Stealers Wheel weren’t just Gerry Rafferty’s backing band. Joe Egan, who has died, was his fellow front man and wrote many of their songs himself as well as co-writing their most famous hit Stuck in the Middle With You with Rafferty.
Just about everyone’s memories of Stealers Wheel start (and most people’s end) with Stuck in the Middle With You with the addition of, perhaps, Star, but the first time I encountered them was on the release of the eponymous LP and what I believe was their initial UK TV appearance where they performed the opening track Late Again. The blend of the voices of Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty was distinctive and different to anything else around at the time.
Late Again may be a little slow in tempo (some may even think it a dirge) but it stuck with me and I later bought the album.
