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PREMESSA: LA SUPERIORITA’ DELLA MUSICA SU VINILE E’ ANCOR OGGI SANCITA, NOTORIA ED EVIDENTE. NON TANTO DA UN PUNTO DI VISTA DI RESA, QUALITA’ E PULIZIA DEL SUONO, TANTOMENO DA QUELLO DEL RIMPIANTO RETROSPETTIVO E NOSTALGICO , MA SOPRATTUTTO DA QUELLO PIU’ PALPABILE ED INOPPUGNABILE DELL’ ESSENZA, DELL’ ANIMA E DELLA SUBLIMAZIONE CREATIVA. IL DISCO IN VINILE HA PULSAZIONE ARTISTICA, PASSIONE ARMONICA E SPLENDORE GRAFICO , E’ PIACEVOLE DA OSSERVARE E DA TENERE IN MANO, RISPLENDE, PROFUMA E VIBRA DI VITA, DI EMOZIONE E  DI SENSIBILITA’. E’ TUTTO QUELLO CHE NON E’ E NON POTRA’ MAI ESSERE IL CD, CHE AL CONTRARIO E’ SOLO UN OGGETTO MERAMENTE COMMERCIALE, POVERO, ARIDO, CINICO, STERILE ED ORWELLIANO,  UNA DEGENERAZIONE INDUSTRIALE SCHIZOFRENICA E NECROFILA, LA DESOLANTE SOLUZIONE FINALE DELL’ AVIDITA’ DEL MERCATO E DELL’ ARROGANZA DEI DISCOGRAFICI .

STEALERS WHEEL
featuring Gerry Rafferty & Joe Egan & the Hit “Star”
ferguslie park

Disco LP 33 giri , Pickwick / A & M , SPC – 3734 , 1973,   USA
OTTIME CONDIZIONI,  vinyl ex++/NM , cover ex++, taglio verticale (1,5 cm.) nell’ angolo superiore destro / promo cut in the right high tip.

Stealers Wheel è una band folk/rock inglese, formatasi a Paisley, in Scozia nel 1972 da due amici di scuola, Joe Egan (Seosamh MacAodhagain) (del ’44) e Gerry Rafferty (del ’47).

Ferguslie Park  è il loro secondo disco, realizzato nel 1973.

Etichetta: Pickwick International / A&M Records
Catalogo: SPC-3734
Data di pubblicazione: 1973
Matrici:   A SPC  3734 A  TR  SR 280  /  A1 SPC  3734 B  TR  SR 280

• Supporto:vinile 33 giri
• Tipo audio: stereo
• Dimensioni: 30 cm.
• Facciate: 2
• White paper inner sleeve

Track listing

Side One

1. Good Businessman
2. Star
3. Wheelin’
4. Waltz (You Know It Makes Sense)
5. What More Could You Want
6. Over My Head

Side Two

1. Blind Faith
2. Nothing’s Gonna Change My Mind
3. Steamboat Row
4. Back On My Feet Again
5. Who Cares?
6. Everything Will Turn Out Fine

• Personnel

• Gerry Rafferty: vocals, guitar, mandolin, piano, kazoo, organ
• Joe Egan: vocals, guitar, mandolin, piano, kazoo, organ
• Joe Jammer: guitar 
• Benie Holland: guitar
• Andrew Steele: drums, tambourine, congas, maracas, triangle, chimes, wood blocks, cowbell, claves, jawbones
• Gary Taylor: bass , mini-moog
• Peter Robinson : piano, hammond, pipe, synthesizer, chimes
• Chris Neale : harmonica
• Corky Hale : harp
• Chris Mercer : tenor sax
• Steve Gregory : tenor sax
• Mike Stoller : electric harpsichord

Ferguslie Park was recorded after a dizzying string of changes in Stealers Wheel — co-founder Gerry Rafferty‘s exit soon after finishing the group’s first LP, his replacement by Luther Grosvenor and the delayed climb of “Stuck in the Middle with You,” Rafferty‘s return, and the firing of all involved and the reduction of the group to its founding duo of Rafferty and Joe Egan. The resulting album, recorded with some nine support players (including ex-Herd members Gary Taylor and Andrew Steele, plus guitarists Joe Jammer and Bernie Holland), conductor/arranger Richard Hewson in support, and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
producing, is an upbeat if somewhat less focused work than its
predecessor — the mix of hard rock (“What More Could You Want”) and
lean, melodic songs (“Good Businessman”) highlighted by lush choruses,
and augmented with occasional spacy digressions such as the shimmering
percussion-based interlude between “Wheelin'” and “Waltz (You Know It
Makes Sense),” makes this a surprisingly diverse body of music. There
wasn’t a hit single to be found here, however, which meant that
listeners had to find the album on their own; there are moments that
anticipate (albeit distantly) Rafferty‘s
solo work, including some well-placed sax breaks, and also jagged,
bluesy guitar in all sorts of unexpected places, such as behind the
tuneful organ on “Blind Faith” (and the “Shakin’ All Over” riff even
makes a veiled appearance on “Good Businessman”).

