Bill Champlin, perhaps best known for his membership in the band Chicago during the 1980s and 1990s, earlier served as “lead singer, primary songwriter, keyboard player, rhythm guitarist, and occasional saxophonist in the Bay Area band the Sons of Champlin from 1965 to 1977, shepherding the middle-level San Francisco rock group through seven modestly selling albums,” (AllMusic). “In August 1977, he quit the band that bore his name and moved to Los Angeles, where he became a busy session singer. Not surprisingly, that soon led to his own solo recording contract and his debut album, Single … Champlin had hooked up with producer David Foster to write and record a collection of love songs very much in the mold of Boz Scaggs’ blue-eyed soul blockbuster Silk Degrees.”
The review goes on to describe the album as “sleek — and sometimes slick — ’70s white R&B, as played by a cast of Los Angeles studio pros including all six of the future members of Toto.” Backing vocalists included blue-eyed soul A-listers Michael McDonald and Daryl Hall. “At the center of it all is Champlin, whose soulful, rhythmic voice ranges from a tender tenor to a gruff baritone, sometimes in the same line … This is an album concerned with style, not substance, and it is a state-of-the-art example of studio craft, circa 1978. So, why didn’t anybody buy it? Probably because it went almost completely unpromoted …”
Between a hyperkinetic rhythm section, multi-layered and intensely syncopated backing vocals, intermittent assists from shimmering synths, and yes, plenty of emphatic cowbell, the full chart for the funk-driven uptempo pop tune “I Don’t Want You Anymore” might rival an orchestral score. Although the lyrics are a bit of a downer, the yacht rock quotient is otherwise strong here! After a short instrumental break (2:44), the tune shifts up a whole step at 2:54.