Customer Reviews

Right Down the Line: Best of Gerry Rafferty

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very dissapointed. If you're going to remix a song, tell the buyer on the disc cover. It's notated nowhere on the outside. I put the disc in and knew immediately I was screwed. I wanted the original tunes, not the remix. Ughh.

If you aren't familiar with anything by Gerry Rafferty other than "Baker Street" this album will probably satisfy you as there's nothing terrible about it at all. The remixes of the opening three cuts are pointless, but not as bad as others seem to think. But the song selection is dodgy at best. This is one person's idea of what Gerry Rafferty is about, and it's accuracy is debatable. Along with the absence of minor hits (and classics) "Days Gone Down", "Home And Dry" and "The Royal Mile" you get truncated versions of "Night Owl" and "Shipyard Town".

Again, none of this is likely to bother casual fans who aren't more familiar with Rafferty's albums, but still I would have to advise that if you're buying this solely for "Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line" you would be much better off with the original album - the all-time (if not ultimate) Rafferty classic "City To City".

I'll never for the life of me understand why artists release "best of" albums that don't include all their hit singles. The glaring ommission here of "Home and Dry" and "Days Gone Down" is unbelievable. Don't bother with this CD; instead, but "City to City" so that you get the magnificent hit single "Home and Dry", and wait for the release of Gerry's follow-up album "Night Owl" on CD to get the hit "Days Gone Down" as well as an unbutchered version of the title track.

If you're planning to buy this disc for any of the first three tracks, forget it. They're re-mixes, and pale compared to the original. And, of course, they don't tell you they're re-mixes until you've broken the seal and read the liner notes. It sounds like the re-mix engineer, Martyn Heyes, was trying for a warm, "British" sound. He failed to do that, but he did succeed in making Rafferty sound like he was singing out of a cardboard box. Stick with the originals.

A few years after Gerry Rafferty scored two major and minor hits with "Stuck In The Middle With You" (1973) and "Star" (1974), as one-half of the Scottish musical duo Stealers Wheel, with Joe Egan, Rafferty went on to a moderately successful solo career overall (although he cut an inauspicious [solo] album prior to co-forming SW, the 1971 release "Can I Have My Money Back"). Most of his stateside successes came in the early part of his career, between 1977 and 1980. Gerry's biggest selling album of his career, the 1978 release "City To City", has a good representation amongst all the selections featured on "Right Down The Line: The Best Of Gerry Rafferty". Sax impresario Raphael Ravenscroft delivers a powerful solo on "Baker Street", which is the key ingredient that makes this selection really stand up and take notice. The other "City To City" hit singles - the major single "Right Down The Line" and the minor hit "Whatever's Written In Your Heart" are also worthy of praise, with the blues-like hooks of "RDTL" and the gospel embracings of "WWIYH". But, the marvelously composed standout tracks don't stop there, as "Right Down The Line..." also contains some up-tempo goodies as well - "Sleepwalking", which has some heart pulsating rhythms, although the lyrics are somewhat on the cheesy side, with both "Shipyard Town" and "A Dangerous Age" being somewhat authenticated with a Scottish/Keltic musical influence. Raphael Ravenscroft also appears on another track, "Bring It All Home", which has a bit of a barroom blues feel to it, with that sassy saxophone interspersed throughout. There's a nice, introspective soul-searching composition that appears on this best of compilation as well, titled "The Right Moment" - possibly the most overlooked hidden gem on this collection, and has a nice, melancholy ring to it, in both musical and lyrical areas. "The Garden Of England" has its strange and bewildering moments, but fits in here somehow, nevertheless. All in all, there's not one bad song on here, but there could have been some improvements, such as the record company could and should have included Rafferty's more noteworthy hits "Home And Dry" (also from "City To City") and "Days Gone Down", which would have solidified a five-star review. "Right Down The Line: The Best Of Gerry Rafferty" is still an outstanding body of compositional works, and thus belongs in every serious fan's CD library, Gerry Rafferty fan or not.

To have such a cross section of Gerry Rafferty songs on one cd is great. When you listen to this cd you will realize that Gerry always adds a unique twist, to all of his songs. It's the way the melody turns unexpectedly when in a normal situation, it would do what you expect it to do.

" Bring It All Home " starts out as a normal rock song but then he inserts that different twist, which makes it most unusual, and memorable. That is what makes Gerry Rafferty such an excellent songwriter. It doesn't hurt that he has an incredible voice as well. One other thing that I have to add, is that each song envelopes you in its own atmosphere with interesting bass and guitar lines. Although the first three songs have been remixed they sound great, and still contain all the musical lines and sounds you would expect to hear. This cd reminds me of another cd I have by Martin Page, "In the House of Stone and Light" In both cases a songwriter has put a string of very solid tunes on one disk and when all is said and done you can't ask for much more. OK just one more thing. Please write and release more music.