History:

Although remembered today primarily for one or two songs, Stealers
Wheel in its own time bid fair to become Britain’s answer to Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young. Only the chronic instability of their line-up stood in
their way after a promising start.

Gerry Rafferty (b. Paisley, Scotland, Apr. 16, 1946) and Joe Egan (b.
1946) had first met at school in Paisley when they were teenagers. Rafferty
had seen three years of success as a member of the Humblebums before they
split up, and he’d started a solo recording career that was still-born
with the commercial failure of his album Can I Have My Money Back? (Transatlantic,
1971). He’d employed Egan as a vocalist on the album, along with Roger
Brown. Rafferty and Egan became the core of Stealers Wheel, playing guitar
and keyboards, although their real talent lay in their voices, which meshed
about as well as any duo this side of Graham Nash and David Crosby-Brown
joined, and Rab Noakes (guitar, vocals) and Ian Campbell (bass) came aboard
in 1972. That line-up, however, lasted only a few months. By the time Stealers
Wheel was signed to A&M later that year, Brown, Noakes, and Campbell
were gone, replaced by guitarist Paul Pilnick, bassist Tony Williams, and
drummer Rod Coombes (ex-Juicy Lucy and future Strawbs alumnus). This band,
slapped together at the last moment for the recording of their debut album
in 1972, proved a winning combination working behind Rafferty’s and Egan’s
voices. The self-titled Stealers Wheel album, produced by Jerry Leiber
and Mike Stoller, was a critical and commercial success, yielding the hit
“Stuck In The Middle With You” (top 10 in America and the UK). Even this
success had its acrimonious side. Rafferty had quit the band by the time
Stealers Wheel was released, replaced by Spooky Tooth’s Luther Grosvenor,
who stayed with the groupon tour for much of 1973. Delisle Harper also
came in for the touring version of the band, replacing Tony Williams. With
a viable performing unit backing it, the Stealers Wheel album began selling
and made No. 50 in America, while “Stuck In The Middle With You” became
a million selling single.

As all of that was happening, the group’s management persuaded Rafferty
to come back-whereupon Grosvenor, Combes, and Pilnick left. Having been
through a dizzying series of changes in the previous year, Stealers Wheel
essentially ended up following a strategy-employed for very different reasons-that
paralleled Walter Becker and Donald Fagen in the American band Steely Dan
(funny, the similarity in the names, too). Egan and Rafferty became Stealers
Wheel, officially a duo with backing musicians employed as needed in the
studio and on tour.

There was pressure for more hits. “Everyone Agreed That Everything Will
Turn Out Fine” was a modest chart success, the mid-tempo, leisurely paced
“Star” somewhat more widely heard, cracking into the top 30 on both sides
of the Atlantic. A second album, Ferguslie Park (named for a district in
Paisley), completed with session players as per the duo’s plan, barely
cracked the top 200 LPs in America (although it was somewhat more popular
than that number would indicate, among college students), and that would
lead to a poisonous internal situation for the duo, as the pressure on
them became even greater. In fact, the record was first rate, made up of
lively, melodic, inventive pop-rock songs.

The commercial failure of the second album created a level of tension
that all but destroyed the partnership between Egan and Rafferty. Coupled
with the departure of Leiber and Stoller, who were having business problems
of their own, and the inability of the duo to agree on a complement of
studio musicians to help with the next album, Stealers Wheel disappeared
for 18 months. Ironically, the contractually mandated final album, Right
Or Wrong, that emerged at that time came out a good deal more right than
anyone could have predicted, given the circumstances of its recording.
The group had ceased to exist by the time it was in stores.

The break-up of Stealers Wheel blighted Rafferty’s and Egan’s careers
for the next three years, as legal disputes with their respective managements
prevent either man from recording. After these problems were settled, Egan
made a pair of albums for the European-based Ariola label. Rafferty, in
the meantime, emerged as a recording star with a mega-hit in 1978 in the
form of “Baker Street” and the album City To City.

Stealers Wheel disappeared after 1975, its name and identity retired
forever by its two owners (although, ironically, Rafferty did an album
in the mid-1990’s, Over My Head, on which he re-invented several Stealers
Wheel-era song that he’d co-written with Egan. He and Egan have both made
records that refer in lyrics to the troubled history of Stealers Wheel,
immortalizing their acrimonious history even as at least three best-of
European collections of Stealers Wheel material immortalize their music,
and “Stuck In The Middle With You” remains a popular ’70s oldie, revived
most recently on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino’s movie Reservoir
Dogs, and was recut by the Jeff Healy Band.

