Kenny Loggins Albums Ranked

Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. As a solo artist, Loggins experienced a string of soundtrack successes, including an Academy Award nomination for “Footloose” in 1984. His early soundtrack contributions date back to A Star Is Born in 1976, and he is known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack. Finally, Home was released in 2013, shortly after Loggins formed the group Blue Sky Riders with Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman.^[10] He won a Daytime Emmy Award, two Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he became known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack. It began with “I’m Alright” from Caddyshack. Hits followed with “Footloose” and “I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man)” from Footloose; “Meet Me Half Way” from Over the Top; and “Danger Zone” and “Playing with the Boys” from Top Gun. Loggins also performed “Nobody’s Fool” for the film Caddyshack II. He performed as a member of the USA for Africa on the famine-relief fundraising single “We Are the World”, which led to an appearance performing “Footloose” at the Philadelphia leg of July 13, 1985, Live Aid famine-relief dual-venue charity concert and global television broadcast. Here are all of Kenny Loggins’ albums ranked.

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10. The Unimaginable Life (1997)

“While there are at least a few nice to great songs here, the rest are at best mediocre to very sub-par, vs. the generally higher level of musical work Kenny has recorded over recent decades. If you’re more into loud, repetitive rock rythyms & don’t care so much about memorable melodies, you might like this enough but for the rest of us, its not one of Kenny’s better releases. Sadly, the result here is Unimaginably, mediocre & muddy, imo.”

9. December (1998)

“This is my favorite Christmas album, by far. It’s not “holly, jolly” Christmas music, but that’s fine with me. This is really Kenny Loggins at his best. The choice of songs is perfect. Kenny even penned a few of them himself or co-wrote them. The renditions of the standards on this album are unique and just…lovely. I listen to this over and over at this time of year, and hate having to put it away until next Christmas. Two of my favorites are “The Bells of Christmas” and “Angels in the Snow.” They are truly beautiful. You won’t regret adding this to your Christmas music collection.”

8. How About Now (2007)

“Kenny and Marx do a good job preparing this music. Every cut is an offering to someone, looking for the next Kenny Loggins favorite, they long for. This is good listening, start to finish.

update: I now listen regularly to this album. The music is like an addiction to me now. I just keep clicking it and loving it. I will suggest a critical listen to “I’ll remember your Name”, as a reminder of what Love has brought to Kenny through the years of win and loose. The quiet resolve of “I don’t want to hate you anymore”, co-written with Frank J. Myers, reflects that the heart is still in there. If you remember his past efforts to resolve his losses, you see this is still Kenny Loggins, feeling the life he has experienced before now. “If you’ve never been there” is really a nice production and gives Kenny back to those who want his past successes with pop to continue. “How about Now” offers up an acceptance of this Music for the listener and may have been the clincher to pair with Gary Burr for the future creations of BSR.”

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7. Return to Pooh Corner (2004)

“While this is probably aimed at Children (parents, grandparents, etc.) I highly recommend this album for anyone that wants to sit back, close your eyes and picture when you were a child. Remember back to the time when you thought all things were possible and the responsibilities of being an adult did not weigh heavily on your mind – go ahead escape for awhile! Kenny creates heartfelt music to sooth he soul. While Kenny’s version of “Rainbow Connection is perhaps not as great as Kermit’s, it is pretty close. I would also recommend “More Songs From Pooh Corner” if you like this one.”

6. Back to Avalon (1988)

“IMHO This 1988 album is Kenny’s very best & that’s saying quite alot considering his impressive body of work over the decades. It’s similar sounding to 1985’s Vox Humana & 1982’s High Adventure but the production is somewhat better & it’s chock full of well written songs with nice melodies. Only 2 songs were released from this album as singles though. The mellow but excellent – “Meet Me Half Way” (Theme from the movie – Over the Top) & the awesome high energy rocker – “Nobody’s Fool” (Theme from the movie – Caddyshack II). There are also many more great uptempo songs here that could’ve easily been hit singles as well. Songs like: Tell Her, One Woman, True Confessions, Hope for the Runaway & Isabella’s Eyes are all superb numbers & are either just as good or almost as good as anything Kenny has ever put out on the radio. Michael McDonald also guest appears on this album & as always, provides excellent b/g vocals on the track -“She’s Dangerous”. All in all, this album is very strong from beginning to end & contains no filler whatsoever. I highly recommend it to any Loggins fan.”

