Song of the Day-Star

The Scottish band, Stealers Wheel had 3 US hits. The first was the massively ubiquitous "Stuck In The Middle With You" with it's "Dylanesque" lead vocal, hooky cowbell and cool slide guitar, it "only" made it to number 6 in 1973. They followed up with "Everything Will Turn Out Fine." Featuring a fine Beatlish melody backed by a radio-friendly production unfortunately this one only got to number 49 later in that same year. Their final visit to the US charts was in 1974 with our song of the day, "Star" which got quite a bit of airplay on AM radio just scraping into the top thirty at number 29. It is a song forgotten by oldies radio. In contrast, a fine song like the Temptations "Get Ready" which also achieved that rung on the Billboard charts and was considered a "failure" by Motown owner Berry Gordy is a near-constant spin on oldies stations. Go figure.

For all the Dylan comparisons of their biggest hit, Stealers Wheel more properly evoked comparisons with John Lennon and Paul McCartney for their melodious compositions and Beatlish harmonies. The two masterminds of Stealers Wheel were Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty who we would hear from later with his massive mid-70's "Baker Street." Stealers Wheel soldiers on today for some reason with neither principal as Joe Egan left for an unsuccessful solo career and is now a publisher. Rafferty had much more success but passed away about 5 years ago from liver failure. Be warned. If you go onto Spotify or Rhapsody or Itunes there are some pretty dire, horrid versions of these tunes, presumable by the later day band without Egan or Rafferty. They will send you into spittle-flecked rages. Stay away! Listen before buying. Fortunately for us, the originals are all on the Youtubes!

If you go onto Spotify the only "authentic" Stealers Wheel you will find is "Stuck" from the Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs soundtrack where it was memorably (spoiler alert if you haven't seen the film) used as the backdrop to the scene where Michael Madsen confronts a suspected police informant. Madsen's choreographed dance number in unforgettable.You can view the actual scene on YouTube. It is not for the faint of heart. By the way, The DJ that introduces the song on the radio in that scene is Comedian Steven Wright.



This, of course, is "Everything Will Turn Out Fine" in the original single mix.

And here is our Song of the Day, the melodious "Star." The video is Egan and Rafferty lip synching to the studio track!

Finally, will close today's editon of Song of the Day with the massive "Baker Street" (number 2 in 1978 though a number one in much  of the world). The famous saxophone line is played by Raphael Ravenscroft who first came to the public's attention with his playing on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."