All’inizio degli anni settanta, la band era considerata la versione inglese di Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young e, dopo due singoli di poco successo, divennero famosi in tutto il mondo per la loro hit Stuck in the middle with you. La traccia, nello stile di Bob Dylan e dei Beatles raggiunse la top ten dei singoli in Gran Bretagna e negli USA nel 1973
(negli USA alla sesta posizione, in Gran Bretagna all’ottava) e
vendette più di un milione di copie in tutto il mondo. Qualche anno
dopo Louise Redknapp
la diffuse in versione “dance”, che giunse alla decima posizione nella
top ten; il video musicale per questa versione della canzone fece
conoscere nuovamente la canzone, che nel 1992 venne utilizzata nella famigerata scena del taglio dell’orecchio presente nel film Le Iene, di Quentin Tarantino. I primi due album furono prodotti dai ben noti Leiber & Stoller, l’ultimo – causa alcune liti manageriali – invece da Mentor Williams. Tutti e tre avevano delle copertine particolarmente innovative dal punto di vista visivo, quasi oniriche – disegnate da John Patrick Byrne.

Stealers Wheel is a Scottish folk rock/rock band formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. The band broke up in 1975 and was re-formed in 2008.

Rafferty and Egan first met when they were teenagers in Paisley and
they became the core of Stealers Wheel. In the early 1970s, the band
was considered to be the British version of American folk/rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
They were initially joined by Roger Brown, Rab Noakes and Ian Campbell
in 1972. However, that line-up only lasted a few months and by the time
the band were signed to A&M Records later that same year, Brown, Noakes and Campbell had been replaced by Paul Pilnick, Tony Williams and Rod Coombes. This line-up recorded their eponymous debut album, Stealers Wheel and was produced by the influential American songwriters and producers Leiber & Stoller. The album was a critical and commercial success reaching number fifty in the US album charts, with their hit single “Stuck in the Middle“, coming from the album.

By the time the first album was released Rafferty had left the band
to be replaced by Luther Grosvenor, who remained with the band for much
of 1973 on tour. DeLisle Harper also replaced Tony Williams on tour.
The single reached number six in the USA and number eight in the UK in
1973, and sold over one million copies worldwide, and with the album
also selling well, Rafferty was persuaded to return. However,
Grosvenor, Coombes and Pilnick all left the band. With so many changes
in the band’s line-up they officially became a duo, with backing
musicians as needed on tour and in the studio. Later in 1973 the single
“Everyone’s Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine” (which is
different from the version on their albums and all subsequent CDs) had modest chart success and in 1974 the single “Star” reached the top thirty of both the UK and US charts.

A second album Ferguslie Park was released in 1974, with the duo backed up by nine backing musicians.
The album, named after an area of Paisley, only just reached the top
200 in the USA and was a commercial failure. With increasing tension
between Rafferty and Egan they could not agree on which studio
musicians to use on the third album, and with Leiber & Stoller also
having business problems, Stealers Wheel disappeared for eighteen
months. By the time the album Right Or Wrong was released in 1975, Stealers Wheel had ceased to exist. The last album, because of disagreements and managerial problems, was produced by Mentor Williams. All three albums had particularly striking, slightly surrealist sleeve designs by artist John Byrne.

After 1975 the group was hardly known and the two last single
releases faded away in the charts. Both Rafferty and Egan recorded
songs which included lyrics referring to the acrimonious history of
Stealers Wheel and a Best of Stealers Wheel album was released in 1990. In 1992 director Quentin Tarantino used the track “Stuck in the Middle” in the soundtrack of his debut film Reservoir Dogs, bringing new attention to the band. And in September 2001 a dance version of Stuck in the Middle was a UK Top 10 hit for Louise in September, 2001, with a music video that drew heavily on the original song’s appearance in the sound track of Reservoir Dogs.

All three albums have been unavailable for a number of years, although in 2004 and 2005 the British independent label Lemon Recordings, of Cherry Red, re-released them with remastered sound and new liner-notes.

After being contacted by iTunes and K-tel records in California, Tony Williams re-formed Stealers Wheel in Blackpool in 2008 with two other original band members, Rod Coombes
and Paul Pilnick together with locally based musician and songwriter
Tony Mitchell. On 10 November 2008 they started filming a music video
for a re-release of “Stuck in the Middle” on the Fylde coast. They also began writing songs for a new album to be released in 2009, although they have no plans to go on tour.

I TEMPI IN CUI VIVIAMO SONO SEMPRE PIU’ DURI, E ANCHE SOPRAVVIVERE SU EBAY STA DIVENTANDO OGNI GIORNO PIU’ DIFFICILE.  SE VOLETE CONTINUARE A DELIZIARVI O INFURIARVI LEGGENDO E USUFRUENDO DELLE NOSTRE ATIPICHE ED INCONVENZIONALI INSERZIONI, VISTO CHE NON COMPRATE MAI NULLA, AIUTATECI ALMENO CON IL VOSTRO APPOGGIO E IL VOSTRO SOSTEGNO, PER UNA VOLTA TANGIBILE E COMMENSURABILE. ACCETTIAMO OGNI FORMA DI CONTRIBUTO E SOVVENZIONE, AL LIMITE ANCHE DANARO, MA VANNO BENE PURE PROSCIUTTI, FORMAGGI, SIGARETTE, BUONI PASTO, BIGLIETTI DEL TRAM,  LIQUORI , POLLAME E ORTAGGI.