CoronaVinyl Day 295 (R): City to City by Gerry Rafferty

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "R," and we're listening to Gerry Rafferty's second solo studio album, 1978's City to City.

Rafferty, a Scot, got his start in the music industry in the late '60s as a member of the folk-pop group The Humblebums, which also included comedian Billy Connelly -- who I first knew of as the guy who took over for Howard Hesseman as the teacher in the last season of Head of the Class, and who had acted in many films and TV shows over the years, including my personal favorite role as Il Duce in Boondock Saints.

After The Humblebums disbanded, Rafferty released his first solo album in 1971 before forming Stealers Wheel with his high school classmate Joe Egan.  They, of course, had a huge hit with 1973's "Stuck In the Middle With You," which would get a second life in the iconic ear amputation scene in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 film Reservoir Dogs.  Stealers Wheel broke up in 1975, but because of legal issues, Rafferty was prevented from releasing any music for three years.

Rafferty surely had to feel vindicated with City to City, a combination of rock, soft rock, and what we now know as yacht rock that became a massive international success, reaching #1 on the Billboard album chart, #1 in Canada, #6 in the UK, and the Top 10 in six other countries.  It eventually went double platinum in the U.S.  Three songs from the album reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.  "Home and Dry" went to #28, "Right Down the Line" went to #12 (and #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart), and of course, there was the lead single from the album, the iconic "Baker Street," which was a huge hit all over the world, going to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 in Australia, Canada, and South Africa, #3 in the UK, and Top 10 on the pop charts in seven other countries.

Rafferty's next album, 1979's Night Owl, also did pretty well, giving him another two Top 40 hits in the U.S.  But as we've seen many times throughout this CoronaVinyl journey, soft rockers from the late '70s faded pretty fast in the early '80s, as musical tastes changed.  Rafferty continued making music regularly until the mid '90s, and then released two more albums, one in 2000 and another in 2009.  Sadly, Rafferty suffered from chronic alcoholism, and he died from liver failure in 2011 at the age of 63.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Baker Street"
Named after the famed street in London on which Sherlock Holmes resided, "Baker Street" is a classic.  Even if you don't know who Gerry Rafferty is or what this song is called, you probably instantly recognize what I would say is probably the most recognizable sax riff in rock history, courtesy of session musician Raphael Ravenscroft -- which led to a resurgence of sax sales and the use of saxophones in popular music.  There are various stories about how it came about.  In one version, Rafferty originally wrote the hook to be sung, but then Ravenscroft wowed everyone with his sax riff, so the sax stayed in.  In another version, there were gaps in the song when it was given to Revenscroft, who filled in the gaps with the sax riff.  In another version, it was originally supposed to be a guitar riff.  However it came about, I think it's safe to say that it worked out.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Waiting For the Day"
The second side is a little on the soft side, but the album ends on a high note with this uptempo poppy rocker.