Gerry Rafferty - Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking is one of my favourite albums ever. Released in 1982, Sleepwalking was a marked departure from his previous album, Snakes and Ladders, and the ones before that. So many people think of Gerry as a one-hit wonder because of "Baker Street" from 1978's City to City, and I suppose, depending on where you were, this was sort of true. But I remember a number of songs from his first few records getting radio play when I was a much younger man.

I was on a train in 1982, travelling back from a youth conference or something, when my friend Gerry - who had (and may still have) great taste in music - had a cassette copy of Sleepwalking and insisted I listen to it because it was awesome. Being a fan already, I listened to the first few songs, and gone were the folk elements; instead, the songs were laden with synthesisers. But it wasn't like he was trying to be Trio or Gary Numan - this was still unmistakably Gerry Rafferty. It was indeed awesome. I think I said so quite loudly too, since I was wearing headphones.

A couple of years after that fateful trip, I was out on a date, and before we went to the movies to see Gremlins, I took her to the mall. We popped into a record store, as you do when you're on a date, and there in the cutout bin was Sleepwalking. It was something I'd long wanted, so I picked it up. She was a great girl, but as history would have it, the thing that lasted was the record. True, it's been through some hard times - surviving a crawlspace flood and then being stored in a box for over twenty-five years.

Years and years later, I was finally able to get a CD copy. It might look like they went all deluxe with the packaging, but they didn't — no booklet, no lyrics, no credits. Still, it was awesome to have a copy I could play.

So why then am I in the basement sitting with a beat-up, water-stained lyric sheet, listening to my old vinyl? Because I can, and the vinyl, unlike the jacket, is still in pristine shape. I'm not objective enough to tell if this is dated or not, because to me this is vintage Gerry Rafferty. His choice to pair the more modern sound of keyboards and synths with real drums, bass, and guitar gives it a timelessness (though there are computer drums here and there).

The record features some amazing musicians: Liam Genockey on drums from Steeleye Span (a band I only discovered in the last few years), Mo Foster on bass, Hugh Burns on guitar (what a tasty player), and Alan Clark and Pick Withers from Dire Straits guesting on a couple of tracks. The album was produced by Christopher Neil and Gerry Rafferty, a departure from the previous albums, which had been helmed by Hugh Murphy.

I know history hasn't been kind to this album, and to a lot of people it would seem like each release after City to City was an exercise in diminishing returns. Not knowing how that side of the equation worked, I simply liked Gerry's music, loved his voice, and bought his records when they came out. Each of his records has something I love, but for me Sleepwalking is his crowning achievement. It's as haunting and beautiful a record as I've ever heard.

Meanwhile back in the music business the best goes on and on
I sell my soul to the company man, when there's nothing else to lean upon

Gerry was an artist who passed away in 2011 at the age of 63. His posthumous release Rest in Blue, which came out in 2021, should be in your collection as well. Actually, you should just get them all. Just remember to give Sleepwalking some love. It's a masterpiece.