Gold City Classics

Track Listings

1. I Think I'll Read It Again

2. Child Of The Light

3. John Saw

4. Midnight Cry

5. When I Get Carried Away

6. If God Be For Us

7. Who But God

8. One Scarred Hand

9. Shoutin' Ground

10. Gettin' Ready To Leave This World

Tracks:

The Ark
Baker Street
Right Down The Line
City To City
Stealin' Time
Mattie's Rag
Whatever's Written In Your Heart
Home And Dry
Island
Waiting For The Day

Amazon.com

It took Quentin Tarantino's using "Stuck in the Middle with You," the 1973 hit of Gerry Rafferty's former band Stealers Wheel, in Reservoir Dogs to make Rafferty hip again. But City to City, his 1978 solo breakthrough, has long been worth rediscovering--and not just because it contains "Baker Street," one of the biggest and best singles of the 1970s. Rafferty brilliantly modernizes his Scottish folk-rock background on such pop treasures as the churning title track, the minor follow-up hit "Right Down the Line," the bouncing ditty "Mattie's Rag," the enchantingly churchy "Whatever's Written in Your Heart," and others. It's as rewardingly refreshing a change of pace now as it was when it emerged in the midst of the disco era. --Peter Blackstock

Customer Reviews:

Sophisticated, inventive, ambitious, intelligent. Classic........2005-05-10

I like the entire City to City album. I think every single song on it is good, not a bad one in the bunch.

Of course I love Baker Street. There is a lot going on in that track, sophisticated and excellent. Comparing it with the (obscenely bad) Foo Fighters cover shows both the weaknesses of the Fighters' arrangement as well as the talent, polish, intelligence, and diligence of Rafferty's producer.

I personally don't like solo sax much and so it doesn't touch me as much as it seems to touch others, but even so I can see that the sax intro and other sax parts are electrifying. I respect this production choice because for so many people the sax is the only part of the song they identify and according to some reviews the sax bought most of that copious radio air-time in 1978. On the other hand, it's a shame to see this overstated sound overshadow the rest of the beautiful song in peoples' minds.

The swooping guitars are awesome and yet subtle and fill a crucial spot in the intro melody. The guitar solo is masterful. Much of the time in the solo is taken up with only a few sustained and repeated notes and the bulk of the solo is made up of bends, trills, swoops, dives, and inventive tremelos. Each note of the minimal note count speaks out to us in important ways. It reminds me of lyrics that say volumes with only a few words. It's one of my all time favorite guitar solos.

The two featured analog synthesizer sounds are way cool. The synth during the verse sounds like falling leaves or water. The bass synth sound that counterpoints the vocal during the chorous, again, is inventive: an interesting, unusual sound, delightful instrumental melodic counterpoint to the vocal, a melodic sound in this region of the bass territory is also unusual in pop. You usually have the bass drum and the bass guitar in the bass region and that's about it. This synth sound and melody is something like a `cello line, lending an orchestral feel while still using pop instruments.

The lyrics to Baker Street are good, but I wouldn't say great. They give an overall impression of loneliness, futility and yearning for something better in the future. What's there is good but it's not great because the song does not tell a complete story. This is a concept album and every lyric addresses these issues of loneliness and itinerant living on the road. Considering the entire album's lyrics as a whole pushes them up a notch as ambitious, intelligent, very good, and maybe you could consider the whole as a complete story. They fall short of something blisteringly great like "Eleanor Rigby" (The Beatles) or "She Always a Woman" or "AllenTown" (Billy Joel).

Regarding the Foo Fighters' cover version: The Foo Fighters skip the swooping guitars during the intro melody and you can hear it as dead space, causing a drop in intensity there resulting in an undesirable volume pumping effect. The Fighters copy the guitar solo note for note, what's the point? We've heard that already, and much better, so why bother? Granted I'm not that familiar with post 1989 Pearl Jam clone musical styles so I might be missing something, but to me the Fighters' guitar version of the sax intro melody is just plain wrong. The rhythm is wrong and corny, the accents are in the wrong place, and the guitar sound is so anemic when compared to the sax. Why would a band of the Fighters' stature cover a song anyway? The whole thing is just wrong.

Fantastic Music!!!.......2003-07-28

I totally love this album! Once you push play you will fall in love with it too. All the songs are dynamite. I purchased this album years ago in casette and I wore it out from listening to it so much.

