Stealers Wheel Stealers Wheel 180g LP

This item not eligible for any further discount offers!

FM Radio Classic "Stuck in the Middle" Immortalized in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs!

"K-Billy's Super Sounds of the '70s weekend just keeps on truckin' …" The short but legendary recording career of Stealers Wheel is defined by the pinnacle reached with its first two albums. Listening to this extraordinary debut effort it's easy to hear why many thought Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan's Stealer's Wheel would become the UK's answer to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The duo's distinctive style is in full evidence, marrying ultra-catchy hooks and melodies to thoughtful lyrics and gorgeous vocal harmonies.

As a band, Stealers Wheel was already disintegrating even as it was being formed. Players were being shifted in and out of the lineup right up to the recording sessions for this debut record, and leader Gerry Rafferty split from the band before the LP's official release (see the vintage video for "Stuck in the Middle," with Egan miming the lead vocal in Rafferty's absence!). However, as "Stuck in the Middle" streaked up the charts in the US and the UK, peaking at #6 in the US, Rafferty came back and the band eventually became Rafferty and Egan with backing players in the studio and on tour.

Songs from Stealers Wheel's stellar first pair of LPs have gotten steady airplay since they were released, and of course Gerry Rafferty's breakout success with his solo album City to City shined a bright light on his earlier efforts. Stealers Wheel became an indelible element of pop culture for new generations when maverick director Quentin Tarantino built a major set piece of his own debut Reservoir Dogs around the infectious hooks of "Stuck in the Middle." The scene is as grisly as it is unforgettable and of course it's set up brilliantly by Steven Wright's voice as the world's dryest DJ!

However, Stealers Wheel is much more than just its smash hit single. It's an all-time great rock n' roll record from start to finish, a great record to discover or (Re)Discover the way it was always meant to be heard, on vinyl!

Stealers Wheel's self-titled debut is sourced from the best source that is currently available, a beautifully preserved ½" 30ips "safety copy" of the original stereo master. When mastering this LP Intervention Records compared what they were getting off the tape to the exceptional original A&M UK "Porky/Pecko" cut on LP. In their mastering they decided to preserve the full (and they do mean full!) bass expression that is on the tape, and that no additional push was needed in the midrange and treble to emphasize detail. The result is a remarkably lively recording with driving bass, wonderfully expressive guitars and living, breathing vocal harmonies from Rafferty and Egan like you've never heard them before!

The (Re)Discover Series
You know those songs that come up on the radio when you're driving and you crank up the volume to 11 and sing your lungs out? That's the spirit of what Intervention's (Re)Discover Series is all about! Taking these FM classics and presenting them in "like you've never heard it before" sound quality so you can get that same blast of energy and excitement on your hi-fi at home. The hallmark of this series will be 100% analog mastering from real analog tapes. Combining superior master sources with the truly full-range, ultra-transparent mastering chains at studios like CoHEARent Audio and Sterling Sound, our dead quiet 180G vinyl pressings means that you'll hear these FM staples with power, majesty and musical detail like it's the first time. (Re)Discover these sonic treasures with us!

... the best sounding version of this album I've yet heard. first rate packaging, Kevin Gray's impeccable mastering, and RTI's plating ... Reissues do not get any better than this.