SOFT ROCK
The music that ruled certain areas of FM in the late Seventies was known as "Soft Rock" not because it had any relation to rock and roll -- it usually didn't. But as a sort of easy listening or adult contemporary music for the first rock generation, now settled into more sedate middle-aged lifestyles, it was informed by the music inherited from the turbulent Sixties: folk, light blues and R&B, country-rock, and some jazz-tinged collegiate rock, mellowed down and made non-threatening.
Which doesn't mean it was music without merit. Indeed, large portions of it having grown directly from the earlier "singer-songwriter" movement, it often dealt with modern romantic and sexual relationships (and sometimes other adult themes) in a thoughtful and complex way rock simply couldn't. Sonically, much of the impetus for soft rock came from California, which had spawned its own lush pop in the Sixties and, following the lead of the country, gotten back to its roots; the result was a sort of laid-back Americana that began to crop up on "lite" FM stations that rejected the earlier generation's standards-based pop outright.
A typical soft rock song would combine those folk, country and blues elements in a confessional style and then smooth them over with new state-of-the-art production techniques that sounded great in mom's car and soothing in, say, a dentist's waiting room. As a result, the genre got quite a bad name among hardcore rock fans, who saw it as "wimpy," yet it thrived, incorporating ever more shrill production and vocalese as '80s technology crept in and Broadway-pop sensibilities began to prevail. Today, listeners have many choices for quiet, reflective pop. However, soft rock has once again become the province of sensitive singer-songwriters and not bands or pop stars, while those looking for musical roots turn to Americana for comfort. (thoughtco.com)
Here is a bunch of melodic songs with lush productions and great feeling. Sounds of singer-songwriter and pop-rock but smoothing out all the edges.
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VA - 50 Soft Rock Gems (A Butterboy Compilation) CD1+CD2
https://krakenfiles.com/view/AQvWVp3ZpQ/file.html
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Track list 1
01 Carpenters - Superstar 03:47 1971
02 Christopher Cross - Sailing 04:16 1979
03 Styx - Babe 04:02 1979
04 Bread - Guitar Man 03:45 2006
05 Bobby Goldsboro - Honey 03:57 1968
06 Chicago - If You Leave Me Now 03:56 1976
07 Kansas - Dust In The Wind 03:25 1977
08 Doobie Brothers - Black Water 04:19 1974
09 Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight 03:16 1976
10 John Waite - Missing You 04:30 1984
11 Benny Mardones - Into The Night 04:33 1980
12 Godley And Creme - Cry 03:58 1985
13 Kenny Loggins - This Is It 03:59 1979
14 Richard Marx - Hold On To The Nights 04:22 1987
15 Reo Speedwagon - Take It On The Run 03:38 1980
16 Dan Fogelberg - Longer 03:15 1979
17 Herman's Hermits - No Milk Today 02:59 1967
18 James Darren - All 02:51 1967
19 Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love 03:10 1978
20 America - I Need You 03:06 1971
21 Linda Ronstadt - You're No Good 03:42 1974
22 Rupert Holmes - Him 03:41 1979
23 Gino Vannelli - I Just Wanna Stop 03:37 1978
24 Hollies - The Air That I Breathe 03:49 1974
25 Glen Campbell - Guess I'm Dumb 02:41 1965
Track list 2
26 Paul Williams - Someday Man 02:50 1970
27 James Taylor - Something In The Way She Moves 03:02 1968
28 Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime 04:12 1980
29 Boz Scaggs - Look What You've Done To Me 05:18 1980
30 Albert Hammond - It Never Rains In Southern California 03:30 1972
31 Mr. Mister - Broken Wings 05:34 1985
32 Doobie Brothers - Listen To The Music 03:29 1972
33 Eric Carmen - All By Myself 04:30 1975
34 Leo Sayer - When I Need You 04:13 1976
35 Carly Simon - You're So Vain 04:17 1972
36 Association - Cherish 03:27 1966
37 Rascals - A Beautiful Morning 02:34 1968
38 Bryan Adams - Please Forgive Me 05:56 1993
39 Phoebe Snow - Two Fisted Love 04:07 1976
40 Fleetwood Mac - Dreams 04:16 1977
41 10cc - I'm Not In Love 03:48 1975
42 Atlanta Rhythm Section - So In To You 03:18 1977
43 Peter Frampton - I'm In You 04:11 1977
44 Cat Stevens - Wild World 03:21 1970
45 Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky 03:57 1994
46 Andrew Gold - Thank You For Being A Friend 04:45 1978
47 Foreigner - Waiting For A Girl Like You 04:36 1981
48 Bob Welch - Sentimental Lady 02:56 1977
49 Stephen Bishop - On And On 03:01 1976
50 Seals and Crofts - Summer Breeze 03:26 1972
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