Mark Knopfler - Local Hero (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In early 1983, a Scottish comedy-drama entitled Local Hero hit the theatres. It told the story of an American oil company representative who is sent to a small Scottish village to purchase the town and its surrounding property. The film starred Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson and Fulton Mackay.

The accompanying soundtrack album was written and produced by Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler, which helped popularize the film with fans of the band. The record earned a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nomination for Best Score for a Film.

Gerry Rafferty - Sleepwalking

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Sleepwalking, the fifth studio album by the late singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. The album did marginal in sales, reaching only number 39 on the UK charts. After this release, Rafferty took a six year break from recording.

Rafferty co-produced the album with Christopher Neil, who also did much of the synthesizer and drum machines for the disk.

Gerry Rafferty - City to City

Today (April 16th) would have been the sixty-fifth birthday of Scottish singer and songwriter Gerry Rafferty. He passed away on January 4th, 2011, due to liver failure.

On January 20th, 1978, he released his second and most popular studio album City to City. The record went to number 6 on the UK charts and number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 200. It also generated a trio of Top 40 hit singles.

Musical Passings - Gerry Rafferty & Teena Marie

Two music masters passed within the last few weeks, and I wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to them.

Today, Gerry Rafferty passed away after a long bought of illness. This Scottish singer and songwriter penned a number of songs that were heard often around the AM and FM dials in the 70's. My iPod has a dozen or so tunes by this man including "Baker Street", "Home and Dry" and "Right Down the Line" from his 1978 album City To City. Another favorite of mine from this era is "Stuck In the Middle" from 1973 which Gerry co-wrote as part of the band Stealers Wheel (I did not know this - so even in death I learn something about the man).

The day after Christmas, Teena Marie was found dead in her home. This phenomenal talent got her start on the Motown label in the late 70's working with super-producer Rick James. She was a rare breed - one of the few white artists on a label mostly known for black musicians. Still, she proved her ability and held her own, racking up a number of hits in the 80's including "I Need Your Lovin'" (1980), "Square Biz" (1981), "Lovergirl" (1985) and "Ooo La La La" (1987). One of my favorite tracks of hers appears on the Goonies soundtrack - "14K". I definitely plan to add more of her tracks to my iPod in the coming months (a number of her albums are on my save-for-later list on emusic.com - just waiting to be downloaded as time allows).