40 Year Itch : Looking Like a Long-lost Sheep

Woody Allen, Love and Death, 1975

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   When they harmonized together, childhood friends Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan sounded like two Lennons singing through clenched teeth. This is the title cut from their third and final album, as fine as anything else they recorded together. By the time it was released the duo had already broken up for good. This song could be heard as Rafferty's final farewell to Egan. ("I've got to save myself, right or wrong"). Three years later, Rafferty would break out with his City to City album.

Also on this date in 1975: The SNACK concert

   Bob Dylan joins Neil Young and The Band on stage at Kezar Stadium for a benefit concert Bill Graham organized to raise $200,000 for San Francisco public schools. Santana, Tower of Power , The Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Starship and Jerry Garcia and friends also performed.

40 Year Itch : Two Beatlesque Confections

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  There was already a glut of post Beatles music on the market when the Lennonesque Stealers Wheel and the McCartneyesque Badfinger released albums in November of 1973. Ringo's album had entered the US charts at #15. Harrison's Material World was still in the charts, at #133. McCartney's Red Rose Speedway was at #167 but his new UK single, "Helen Wheels" had just been released. Lennon's single "Mind Games" was climbing the US  pop charts at #60 with a bullet while The Beatles 1967-1970 ( at #86) and 1962-1966 ( #111) were still selling strong numbers.

   

  Gerry Rafferty had quit Stealers Wheel when "Stuck in the Middle With You" hit #2 in the Summer of 1973. He came back. He and Joe Egan fired three members of the band and used studio musicians, including ex Spooky Tooth guitarist Luther Grosvenor, on the Leiber/Stoller produced Ferguslie Park. 

The "Star" single peaked at #29 in the US and failed to propel the album into big sales. It's one of  a number of songs that seem to criticize the music business. ( Well, that did work on "Stuck"). There's not a lot on this album that will make you bow down to the band's genius, but there are some very worthy songs, including the rocker "Blind Faith" and, our deep cut selection,  Rafferty's "Who Cares". 

                                                       
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       With Ass, Badfinger's string of albums for the Beatles' Apple label ends on a mediocre note, which is all the more disappointing when you consider how great the previous album, Straight Up, remains. Badfinger's relationship with Apple was in turmoil, thanks to a dispute over songwriting royalties. Producer Todd Rundgren quit during the sessions. Badfinger's manager was negotiating a $3 million deal with Warner Brothers in what would prove to be a disastrous move. Surely no band was treated as badly as Badfinger, who gave Apple "the finger" with its cover of a giant carrot being dangled in front of a goat and a lead off single, called "Apple of My Eye" which begins "Oh I'm sorry but it's time to move away..."

Stealers Wheel Tries to Get Unstuck

Full Page Billboard ad

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Gerry Rafferty had already left Stealers Wheel when "Stuck in the Middle of You" become one of 1973's surprise hits, peaking at #6 in the US and propelling sales of the debut album. So Rafferty came back. He and Joe Egan fired the rest of the band and recorded the much anticipated follow-up single "Everything Will Turn Out Fine". The original single comes with the band's signature strumming guitar chords, dual Lennonesque vocals and hand claps. 

In its review, Billboard Magazine noted the song had a  "smoother-glowing melody than the jagged leaps of "Stuck in the Middle With You". Hopes may have been high but the "Everything" peaked at just  #49 in the US and #33 in the UK.

Then something shocking happened to the single.

It disappeared.

It's ridiculously difficult to find a copy of the single version of "Everything Will Turn Out Fine". Subsequent albums and CDs all contain a much more highly polished take. It makes the original single, with its guitar breaks, sound like a demo.

I've always enjoyed demos so I'd give the original single the edge.

40 Year Itch: Stealers Wheel

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  When they harmonized together, childhood friends Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan sounded like two Lennons singing through clenched teeth. With Beatlesque melodies, producing by songwriting legends Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and the Fab Four's fave engineer Geoff Emerick at the controls, Stealers Wheel's debut album, released in October of 1972, hits that sweet spot for fans of well made pop. One problem. Rafferty had already left the band by the time album came out.Then, in 1973, the band's first single, "Stuck In The Middle With You", sold a million copies and  hit the Top Ten in the US and UK. Suddenly the band was in demand and Rafferty had to be convinced to rejoin the Wheel--which he described as "a fucking shambles" -- for another album.

The debut opens with "Late Again" which showcases their harmonies.

The video for "Stuck In The Middle With You" was shot after Rafferty returned to the band. The Dylanesque voices were kind of an inside joke. The song itself is about Rafferty and Egan getting caught at a table with managers ( Clowns to the left of me) and record company execs ( Jokers to the Right)

Our deep cut is "Outside Looking In", another cut that appeared on a Stealers Wheel hit compilation I bought in 1978 after Rafferty's City to City hit the top of the charts.