Albums That Should Exist: Gerry Rafferty - Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany, 2-12-1993

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Gerry Rafferty - Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany, 2-12-1993

Today, British singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty is best known for his 1978 mega-hit "Baker Street," which in turn is best known for its iconic saxophone riff. But he's written other great songs, including the hits "Stuck in the Middle with You" (when he was part of the duo Stealers Wheel) and "Right Down the Line."

In my opinion, he isn't as famous as he should be. One reason is that he suffered from alcoholism and depression most of his life. Perhaps related to that, he generally avoided doing the things stars need to do to become more famous, such as promotional work. That included doing very little touring. As far as I can tell, he toured some in the 1960s and 1970s, but after that the only major tour he did was in 1993. He died of liver failure in 2011 at the age of 63.

Due to how rare he toured, there are almost no live recordings of him publicly available, including nothing that's been officially released. When it comes to bootlegs, I've only been able to find one. Luckily, it's a very good one, a soundboard with excellent sound quality. Naturally, I'm speaking of the one I'm presenting here. (He did take part in some BBC sessions in the 1970s, and I hope to post an album of those eventually.)

There was only one problem with this recording, in my opinion, and that was that his lead vocals were rather low in the mix. That could have been intentional, as it would seem to fit in with his low-profile nature. (A very limited amount of banter between songs is another example of that.) Be that as it may, I boosted his vocals using the audio editing program X-Minus, and I think it sounds considerably better this way.

In terms of song selection, he chose to play songs from most phases of his career, including a couple from his Stealers Wheels days. He had released an album in late 1992, "On a Wing and a Prayer," so naturally he played about five songs from that. But luckily it was a critically well received album, though its sales were low. Three of the songs in the concert are covers: "Get Out of My Life Woman," "It Makes No Difference," and "A Mess of Blues."

This album is an hour and 35 minutes long.

01 Instrumental (Gerry Rafferty)
02 Waiting for the Day (Gerry Rafferty)
03 Your Heart's Desire (Gerry Rafferty)
04 Right Down the Line (Gerry Rafferty)
05 Get Out of My Life Woman (Gerry Rafferty)
06 Does He Know What He's Taken On (Gerry Rafferty)
07 Moonlight and Gold (Gerry Rafferty)
08 Don't Give Up on Me (Gerry Rafferty)
09 Hearts Run Dry (Gerry Rafferty)
10 Stuck in the Middle with You (Gerry Rafferty)
11 It's Easy to Talk (Gerry Rafferty)
12 Standing at the Gates (Gerry Rafferty)
13 talk (Gerry Rafferty)
14 The Right Moment (Gerry Rafferty)
15 Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty)
16 Late Again (Gerry Rafferty)
17 Get It Right Next Time (Gerry Rafferty)
18 talk (Gerry Rafferty)
19 It Makes No Difference (Gerry Rafferty)
20 talk (Gerry Rafferty)
21 A Mess of Blues (Gerry Rafferty)