Gerry Rafferty - Snakes And Ladders (1980) LP - €10,00

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Snakes and Ladders is the fourth album by Gerry Rafferty. It was released in 1980, following the success of his previous two albums, City to City and Night Owl. 

Two years after the release of Night Owl, Gerry Rafferty presented his fans with Snakes & Ladders, and although some of his former album's charm and lyrical appeal manages to resurface, the whole of the album comes up short. 

The memorable melodies, moving allegories, or genuine lyrical warmth that was put into past efforts arise in a couple of tracks, like in the beauty of "Bring It All Home" or in the mystique of "Look at the Moon." 

It's not that Rafferty's writing is weaker or has been restrained, it's the fact that he fails to present enough passion from an instrumental standpoint throughout the entire album, and to a lesser extent a vocal one, to establish the same type of emotion or atmosphere as he did with City to City or Night Owl. 

"Royal Mile" was released as a single in the U.K., but only climbed as high as number 67 there and number 54 in the U.S. The album went to number 15 in Britain, but Rafferty showed signs of relinquishing his genuine style ever so slightly, and 1982's Sleepwalking disappointingly confirmed this. 

Even though his exterior talents had dwindled only slightly, the intangible qualities that made Rafferty such a compelling artist seemed to be left behind in the past decade.

The album charted at No. 15 in the UK but only reached No. 61 in the US, while singles achieved #54UK ("Bring It All Home"), and #67UK / #54US ("The Royal Mile")."

Some of the songs are available on compilation albums. Four of the songs, "The Garden of England", "I Was a Boy Scout", "Welcome to Hollywood" and "Bring It All Home" were recorded at Beatles producer George Martin's AIR studio in Montserrat. 

All the songs were original Rafferty compositions, though one – "Johnny's Song" – was a remake of a song which had been previously released by his former band Stealers Wheel, and another – "Didn't I" – was a remake of a song from Rafferty's 1971 album Can I Have My Money Back?. 

In fact, Garden Of England was guaranteed to become a number 1 record in Britain as they love mushy sentimental nationalistic types of songs like McCartney's Mull Of Kintire. And Rafferty's Garden Of England is much better than a song dedicated to Scottish Mullet hairdos.

Johnny's Song is a rocker and the next best song. It should have been the lead off single instead of the butt whistle song The Royal Mile.

Side A

A1.  The Royal Mile - 3:51  

A2.  I Was A Boy Scout - 4:13  

A3.  Welcome To Hollywood - 5:17  

A4.  Wastin’ Away - 3:36  

A5.  Look At The Moon - 2:20  

A6.  Bring It All Home - 4:39  

Side B

B1.  The Garden Of England - 4:07  

B2.  Johnny’s Song - 3:23  

B3.  Didn’t I - 4:13  

B4.  Syncopatin’ Sandy - 4:23  

B5.  Cafe Le Cabotin - 4:53  

B6.  Don’t Close The Door - 3:45 

All tracks composed by Gerry Rafferty

Personnel

• Gerry Rafferty – vocals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals 
• Ian Lynn – keyboards, synthesizers 
• Billy Livsey – acoustic piano, clavinet, mystery voice, Polymoog, keyboards, pianica 
• Pete Wingfield – organ, acoustic piano 
• Bryn Haworth – slide guitar 
• Jerry Donahue – lead guitar, guitar swells, other guitars
• Richard Brunton – guitars, electric guitars 
• Mo Foster – bass
• Pete Zorn – bass
• Liam Genockey – drums
• Frank Ricotti – percussion, congas, tambourine, woodblocks 
• Richard Harvey – penny whistle 
• Raphael Ravenscroft – saxophone 
• Chris Mercer – brass arrangements 
• Wil Malone – string arrangements, clarinet arrangements 
• Gavyn Wright – string leader 
• Betsy Cook – backing vocals
• The Baron de Bon Bon – intro 

Production

• Gerry Rafferty – producer
• Hugh Murphy – producer
• Barry Hammond – recording, overdubbing
• Stephen Lipson – recording 
• John Patrick Byrne – cover
• Michael Gray – inner sleeve photography, inner sleeve concept, management

Companies, etc.

