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Home , City to City, Gerry Rafferty, Rab Noakes, Stealers Wheel

Skibo Castle, 2001

01. Mary Skeffington (1971) 07. Fallen ones (1976) 13. It’ll be me (1978) 18. Mary Skeffington (2001) Guitar / Bass Guitar / Vocal · Jack ‘Cowboy’ Clement Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Vocal / Keyboard · Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitar / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Percussion · Mike Day Guitar / Bass Guitar · Richard Brunton Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Licenced from Universal Guitar / Vocal · Steve Whalley 08. Blues around me now (1976) 19. Moonlight and Gold (2012) 02. Waiting here for you (1976) Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes 14. See me again (1978) Gerry Rafferty Guitars / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitar / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitar / Bass Guitar · Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Bass Guitar · Richard Brunton 09. Same old place (1976) Guitar · Steve Whalley 03. Shine a light (1976) Piano / Vocal · Rab Noakes Piano · Rab Noakes Keyboard / Guitar / Bass Guitar · Gerry Rafferty 15. Same old place (1979) All songs by Rab Noakes, Neon Guitar / Bass Guitar / Keyboard · Gerry Rafferty Percussion · Mike Day Piano / Vocal · Rab Noakes Music, except where otherwise noted. Bass Guitar / Keyboard / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty Producers various. 04. Restless (1976) 10. Lonely boy tonight (1976) Drums · Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitars · Richard Brunton Thanks are due to everyone who Guitar / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty Mandolin / Bass Guitar / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty has contributed something to this Slide Guitar · Tam Harvey 16. Shine a light (1979) disparate collection of recordings, 05. All away (1976) Piano / Vocal · Rab Noakes spanning 40 years. Piano / Vocal · Rab Noakes 11. She’s all I see (1978) Bass Guitar / Keyboard / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty Bass Guitar / Keyboard / Guitar · Gerry Rafferty Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Drums · Liam Genockey I will single out Denis Blackham Guitar / Bass Guitar · Richard Brunton Guitar · Richard Brunton at Skye Mastering who knows just 06. Long dark night (1976) Guitar · Steve Whalley how to turn a recording into a record. Guitar / Bass Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes 17. (Sittin’ here) Lovin’ you (2001) Thanks Denis. Guitars / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty 12. I won’t let you down (1978) John B. Sebastian Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes Guitar / Vocal · Rab Noakes For more Rab info, CD store, Guitar / Bass Guitar · Richard Brunton Guitar / Vocal · Gerry Rafferty free music, news etc visit: Guitar · Steve Whalley www.rabnoakes.com

City to City Tour, 1978 me, two voices, two guitars, and my nearby Bridge of Weir. wee green 1963 Austin Mini. ‘Mary was dry so The Gryffe Inn at Bridge of Skeffington’ 1971, the opening track is Weir became the hostelry of choice. from that year’s ‘Can I have my money I’m sure we had at least one session back?’ , produced by Hugh there with Joe Egan present. We had Murphy, and is the only real, existing, adopted an odd fondness for Green representative recording of the two of Chartreuse. As we had approached us at that time. the project the intention was to spend a couple of days on it. In the end we were at it for about a week.

The recording of those songs were the ones that secured my deal with ’s label, Ring O’Records, and led to the memorable sessions Tracks 2 to 10 are from the summer of for my ‘Restless’ album which took 1976. For those of you who can recall place, with Terry Melcher as producer, that summer you’ll remember a long in Tittenhurst Park. That had been string of warm, indeed hot, sunny John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s house in days. Gerry and Carla had rented a Sunningdale near Ascot which Ringo detached house in Knockbuckle Road, bought when they went off to New I first met Gerry one afternoon in Kilmacolm at the time and Gerry York in the early ‘70s. Langton Green 1980 February 1969. The location was Billy offered to host a demo session for Connolly’s dad’s house on White me at the house. Bruce May, Ralph Staying in chronological order, tracks Tracks 15 and 16 are from a Street in Glasgow’s Partick. We had McTell’s brother who was also, at the 11 to 14 are from a session which took Hammersmith studio in 1979 and are each, separately, been invited to sing time, Ralph’s manager, made a little place during Gerry’s ‘’ tour recuts of two of the songs from the 1976 a couple of songs in the first major money available and that went to pay in 1978. I was opening act on that tour Kilmacolm Demos. Gerry financed, Humblebums’ concert in Glasgow’s Mike Day. Mike was an audio engineer with a band which included guitarists and produced, these. Hugh Murphy City Halls. He and I are the same age, we had met at a studio in Chinatown, Steve Whalley and Richard Brunton. got them to Artie Mogull, who had he’s a month older than me, and we London called Gooseberry where we Richard is a lovely player who I had signed Gerry to United Artists in 1977. took to one another as kindred spirits had made demos earlier in the 1970s. met when he was in one of Barbara This led to the deal I had with MCA who’d listened a lot of the same records Gerry had continued to work with him Dickson’s line-ups. He worked with Records and the album I made for over the years. Toward the end of the and they were sporadically working on both Gerry and me separately around, them in 1980. evening we duetted on ’ the first recordings of the songs that and after, this time. I invited him to ‘In my life’ in the dressing room and would become the City to City album. be in my band at a I also appeared with Gerry in Autumn we were forever companions from that Mike was a gifted demo engineer, great show in 2012 and he came all the of 1980 when I was a guest on shows in night on until he, sadly, prematurely, at assembling a fully-functional studio way from Somerset to do it. He plays Edinburgh and Dublin. died in January 2011. from a disparate array of equipment. the bass as well as guitars on these In this case that consisted of a Teac recordings. Two tracks are songs Gerry went on of course to join The 4-track recorder for the multi-track from the ‘Restless’ album. One is a Humblebums where he made two recording, a Revox A77 for tape delay spontaneous version of Jack Cements’ with Billy. When they parted plus a variety of amplifiers and bits ‘It’ll be me’. He died recently but I company in 1971, at Gerry’s invitation, from domestic stereo systems. Mike was delighted to meet him in 2004 in Joe Egan, Roger Brown and I convened hooked all this up and off we went, to Austin Texas. ‘See me again’ was brand in Tunbridge Wells to form what would the beat of a Roland drum machine. spanking new, completed on the way to become . At the time Some details I recall are the fact that the session. Gerry was making his first solo record Gerry had a friend in Brian Friel at ‘Can I have my money back?’ the time and he was around pretty much the whole time. Mutual friends Tracks 17 and 18 are from recordings Jim McGeehan and ex-Humblebum made in a cottage Gerry was renting Tam Harvey visited one day. I have no in the grounds of Skibo Castle in the recollection as to how that came about Scottish Highlands in 2001. Thanks to but they were made welcome and Tam my wife Stephy Pordage for sourcing was put to work. All the instruments these, and the photograph (see reverse). were played by Gerry, or by me, with the exception of a dobro-style guitar The closing track is from one of the part on ‘Lonely boy tonight’ which was ‘Bring it all home’ concerts Gerry’s played by Tam plus some percussion daughter Martha and I organised and The initial Stealers Wheel shows from Mike. Our lunchtime outings, produced at Glasgow Royal Concert were performed across the UK during or more accurately late breakfast Hall in 2012. Thanks to sound engineer the summer of 1971 with Gerry and outings, entailed a short journey to Sly Derwent for sourcing this.

Celtic Connections Bring It All Home Concert Photograph: Mark Archibald – GRCH, 2012