Jim Rafferty – I See Red

Description

Should the name Jim Rafferty sound a tad familiar, he is in fact the olderbrother of Gerry Rafferty, of Baker Street and Stuck In The Middle with Youfame. As a songwriter, Jim had signed a solo deal with Decca in the late1970s. With Gerry in the producers chair, and a crack team of the several ofthe same musicians whom Gerry later recruited for his hit album, City ToCity, Jim produced the album Dont Talk Back, comprising the kind ofsophisticated, melodic material typified, like his brothers work, by strongemphasis on vocal harmonies – the popular style at end of the 1970s.

Decca went out of business concurrent with their release of Jims arguablysuperior second album, Solid Logic, produced by Martin Levan. Times werechanging across the music business, and Jim, always seeking newchallenges, continued to write interesting, idiosyncratic material. He signed aself-penned, nervy and minimalist new work I See Red, to Hit & Runpublishing, which was picked up by Phil Collins for Abba star Fridas soloalbum. The songs outsider narrative and implied reggae rhythm, madesomewhat cartoonishly explicit in Fridas version, also found favour with anumber of other artists, notably Clannad, whose album Magical Ringincluded their near identical version of I See Red, and gained chart placingin the UK. The same song was subsequently covered by brother Gerry on hisWing and A Prayer album.

The flipside of Jims I See Red has its own cover history – Fear Strikes Outfirst appeared on Ian Matthews 1984 LP, Shook. Matthews, a journeymanwhod once sung in Fairport Convention alongside Judy Dyble and SandyDenny and later hit the charts several times as a solo act, roots his versionfirmly in Jims ineffable arrangement, which makes sense – but Jims versionnotches up the excitement brightly, showcasing sharp guitar and keyboardtextures in the mix. And sounding more like a hit.

Shortly after this, Jim teamed up with producer Hugh Murphy and his then- wife, American born singer songwriter Betsy Cook, to form The Urbane Planners, working out of Hughs Buckinghamshire studio on smart pop singles, such as Spirit of the Thing, for release on Mays Records. These gained radio exposure in the UK but failed to get the kind of promotion they deserved… possibly a little too smart for the charts at that point.

Jim continued to write and returned to his earlier career as a graphicdesigner, then moved to Canterbury, where he found to his surprise thatmulti-instrumentalist Geoffrey Richardson of Prog Rock outfit Caravan livedright across the street. The two struck up an immediate musical friendshipand began working on material together at Geoffreys studio nearby.

And to the present, where Jims relatively unheard 1982 recordings finally make their splendidly remastered debut on Drag City. Its a surprise and delight, not just for Jim, but for collectors of sublime pop songs all around the world.

Tracklist:

I See Red
Fear Strikes Out