• Recorded At – Chipping Norton Recording Studios
• Recorded At – AIR Studios, Montserrat
• Overdubbed At – Chipping Norton Recording Studios
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Liberty/United Records (UK) Ltd.
• Made By – Liberty/United Records (UK) Ltd.
• Marketed By – EMI
• Manufactured By – EMI
• Distributed By – EMI
• Lacquer Cut At – Bovema / EMI Studios – 43889
• Lacquer Cut At – Bovema / EMI Studios – 43890

Notes

Release: 1980

Format:  LP, Vinyl

Genre:  Soft Rock

Label:  United Artists

Catalog#  1A 062-82883

Vinyl:  Goed (VG)

Cover:  Goed (VG)

Prijs: €10,00

Gerry Rafferty - Gerry Rafferty Revisited (1974) (origineel vinyl) - €7,99

The Humblebums were a Scottish folk rock band, based in Glasgow. 

Its members included Billy Connolly, who later became a renowned stand-up comedian and actor; guitarist Tam Harvey; and singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. 

The band was active from 1965 to 1971.

In 1969 Rafferty became the third member of a folk-pop group, the Humblebums, along with comedian Billy Connolly and Tam Harvey. 

Harvey left shortly afterwards, and Rafferty and Connolly continued as a duo, recording two more albums for Transatlantic Records. 

A 1970 appearance at the Royal Festival Hall, supporting Fotheringay with Nick Drake, earned a positive review from critic Karl Dallas, who noted that all three acts showed "promise rather than fulfilment", and observed that "Gerry Rafferty's songs have the sweet tenderness of Paul McCartney in his 'Yesterday' mood". 

In his own stand-up shows, Connolly has often recalled this period, telling how Rafferty made him laugh and describing the crazy things they did while on tour. 

Once Rafferty decided to look in the Berlin telephone directory to see if any Hitlers were listed.

After the duo separated in 1971, Transatlantic owner Nathan Joseph signed Rafferty as a solo performer. Rafferty recorded his first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back?, with Hugh Murphy, a staff producer working for the label.

Gerry Rafferty, released in 1974 on Transatlantic Records (TRA 270) (reissued 1978 in U.S. on Visa Records [Visa 7006]), is mainly a compilation of Humblebums material that Gerry Rafferty had written and performed while in that group. 

It comprises most of the serious musical content of the last two albums released by that group, with the exception of "So Bad Thinking" (which was the B-side of his "Can I Have My Money Back?" single). The remaining content of those two albums were mostly humorous Billy Connolly compositions. All song versions on this album (except "So Bad Thinking") are available in CD form on various Humblebums compilations.

Side A

A1.  Shoeshine Boy - 3:17

A2.  Rick Rack - 2:48

A3.  All The Best People Do It - 2:59

A4.  Look Over The Hill And Far Away - 3:40

A5.  Blood And Glory - 2:31

A6.  Song For Simon - 2:21

A7.  I Can’t Stop Now - 4:41

Side B

B1.  So Bad Thinking - 3:20

B2.  Patrick - 3:22

B3.  Steamboat Row - 2:05

B4.  Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway - 4:35

B5.  Keep It To Yourself - 3:16

B6.  Coconut Tree - 1:57

B7.  Please Sing A Song For Us - 2:45

B8.  My Singing Bird - 3:18

Notes

Release:  1974

Format:  LP

Genre:  Folk-pop

Label:  Transatlantic Records

Catalog#  5N 038N-60728

Vinyl:  Goed

Hoes:  Lichte Gebruikerssporen

Prijs: €7,99

Gerry Rafferty - City To City (1978) €5,95

Side A
A1. The Ark – 5:36
A2. Baker Street – 6:01
A3. Right Down the Line – 4:20
A4. City to City – 4:51
A5. Stealin’ Time – 5:39

Side B
B1. Mattie’s Rag – 3:28
B2. Whatever’s Written in Your Heart – 6:30
B3. Home and Dry – 4:52
B4. Island – 5:04
B5. Waiting for the Day – 5:26

Release: 1978
Genre: Pop
Format: LP
Label: United Artists Records
Catalog# 5C 062-60395

Vinyl: Goed
Hoes: Goed

prijs: €5,95