Liner Notes

Young Gun Silver Fox’s “West End Coast,” the math constant named for an 80's one hit wonder, and more

Photo: SpillMagazine.com

When I was 6 or 7, my parents and I drove from Oregon down the California coast to San Diego — and in a lot of ways, I’ve never left.

I’m still in love with the sun, with the ways the sunsets over swaying palms, and every possible stereotype SoCal can offer up. Today, I’m two time zones away, but I still use it as an escape.

Likewise, good music is escapist- it takes you where you want to go. For me, AM Gold has always done that. Its sultry sound takes me to a particular place-the same southern California. When these songs are on, it’s never cold, and the birds never fly south.

The genre is founded on the Laurel Canyon sound of the 60s, later built on the AOR sounds of the 1970s. Today. Bands like Young Gun Silver Fox keep the ball rolling.

Young Gun Silver Fox is the UK-based duo of Andy Platts (the “Young Gun”) and Shawn Lee (the “Silver Fox”). An ex-pat, Lee originally hails from Wichita, Kansas. Between them, the pair has worked with a wide range of artists on over 40 albums, including Jeff Buckley, Kelis, and Amy Winehouse.

On West End Coast, they have put together a fantastic homage to the Gold Coast, with every song taking the listener back to the days of analog AM radio classics in the mid-to-late 1970s. Listening to West End, it doesn’t take long for the influences to start jumping out.