Night Owl is the third studio album by Scottish musician Gerry Rafferty. It was released a year after Rafferty's platinum-selling album City to City. While not quite performing as well as its predecessor, Night Owl still managed enough sales to achieve platinum status in Canada, gold in the United Kingdom, and gold status in the U.S. The title song reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. The album made the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart.
The album was recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Chipping Norton, England.
"Take the Money and Run" was recorded by Alvin Lee on the 1980 release Free Fall under the title "Take the Money."
Re-releases On 30 January 2007 Collectables Records released City To City and Night Owl as a two-disc set.
Critical reception
The Los Angeles Times called the songs "concise, wry tales of love and ambition, inventively arranged and sung in a dry whine that carries just the right amount of detachment."
Track listing
Personnel Gerry Rafferty – vocals, acoustic piano (2, 9) Polymoog (2), acoustic guitar (3–8, 10), string arrangements Graham Preskett – acoustic piano (1, 4, 10), electric piano (2), string synthesizer (2), keyboards (6, 7), fiddles (6, 7), mandolin (10), string arrangements, string scoring and conductor Pete Wingfield – organ (1, 2, 3) Tommy Eyre – acoustic piano (3), electric piano (5), synthesizers (5) John Kirkpatrick – accordion (4, 6, 7) Richard Brunton – electric guitar (1, 3, 6, 7), lap steel guitar (1, 4, 10), acoustic guitar (3, 4, 7–10), guitar solo (7), guitars (10) Hugh Burns – electric guitar (1, 4), rhythm guitar (1, 9), guitar solo (1, 9), guitars (2, 5) Richard Thompson –mandolin (4), electric guitars (7, 8) Mo Foster – bass (1, 2, 4, 6–10) Gary Taylor – bass (3, 5) Liam Genockey – drums Frank Ricotti – percussion (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9) Raphael Ravenscroft – Lyricon (2), saxophone (5, 6, 9, 10) Richard Harvey – penny whistle (6), pipe organ (7), recorders (7), synthesizers (8, 9) Gavyn Wright – string leader Betsy Cook – backing vocals (1, 3) Barbara Dickson – backing vocals (1, 3, 7) Linda Thompson – backing vocals (1, 3)
Production Gerry Rafferty – producer Hugh Murphy – producer Barry Hammond – engineer (1, 2, 4, 6–10) Nick Patrick – engineer (3, 5) John Patrick Byrne – front cover painting Robert Ellis – photography
Charts Album Chart (1979)PositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)18Germany18Netherlands8United Kingdom9US Billboard Pop Albums29 Single YearSongChartPosition1979"Night Owl"UK Top 4051979"Night Owl"Ireland51979"Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)"U.S. Billboard Pop Singles171979"Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)"Canada RPM Adult Contemporary81979"Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)"Canada RPM Top Singles191979"Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)"U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary171979"Get It Right Next Time"U.S. Billboard Pop Singles211979"Get It Right Next Time"U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary151979"Get It Right Next Time"UK Top 40301979"Get It Right Next Time"Ireland21979"Get It Right Next Time"Canada RPM Top Singles52
Certifications
References
External links