Of all the immortal albums in rock 'n roll history, this one just HAD to be recorded in the 70s, the most confused decade in the genre's history. For an era that was pumping out acts like Alice Cooper and The Clash alongside a seemingly endless barrage of disco trash and some of the most mawkishly produced pop music ever to soil the ears of man, calling it "confused" is an act of extreme courtesy. Yet this seems precisely the thing that designates "City To City" a masterpiece. Despite the album's love affair with the flowery, post-psychedelia production that turned pop music into a pageant of circus cast-offs by 1978, the strength of Rafferty's songwriting stands firm. The album's most amazing moments come at times when Rafferty seems to have sent his producer out on another take-out run for the band. Good clean tracks like the stirringly intimate "Whatever's Written in Your Heart" and the flawlessly composed "Right Down The Line" attest to the power Rafferty can command when left to his own devices, while the hysterical onslaught of bells, cymbals and keyboards that usher in "Baker Street," Rafferty's most famous single, sound like the start of some 25-year-old Perillo Tours ad. Yet the songs themselves endure: Baker Street soon clears the clutter and slides effortlessly into a gorgeous ballad with that unmistakable sax riff cutting a backbone through the song, rivaled only by Rafferty's stinging guitar work. "The Ark," a beautifully understated ballad brought to fruition by a particularly moving vocal performance, is as successful an opening track as there has ever been. Only the title track and the album's last two songs seem incapable of overcoming the desperate production that threatens to derail the album throughout but, thankfully, never manages to do so. It is this tension between indulgence and tact that makes for one incredible listening experience. That Rafferty essentially abandoned his talents soon after is just as tragic as "City To City" is miraculous.