Snakes and Ladders (Gerry Rafferty album)

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Snakes and Ladders
Snakesandladders.jpg
Studio album by
Gerry Rafferty
Released11 April 1980 [1]
Studio Chipping Norton Recording Studios (Oxon, England); AIR Studios (Montserrat).
Genre Rock
Length48:44
Label United Artists
Producer Gerry Rafferty, Hugh Murphy
Gerry Rafferty chronology
Night Owl
(1979)		Snakes and Ladders
(1980)		 Sleepwalking
(1982)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Smash Hits 8½/10 [3]

Snakes and Ladders is the fourth 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, while singles achieved number 54 UK ("Bring It All Home"), and number 67UK / number 54 US ("The Royal Mile"). The album was released on CD in 1998 [EMI 7 46609-2] but deleted soon after that, and it got reissued on CD in August 2012 as a two-CD set with "Sleepwalking."

Contents

Some of the songs are available on compilation albums. Four of the songs, "The Garden of England", "I Was a Boy Scout", "Welcome to Hollywood" and "Bring It All Home" were 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? .

"The Garden of England" ends with an extract from William Whitelaw's "short, sharp shock" speech that he delivered in 1979. [4]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Gerry Rafferty

  1. "The Royal Mile" – 3:48
  2. "I Was a Boy Scout" – 4:15
  3. "Welcome to Hollywood" – 5:17
  4. "Wastin' Away" – 3:29
  5. "Look at the Moon" – 2:18
  6. "Bring It All Home" – 4:40
  7. "The Garden of England" – 4:08
  8. "Johnny's Song" – 3:25
  9. "Didn't I" – 4:14
  10. "Syncopatin Sandy" – 4:24
  11. "Café Le Cabotin" – 4:51
  12. "Don't Close the Door" – 3:45

Charts

Album

Chart (1980)Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [5] 31
Germany [6] 34
Netherlands [6] 17
United Kingdom [7] 15
United States [8] 61

Certifications

Certifications for Snakes and Ladders
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [9] Silver60,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

Production

References

  1. ↑ "Tom Odell, Magnetised, Single - The BPI". Bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
  2. ↑ "Snakes & Ladders Review by Mike DeGagne". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Starr, Ref. "Gerry Rafferty: Snakes and Ladders". Smash Hits (17–30 April 1980): 30.
  4. ↑ Andrew M Brown (5 January 2011). "Gerry Rafferty's struggle with demons, and the Willie Whitelaw connection". Daily Telegraph.
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 244. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  6. 1 2 Hung, Steffen. "Gerry Rafferty - Snakes And Ladders". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
  7. ↑ "GERRY RAFFERTY". Officialcharts.com. 18 February 1978. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
  8. ↑ "Billboard Database". Elpee.jp. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
  9. ↑ "British album certifications – Gerry Rafferty – Snakes and Ladders". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 25 July 2022.


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