City To Cityby Gerry Rafferty

City to City is the high water mark in the career of Gerry Rafferty who never managed to eclipse the quality of the seminal 1978 album. After City to City he still recorded of course but he moved increasingly toward the production end of the business where his almost obsessional ear for detail was a great asset despite his eventual decline into alcoholism which culminated in his death in 2011. City to City was is of course best known for the simply epic 'Baker Street' with its intoxicating saxaphone riff from Raphael Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft has since claimed that this riff was an invention of his and an adaptation of an old blues riff but there is very strong evidence, backed up by the original demo tapes that confirm that the melody, albeit in a guitar riff form, was the work of Rafferty. Indeed it was Rafferty who considered the use of a saxaphone and he is quoted as saying 'it was my music, he (Ravenscroft) just blew the notes'. Whatever the genisis of the composition it is without doubt a seminal piece of work that continues to be played some 35 years on. Baker Street might be the stand out track on first listening but the emotional intensity of 'Down the line' and the energy of the eponymous 'City to City' are equally captivating. Overall this album really does possess a timeless quality. When it was produced the music industry was undergoing the trauma of the transition from glam rock to disco to punk. Rafferty stands outside of this sort of petty demarcation issue. No doubt his work would have been equally despised by the disco divas and the pogoing punks but the quality shines through the miasma of confusion that was the music scene in 1978. This album is as relevant now as it ever was, beautifully produced and, to use a very overworked phrase, a true classic. You should own it.