Visa Records (1978)

Biography

Gerald “Gerry” Rafferty was a Scottish singer-songwriter known for his solo hits “Baker Street”, “Right Down the Line” and “Night Owl”, as well as “Stuck in the Middle with You” recorded with the band Stealers Wheel. Rafferty was born into a working-class family in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop group The Humblebums in 1969. After they disbanded in 1971, he recorded his first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back? Rafferty and Joe Egan formed the group Stealers Wheel in 1972 and produced several hits, most notably “Stuck in the Middle with You” and “Star”. In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, which included “Baker Street”, his most popular song. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Rafferty

Album & Cover
Gerry Rafferty, reissued by Visa Records [Visa 7006] in 1978, is mainly a compilation of Humblebums material that Gerry Rafferty had written and performed while in that group. It comprises most of the serious musical content of the last two albums released by that group, with the exception of So Bad Thinking (which came from the backside of his Can I Have My Money Back? single). The remaining content of those two albums were mostly humorous Billy Connolly compositions, although a few musical gems can be found among them, especially the ones in which Rafferty sings harmony. The sound and feel of this album is similar to Can I Have My Money Back?, his first solo effort from 1971.

Cover Location: London at night.
Who Did What: Photography: Peter Christopherson/ A. Powell. Art Direction – Murray Brenman.
Label: Passport 9167-9832(Canada), Visa Records Visa 7006(US).
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Credits
Producer – Bill Leader (tracks: A1 to A7, B2 to B8), Hugh Murphy (tracks: B1)
Written-By – Gerry Rafferty