I have a CD now and it remains one of my all-time favorite recordings. Gerry Rafferty is a master songwriter and City to City is one of his finest productions.

Buy it now and get ready to enjoy some fantastic music!

One, if not the best, CD to come from the '70's........1999-02-23

I can't believe this CD is now out of print. It's far and away Rafferty's best, and one of the best all around music sets of the 1970's. I have it on album, but I finally found it on CD. I must have bought the last one in the world. Lucky me. Great, great music.

one the best of the that time.......1998-11-21

gerry is really one of the best musical people of the late seventies,with this city to city titled cd he created an instant classic for even more years to come .i really enjoy this cd and,I ll highly recommend it to anyone at any age truly the best of rewind 1970's

Average customer rating:

"Classics" is Classic

Gold City Classics
Gold City
Manufacturer: Riversong
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music

Gospel | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music

Christian Contemporary Music | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music

Tracks:

I Think I'll Read It Again
Child Of The Light
John Saw
Midnight Cry
When I Get Carried Away
If God Be For Us
Who But God
One Scarred Hand
Shoutin' Ground
Gettin' Ready To Leave This World

Customer Reviews:

"Classics" is Classic.......2002-07-10

This is one of my all time favorite albums. I'd say it's my second favorite album. I'm gonna go through all of the song and give y'all a review of them.

1.)"I Think I'll Read It Again" - this song is my favorite song on the album. I think this is better than the orignal recording of it. After you hear this song you'll say "I Think I'll Listen To It Again"

2.)"Child Of The Light" - this is a great song. I think this song is one of Gold City's best ballads.

3.)"John Saw" - every GC fan loves this song. I mean you'll fall in love with this song once you here it.

4.)"Midnight Cry" - what can I say? This song speaks for its self. GC's most famous song.

5.)"When I Get Carried Away" - this song was recorded live, and it introduces the new lead singer of the group at that time: David Hill. Great Song!

6.)"If God Be For Us" - this song was stuck in my head from the day I heard it. A really really good song.

7.)"Who But God" - you'll love this song. It's way better than when Gold City originally recorded it and it was great even then.

8.)"One Scarred Hand" - my least favorite song on hear but it has a great message.

9.)"Shoutin' Ground" - "...standin' on shoutin' ground fellin' the glory comin' down.." excellent song!

10.)"Gettin' Ready To Leave This World" - brother I'm gettin ready to leave this world and I'm listening to this song as I am.
A great song

Tracks:

Belshazzar's Feast: Thus Spake Isaiah
Belshazzar's Feast: If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem
Belshazzar's Feast: By The Waters Of Babylon
Belshazzar's Feast: Babylon Was A Great City
Belshazzar's Feast: Praise Ye The God Of Gold
Belshazzar's Feast: Thus in Babylon The Might City
Belshazzar's Feast: And in That Same Hour, As They Feasted
Belshazzar's Feast: Then Sing Aloud To God Our Strength
Belshazzar's Feast: The Trumpeters And Pipers Are Silent
Belshazzar's Feast: Then Sing Aloud To God Our Strength
In Honour Of The City Of London

Customer Reviews:

Short and sweet. Nice buy for these pieces.......2007-06-21

This is one of those CD's I search out off the beaten path, as it is 20th century (uncommon for biblical subjects), choral by a native British composer (an uncommon commodity in any century), and it includes material commissioned for a special purpose, in the 'In Honour of the City of London'. This CD is available for substantially less than other releases of the same works, and to my amateur ear, this performance is quite good, thank you. My only reservation, relieved quite a bit by the low price, is that it has less musical performance time than the average Classical CD these days. If you like 'old fashioned' rousing choral stuff in the tradition of Mozart's Requium, this is good listening.

An adequate rendition-Buy it for City of London.......2005-07-01

Belshazzar's feast is far more electric in the Previn RPO recording, but this is worth considering for the fine reading of the little recorded In Honour for the City of London. This work, much in the vein of the excellent Te Deum, has many moments of real invention, and is worth hearing more often.

Excellent.......1999-03-01

I really enjoyed this, as I do all of Walton's work

Music Review:

Music Review

Music Review

1. I Think I'll Read It Again
2. Child Of The Light
3. John Saw
4. Midnight Cry
5. When I Get Carried Away
6. If God Be For Us
7. Who But God
8. One Scarred Hand
9. Shoutin' Ground
10. Gettin' Ready To Leave This World