I've had this CD for a few years, and it's worth having for the great song "As wise as a serpent". But as far as Rafferty goes, "City to City" is the best.

This Gerry Rafferty compilation is pretty good. Yeah it may not have all of his actual hits, but there is a good variety of hits and favorites and the track ordering is done very well. "Baker Street" and "Bring it all Home" are re-recordings, but are they really that bad? Okay, I would probably prefer the original album versions but the re-recordings are actually kind of cool with the digital sound and reverb on Rafferty's vocals. This compilation also contains the single edit of "Night Owl" but there is nothing really missing, the song is pretty repetitive in the 2 minutes that are edited out of it. Overall, the mastering on the tracks are pretty decent, they may even be remastered but I am not 100% sure. I believe that this was his second "best of" release, the first being a 10 track "Baker Street" UK only release in the early 1980s. This one is one of the few that includes tracks from his "North & South" album and it is one of the only cheaper CD releases of his which usually ranges from $8.60-$9.10. If you unsure of if you want to purchase this album, put a playlist together of the album's track listing and then listen to it.

The late Gerry Rafferty was an enigma of a singer songwriter. As half of Stealers Wheel, his best work was often mistaken for Bob Dylan of CSN. With three albums of excellent but neglected material, Rafferty broke up SW and became a semi-respected producer (he was even the original producer of the classic Richard and Linda Thompson album, "Shoot Out The Lights," before Joe Boyd rerecorded it). It took several years after Stealers Wheel for Rafferty to become comfortable with a solo project, but when it did, it was the instant classic "City To City."

That album finally established Rafferty as a star, mainly due to the unforgettable "Baker Street." Alleged to have been written after Rafferty and fellow Wheel Joe Egan had a get together, Rafferty distilled the stalled life of an old friend, lifted by the soaring saxophone solo of Raphael Ravenscroft. However, the true meaning of the subject's delusional life is the guitar that grabs the sax at the end of each run and jerks it back to earth with a dizzying thud. He managed another hit from the album, "Right Down The Line." The minor hit "Home and Dry" is inexplicably absent. Also unacceptable, that "Baker Street" is remixed.

The success of "City to City" guaranteed at least some form of success for the follow-up, and "Night Owl" delivered. Again, Rafferty's soft delivery and personal lyrics were the focus of the album, and the songs "Right Down the Line" and "Get it Right the Next Time' are included here, but "Days Gone Down' is - inexplicably again - absent. Rafferty was also falling deeply into the severe alcoholism and general cantankerous attitude towards the music business that would ultimately sabotage his career. While the music on the following albums, "Sleepwalking" and "Snakes and Ladders" was not bad and generally adhered to the style he'd presented on the previous albums, it was clear he was tiring of the 'star life' and said as much in "Sleepwalking's" title song.

It took another six years before Rafferty would release "North and South," a very personal album that brought him back to "City to City's" producer Hugh Murphy. Songs like "Shipyard Town" and "Tired of Talking" are as smooth and delightful as any of his earlier work. There's ,ore than a hint of Dire Straits in this period, which you'll hear. While Rafferty made a few more albums afterward, they were not connected to EMI and are not represented here. Also, this being a late 80's CD issue, the mastering isn't up to snuff. "Right Down The Line" is - at present - the best of Rafferty's collections, but the missing singles, remixes of the "City to City" tracks and missing time period (both of Stealers Wheel and before, and post "North and South), leaves this disc lacking. Gerry Rafferty deserves better.

Gerry Rafferty always reminded me of what John Lennon might have sounded like without all the angst. Don't get me wrong, I like much of the music of John Lennon, particularly that from his stint with the Beatles. Still, I have difficulty with some of his "primal theraphy" songs, which may be why I generally skip a tune or two or three, depending on the collection of songs. Let's face it, Cold Turkey is hardly a "let's add a little life to this party" selection. With Gerry Rafferty, however, the vocals charm ... and often belie the intensity of the lyrics. Mr. Rafferty was a master of understatement, both lyrically and vocally. The selections offered on this treasure of a CD are rich and varied. It is an excellent collection. Arguably one or another song might have been replaced by some fan favorite, but that doesn't detract from the main point of my review: There isn't a bad song on the CD. In my humble opinion, anyone rating this CD with a three, two or one star review is either the type of person that usually gives poor reviews (based on their own eclectic musical insights), or suffers from a case of sour grapes (I'm better than this guy!). Finally, anyone, even someone with as little musical talent as me, can recognize quality. The world is a poorer place without you Gerry Rafferty.