pleasure’ is ours on the run from “Late Night Last Train” to “The Greatest Loser,” stuffed with earworms, epic hooks, tasty horn charts, and their usual delightful crafty songwriting and production tricks…but with a bit more edge and a blistering guitar solo or three, such as on “The Greatest Loser,” a song that shifts from a Billy Joel verse to a Steely Dan chorus.
“Burning Daylight,” “Holding Back the Fire,” and “Just for Pleasure” are a heart of an R&B/funk party that beats for Quincy Jones productions in the best way. However, there’s also a ghostly permeating thematic about loserdom, and attempting to control the runaway chaos of life that amplifies the humanity of the album. It’s a journey that goes a little harder and ends fittingly with “Stealing Time” and “One Horse Race.”
Maybe that’s a function of writing and recording together. In the same room.
*** Young Gun Silver Fox CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
- Young Gun Silver Fox – ‘Pleasure’ (2025) - May 2, 2025
- The Unforgettable Mamas Gun Gem Tucked Away on Their ‘Room Service’ EP - November 5, 2022
- Young Gun Silver Fox – ‘Ticket to Shangri-La’ (2022) - October 24, 2022
