Gerry Rafferty - City to City [2LP Orange]

Gerry Rafferty spent years tied up in legal battles before City to City finally set him free, and his 1978 classic returns here remastered on two orange LPs.

After Stealers Wheel fell apart, contractual disputes kept Rafferty from releasing music for a long stretch, and much of that frustration found its way into these songs. Recorded at Chipping Norton with co-producer Hugh Murphy, the album became a surprise smash, climbing to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and knocking Saturday Night Fever off the top spot.

"Baker Street" is the one everybody knows, built around Raphael Ravenscroft's unforgettable saxophone riff and a lyric about restless city loneliness that still hits home. "Right Down the Line" is a warm, grateful love song with an easy groove, "The Ark" opens the album on a swelling, folk-tinged note, and the title track "City to City" captures the weary pull of life on the move.

Rafferty's Scottish folk roots run all through the record, softened by polished late-seventies production, glowing keyboards and steel guitar. It's melancholy music, but never heavy, full of melodies that feel like old friends.

Spread across double vinyl, this remaster gives those long, unhurried arrangements room to breathe, and it remains one of the great soft-rock albums of its decade.