Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees (CBS 81193)

THIS IS a really great dance record. Put on the first three cuts of either side and you'll get going anybody who's got rhythm in the soles of his feet. But it's not a great dance record at the expense of sentiment, wit, melody, character — in short, of content, a rare achievement now when such music tends towards little more than assembled percussion, doodling brass and wind, and repeated injunctions to hustle. All that is old hat anyway — last year's thing, my dear.