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"…Time To Cross That Line…"
In truth - I've probably not
touched a needle on this vinyl album since I played it to death for the whole
of 1978. And re-listening to it now some 33 years after the event on this
fabulous new CD - I'm properly taken aback at just how good "City To
City" really is. Musically accomplished and lyrically deep - it's a
genuine Seventies melodic masterpiece. But let's get to the details of this
2011 sonic overhaul first...
UK released Monday 5
September 2011 – “City To City: Collector’s Edition” by GERRY RAFFERTY on EMI
5099908726728 (Barcode 5099908726728) is a 2CD Reissue and New Remaster that breaks
down as follows:
CD1 (59:09 minutes):
1. The Ark [Side 1]
2. Baker Street
3. Right Down The Line
4. City To City
5. Stealin’ Time
6. Mattie’s Rag [Side 2]
7. Whatever’s Written In Your
Heart
8. Home And Dry
9. Island
10. Waiting For The Day
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album
"City To City" - released in the UK in January 1978 on United Artists
UAS 30104 and April 1978 in the USA on United Artists UA-LA840-G. It reached
Number 6 on the album charts in the UK and Number 1 in the USA.
Track 11 is "Big Change
In The Weather" - an album outtake that was put on the B-side of the
7" single of "Baker Street"
CD2 (28:57 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 8 are all PREVIOUSLY
UNRELEASED - 4 'Original Demo' versions of album tracks - "Baker
Street" (3), "Mattie's Rag" (4), "Stealin' Time" (6)
and "City To City" (7), an 'Original Demo' version of the B-side
"Big Change In The Weather" (2), an 'Early Studio Version' of "Take
The Money And Run" (5) and two new short inclusions - "Instrumental
Intro" (1) and "Instrumental Outro" (8).
Housed in a 3-way foldout
card pack, the 12-page CD booklet is graced (if you could call it that) by JOHN
PATRICK BYRNE'S 'original' album artwork - a gruesome cartoon of some biker
with bad teeth and a Gerry Rafferty badge on his leather jacket. It was wisely
ditched as 'too' much - thereby leaving United Artists to use Byrne's stunning
'guitar in his lap' painting instead. There are hugely personal liner notes by
friend and fellow musician RAB NOAKES with the text peppered by photos of the
terminally unhip Rafferty with his trademark tinted glasses and straight hair.
In truth, the booklet is massively underwhelming, but its shortcomings are quickly
forgotten when you hear the opening 40 seconds of "The Ark" - when
you're hit by the SUPERB NEW SOUND QUALITY...
Remastered by DENIS BLACKHAM
at Skye Mastering in Scotland - the audio quality is truly spectacular - warm,
present and full of details you haven't heard before. And when there's hiss
present like on the epic slow builders "Stealin' Time" and
"Whatever's Written In Your Heart" - it hasn't been engineered out of
existence - it's been allowed to breath. After the squashed grooves of the overcrowded
50-minute-plus vinyl album and the dullard EMI CD that's been on the
marketplace for decades - every track suddenly feels like a revelation now.
I've raved about Denis Blackham's tape work before - he has over 900+ mastering
credits to his name across decades of music - Sandy Denny's "The North
Star Grassman And The Ravens", Talk Talk's "The Colour Of
Spring", the award-winning 2009 7CD Topic Records Box Set - "Three
Score & Ten" - this is up there with those much-praised reissues...
Highlights include the jaunty
and sweetly musical "Right Down The Line" and the fantastic
train-song "City To City". Every instrument on the iconic "Baker
Street" is suddenly in your face and has real power. And I'd forgotten
just how beautiful "Stealin' Time" is - and with words that now seem
sadly prophetic (lyrics above). His love of Irish music comes out in
"Mattie's Rag" and the album finishes on the cool and upbeat
"Waiting For The Day". The non-album B-side "Big Change In The
Weather" makes its first appearance on CD here - and it's a cracker - a
great track.
