Kenny Loggins and
Jim Messina were the most successful pop/rock duo of the first half of the '70s.
Loggins was a staff songwriter who had recently enjoyed success with a group of songs recorded by
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band when he came to the attention of
Messina, a record producer and former member of
Buffalo Springfield and
Poco.
Messina agreed to produce
Loggins' first album, but somewhere along the way it became a duo effort that was released in 1972 under the title
Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In. The album was a gold-seller that stayed in the charts more than two years.
In the next four years,
Loggins & Messina released a series of gold or platinum albums, most of which hit the Top Ten. They were all played in a buoyant country-rock style with an accomplished band.
Loggins & Messina (1972) featured the retro-rock hit "Your Mama Don't Dance."
Full Sail (1973),
On Stage (a double live album, 1974), and
Mother Lode (1974) all hit the Top Ten. So Fine was an album of '50s cover songs. The pair's last new studio album,
Native Sons, came out at the start of 1976.
Loggins & Messina split for two solo careers by the end of that year, their early catalog completed by a greatest-hits album, Best of Friends, and a live record, Finale. The duo reunited in 2005 and hit the road for a summer tour while the compilation
The Best: Sittin' in Again was arriving in stores. The tour itself was documented on Live: Sittin' in Again at Santa Barbara Bowl, which appeared late in the year. ~ William Ruhlmann