5. Nightwatch (1978)

“I have to admit that I got this album mostly for “Whenever I Call You Friend” which is a track I enjoy a great deal and so I was a little surprised at the other tracks on this album as well. Prior to my getting this album my idea of Kenny Loggins was as an average rocker who contributes the ersatz pop rock track for movie soundtrack albums e.g. “Footloose”, “I’m Alright” etc which I don’t rate as much more than forgettable ear candy although I do like “Whenever …” a great deal. The rest of “Nightwatch” was a little of a pleasant surprise as for the first time I’ve now heard a different side of Loggins. Most of the tracks here have some depth and with the jazz influences actually reminded me a lot of Gino Vannelli’s work on “Brother To Brother” although to be fair Vannelli’s work on that album is still far superior to this one and yet it made me appreciate Loggins more than before. “

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4. Keep the Fire (1979)

” This is an upbeat style and ballads a little while keeping an up lifting sound. Not really rock music of his time, never was, his music is Kenny Loggins music. The hits from this music is “This is it” cowritten by Michael McDonald, who also uses it in his own albums and contributions. Some Carribean Sounds, with “Junkanoo Holiday” is a fun tune. Jeff Bouchards “Now and Then” softly come off as a song seemingly perfect for Kenny, who reachs a meloncholy mood as is needed for this work. “Keep the Fire” the title song gives up Kenny’s new style, but is not by any means noteworthy, by comparisons to his other works here. Overall, as always, this album offers a good listening experience and is interesting and varied with the music styles offered, as he always does.”

3. High Adventure (1982)

“I always wondered why Kenny gets underplayed on the radio as do Dan Fogelberg and numerous more get underplayed on the radio.This album is a 1982 gem.I would put it beside of Garth Brooks Ropin’ The Wind,Clint Blacks Put Yourself in My Shoes,Dan Fogelbergs Netherlands and Eagles Hotel California anyday especially Michael Jackson’s Thriller,then again I like this album 10x more than I ever did like Michael Jackson’s album Thriller or even any of his songs ever.Michael us overrated as a artist while Kenny is underrated for a artist.Because the album is Kenny at his very best,yet don’t get me wrong I like Keep The Fire a tad bit more than the High Adventures album,yet then again not that much more.Both are great albums with fantastic material written by Kenny with his music buddies.Heartlight is really underrated and so unique for it’s time.Give it a try .This album has at least 4 gems on it.”

2. Leap of Faith (1991)

“Kenny Loggins is an amazing singer/songwriter and this is one of his best albums. I’ve worn out two of ’em and never tire of the lyrics and wonderful music. On several tracks he enlists vocalists Sheryl Crow, Smokey Robinson, Colors of Love Children’s Choir, Ruth Pointer, on “Now or Never,” his frequent collaborator, Michael McDonald. From the environmental anthem, “Conviction of the Heart” to the painfully personal “The Real Thing” Loggins gives us his heart and soul on this album. “Leap of Faith” tells about his new love, his children and his liberal activism. “Sweet Reunion” may be the best love song Kenny has written. But “Now or Never” is my personal favorite. I’ve seen Loggins in concert seven times and for some reason he never performs it. The song is about making difficult choices and decisions and the people who influence them: “In every life comes a time/When you need it then you’ll find/Only love lasts forever.””

1. Celebrate Me Home (1977)

” This should have been called “Kenny Loggins – Love Songs You’ll Never Forget. We went to see him in concert in South Lake Tahoe back when this came out and he was AMAZING! Such a smooth voice, with a wonderful smooth jazz sound to his music, simply incredible. The song “Celebrate Me Home” is an awesome song that could be thought of as any good holiday season song, but appropriate to play all year ’round – it’s still my favorite cut on here. I think I wore out the old vinyl of this! Many thanks to you Kenny for sharing some of the most soulful smooth jazz music of all time. Timeless!”