Snakes and Ladders (Gerry Rafferty album)

Snakes and Ladders
Studio album by Gerry Rafferty
Released	April 1980 (UK), May 1980 (US)
Studio	Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxon., Air Studios, Montserrat
Genre	Rock
Label	United Artists
Producer	Gerry Rafferty, Hugh Murphy
Gerry Rafferty chronology
Night Owl (1979) Snakes and Ladders (1980) Sleepwalking (1982)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Smash Hits	8½/10

Snakes and Ladders is the fourth studio album by Gerry Rafferty. It was released in 1980, following the success of his previous two albums, City to City and Night Owl. The album charted at No. 15 in the UK but only reached No. 61 in the US. The album was released on CD in 1998 [EMI 7 46609-2] but deleted soon after that, and it got reissued on CD on August 2012 as a 2-CD set with "Sleepwalking." Some of the songs are available on compilation albums. One of the songs, "The Garden of England", was recorded at Beatles producer George Martin's AIR studio in Montserrat. All the songs were original Rafferty compositions, though one – "Johnny's Song" – was a remake of a song which had been previously released by his former band Stealers Wheel, and another – "Didn't I" – was a remake of a song from Rafferty's 1971 album Can I Have My Money Back?.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Gerry Rafferty

1. "The Royal Mile (Sweet Darlin')"
2. "I Was a Boy Scout"
3. "Welcome to Hollywood"
4. "Wastin' Away"
5. "Look at the Moon"
6. "Bring It All Home"
7. "The Garden of England"
8. "Johnny's Song"
9. "Didn't I"
10. "Syncopatin Sandy"
11. "Cafe Le Cabotin"
12. "Don't Close the Door"

Personnel

• Gerry Rafferty – vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards
• Mo Foster, Pete Zorn – bass guitar
• Ian Lynn – keyboards
• Jerry Donahue, Richard Brunton – guitar
• Richard Harvey – synthesiser, whistle
• Bryn Haworth – guitar, slide guitar
• Mel Collins – saxophone
• Betsy Cook – backing vocals
• Liam Genockey – drums
• Billy Livsey – piano, melodica, keyboards
• Raphael Ravenscroft – saxophone
• Frank Ricotti – percussion, congas, tambourine
• Pete Wingfield – piano, Hammond organ
• Billy Wingfield – piano, synthesiser

Technical

• Barry Hammond, Stephen Lipson - engineer
• John Patrick Byrne - cover
• Michael Gray - photography, management

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1980	Billboard Pop Albums	61

Single

Year	Song	Chart	Position
1980	"The Royal Mile (Sweet Darlin')"	Billboard Pop Singles	54

External links

• Snakes and Ladders at Discogs (list of releases)