Missed easy listening opportunities

I figured out this morning why Kenny Rankin's "Strings" appeals to me.  Lyrically, it has a Michael Franks, "The Lady Wants To Know" sensibility.  Vocally, however, it reminds me of Stephen Bishop.  That's a combination you don't hear every day.  It puzzles me that "Strings" and Rankin's equally accessible track, "After The Roses," weren't hits.  Both songs would have fit in easily on soft rock stations in 1980.