Customer Reviews

Best of 1970-1982: Days Gone Down (Reis)

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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This is essentially a rerelease of Raven's 1997 Gerry Rafferty CD, CLOWNS TO THE LEFT, JOKERS TO THE RIGHT 1970-1982 (which is still in print). What gives the nod to DAYS GONE DOWN is that they deleted three album tracks from the earlier anthology to add Stealers Wheel's second hit "Star" as well as Rafferty's 1979 hits "Home and Dry" and "Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)."

DAYS GONE DOWN covers the same time period (1970-1982), so you still get tracks from his stint with The Humblebums (tracks 1-3), his first solo album (tracks 4-7), Stealers Wheel (tracks 8-12), and his post-Stealers Wheel solo albums (tracks 13-21).

I have no complaint with four tracks being culled from his pre-fame solo album CAN I HAVE MY MONEY BACK, but CITY TO CITY was an equally strong album and it is only represented by the hit singles "Baker Street" and "Right Down the Line." This really should have been a two-disc collection, but as it stands it has all the hits and a sampling of tracks from throughout Rafferty's career. As great a song as "Baker Street" was, this album makes clear that Rafferty was no one-trick pony. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I'm a Gerry fan for City To City. Having become more involved with his musicianship only since his passing, I own one album: City To City. It's wonderful...his best. And until his other defining albums, Night Owl and Snakes & Ladders, come out in remastered CD form (the Night Owl City To City double set is not remastered), then we are left with, well, City To City. Oh, but are we? I bought Days Gone Down so that I could get a sampling of the other LPs and groups, and I enjoy that only Baker Street, Right Down the Line, and Home and Dry are form the City to City album. So, for a very reasonable price, you get a set with great "new" songs that are the best of Mr. Rafferty throughout his career. It does not include his recent 3-4 CDs, which can be bought separately if someone is really going to get his entire ouvre. But for the rest of us--the City To City fans--this CD really takes the cake and rests wonderfully on my iPod right where it should be, in the Gerry Rafferty file, next to City To City.

Wow. That's all I can say about this wonderful collection. Gerry had the most spectacular voice, sense of tone and lyrics to match the music. Wonderful production and music mix. I miss his talents more than ever listening to this collection. Gerry was NO "1-hit wonder". Of course it includes "Baker Street" from his Platinum LP "City to City" along with the equally wonderful "Get it Right Next Time", but also includes a new favorite: "Home and Dry" - listen to that and dream of making your way home on a plane to your family - Gerry captures the tone. In my opinion, one of the most 'perfect' pop records ever made is "Get It Right Next Time" - Gerry and company certainly got it perfect this time - the usual sax solo from Raphael, a great driving bass line, some spectacular guitar work from Gerry's 'left hand man' and perfect keyboards and drums - all the perfect mix with Gerry's great voice. Truly a masterpiece. If that wasn't enough, I found another great Gerry 'sing-along-song', and that is the "Royal Mile" - play it 3 times and you'll know the lyrics and want to sing along. A neat little folk song is snuck in here too - it's almost a lullaby, and it's called "Mary Skeffington" - his real life Mom - another great tune. "Please Sing A Song For Us" is his earliest group effort, and a great song to open the 70's and this disc. "Can I Have My Money Back" is good solo work with lyrics most likely from 'real life'. "Sign on the Dotted Line" is another excellent Rafferty tune that I'm sure tells the story about how his record companies made his life a living heck and may have lead to his leaving the music business with his frustration of never getting any money from his hugely popular "Stuck In The Middle With You", recently featured in a movie soundtrack (BTW, the video of this song shows Joe Egan singing lead and not Gerry, so that's a weird one). There are 9 songs on this collection that I can't live without in my music collection, so you're bound to like a few too. The only thing missing are some of his work very late in his career, but this single CD disc defines the artist very well, and is without a doubt worth the cost! I really miss Gerry Rafferty the more I listen to this CD - the perfect pitch of his voice, his song writing talents and the music he coaxes out of his bandmates. Long live the music of one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the 20th century: Mr. Gerry Rafferty!

I was introduced to Gerry's music when I was about 12 years old by my father who had dubbed a cassette tape of "City to City" from his best friend. One word can only describe City to City....MAGIC. Gerry Rafferty's music has been an integral part of my life since that day in 1978. Interestingly I had not ever heard much else of Gerry's music (other than Stealer's Wheel) before or after hearing City to City, especially after. I was blown away when I heard "Days Gone Down" later in life (about 2002 I guess it was) and of course with the availability of the internet for ordering different things, I was able to purchase more of Gerry's music and I became somewhat of a "super fan" I guess you can say. Gerry is without a doubt my favorite musical artist of all time. His music is incredible is all I have to say. So moving and inspirational and it touches you on levels you can't even imagine when you listen to his music over and over. Each time you listen, it really get's to you even more and on such different levels. I know, that may sound "corny" or "goofy" but trust me when I tell you, Gerry Rafferty is one of the greatest singer songwriters of the modern age. It is unfortunate that he died such a young man in his early 60's. I would have loved to have heard even more music that Gerry may have offered to the world had he lived longer. But we can rejoice in the music that he did provide all of us and trust me when I tell you, you can't go wrong purchasing Days Gone Down or any other CD of Gerry's. Highly HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended is not only Days Gone Down, but City to City (an absolute MUST HAVE), Night Owl, Snakes and Ladders, and Sleepwalking. Those 4 albums (which are not greatest hits compilations) are the QUAD of CD's that make up the bulk of Gerry's "hits" and those are the four I would recommend any fan of Gerry Rafferty for their collection. You can't go wrong purchasing Days Gone Down by Gerry Rafferty. It will give you many years of listening pleasure and it's a CD that you really don't mind having on the "repeat" function on your CD playing with.

I think Gerry Rafferty was one of the most underrated musicians of our generation. This album covers several songs of wholly different style, but all of which feature his creativity and originality. By an eerie coincidence, I received the album on or about the day he died.

Half the songs were like lullabuys. I know the late 70's and early 80's was a time of balladeers, but this stuff was candleight lounge music.

I remember this artist from years past. Loved to get some old music that is hard to hear these days.