As you can see from the total
playing time above, the 'outtakes' on Disc 2 may be short, but they're
shockingly good. Mastered by ANDY PATTERSON in 2007, they are book-ended by two
new 30-second instrumentals that would have worked beautifully on the finished
album, but time restraints probably meant their exclusion. The
fully-instrumented demo of "Baker Street" now shows that Rafferty
came up with the famous Sax solo note-for-note while "Mattie's Rag"
loses the slightly cod-Irish feel of the finished album cut - and is better for
it. The 'Early Studio Version' of "Take The Money And Run" is
fantastic - the finished song would turn up on his next album "Night
Owl" in 1979, but here it's fully formed and 'so' good - a reminder of how
'hooky' his melodies were. Gem-award goes to "Stealin' Time" - the
first to be acoustic only and its gorgeous - pared-back and still as powerful
as the church-huge finished item on Side 2 of the original album. And when he
sings "...so goodnight...yeah goodnight..." on "City To
City" you genuinely wish there was more of this. What an impressive
songwriter he was.
Niggles - when "Baker
Street" was released as a 7" single on 3 Feb 1978 in the UK - it
caused an absolute radio sensation. Economically paired down for single
release, it packed a HUGE PUNCH. The result - it was played daily - and I mean
globally. In the USA alone it clocked up over 1 million radio plays in its
first year alone and has been a Rock Radio staple ever since. The point? Track
2 is the full 'album version' running to 6:11 minutes, but the 7" single
is an edit at 4:10 minutes and is by far the most commonly known cut - to the
point where the full album version may even seem odd to some people. And yet
this much-loved single version isn't on a 'Collectors Edition' - a really dumb
and sloppy omission. Again the other 2 tracks issued as 7"s off the album
were "Whatever's Written In Your Heart" and "Right Down The
Line" - also 7" edits at 5:15 and 3:42 minutes respectively - but
again a no-show on either. There's ample room for all 3 edits on Disc 1 and
they should be on here.
The reproduced John Byrne
artwork on the inside of the tri-gatefold card pack is from his 1971 debut solo
album "Can I Have My Money Back Please" and is nicely done - but the
booklet in thin and mediocre. There are USA and Foreign picture sleeves to most
of the singles - not here. The original vinyl album never included the lyrics
in the UK - and the new booklet was a perfect opportunity to expand on that -
especially as his words were so good and so intelligent. None of the musicians
are interviewed - especially HUGH BURNS and RAPHAEL RAVENSCROFT who
respectively did the stunning guitar and sax work on "Baker Street".
There are no interviews with Billy Connolly his old sparring-partner in The
Humblebums or Joe Egan his song-writing collaborator in Stealer's Wheel. On the
upside - at least we can now read the track-by-track musician credits on Page
11 of the inlay, which were almost indecipherable on the rear of the original
LP sleeve. But the packaging smacks way too much of what EMI could get away
with - when you could imagine that if Edsel, Ace or Raven had handled this, it
would have 24-page minimum affair - and properly annotated to give the great
man the respect he is so clearly due. They may be small pedantic points I know,
but they're worth making when EMI is charging you full whack on this. Still -
there is at least the superb new sound quality to savour...
To sum up - despite the
ok-only packaging - there's a superb new remaster of the album on CD1 and outakes on
Disc 2 that actually warrant the word bonus.
Born in Paisley, Scotland in
1947, Gerry Rafferty had indeed been "...stealin' time..." and lost
his lifelong battle with alcoholism in January 2011. I wish he could be around
today to hear the heaps of praise this superb new sonic overhaul will
undoubtedly garnish among fans and musicians alike. And I think I now know why
Denis Blackham so 'lovingly' remastered this album - both the music and Gerry
Rafferty himself engendered huge affection.
Rest In Peace you wonderful
songwriter and I hope the "...goodnight train carried you home..."
The album produced 3 x 7" singles
in the UK:
1. Baker Street [Edit] b/w
Big Change In The Weather
February 1978 on United
Artists US 36346 (B-side non-album)
2. Whatever’s Written In Your
Heart b/w Waiting For The Day
May 1978 on United Artists UP
36403
3. Right Down The Line b/w
Island
September 1978 on United Artists UP 36445
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