Ian Matthews (1978) King Of The Night-LOST 70S GEMS

From his smooth AOR album Stealin Home, Ian Matthews use his supple vocals to deliver some fairly standard pop rock material, but King of the Night stands out with its Elton John sound, a late night piano track with his nice, 'worn down' vocal style. There many nice moments, the harmonies of Let There Be Blues, the rhythm guitar on Don't Hang Up on Your Dancing Shoes, the phased strings of Stealin Home and Carefully Taught. It all creates an airy Twilight scene that was quite nice if like James Taylor's material for the same period lacked their early 70s bite, the lyrics and emotions remain vague and on the surface unlike their unvarnished singer songwriter work that faded in favour of late 70s yacht rock arrangements.