Career
He has performed with Lindisfarne, who recorded his songs "Turn a Deaf Ear" on their first album, Nicely Out of Tune, and "Together Forever" on their second, Fog on the Tyne. Barbara Dickson also recorded "Turn a Deaf Ear" on her album Do Right Woman, on which Noakes also performed. Like Rafferty, he became an alcohol-dependant but took his last drink in 1982.
In May 1972, the British music magazine, NME, reported that Noakes was to appear at the Great Western Express Lincoln Festival on 26 May that year.
Other acts to perform in the "Giants of Tomorrow" marquee included Budgie, Skin Alley, Tea & Sympathy, John Martyn, Warhorse and Gnidrolog. Noakes best-known recording, "Branch", was released as a single in the summer of 1974 from his album Red Pump Special, and attracted considerable airplay on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 1, but without making the United Kingdom Singles Chart.
The albums Restless (1978), Rab Noakes (1980) and Under the Rain (1984) followed, but it was 1994 until Standing Up appeared. Noakes subsequently toured with the Varaflames, containing Pick Withers, Rod Clements, and the harmonicist Fraser Speirs.
Noakes became the senior producer for music programmes on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Scotland.
He left to create the production company, Neon. In November 2007, his album Unlimited Mileage, again with the Varaflames, was released. In 2012 CDs of Standing Up Again made in 2009 and Just in case (made in 2007) were made available those albums only having been available to Download up until then
In 2015 he released the album "I"m Walking Here".
lieutenant was his 19th solo album and many of the songs tell the story of his working life as a songwriter and performer. lieutenant is a double album containing 26 songs "The first set consists of new compositions that show his gift for melody and love of Americana, and include the glorious Out of Your Sight, influenced by Buddy Holly (who apparently admired Lonnie Donegan), a stomping tribute to a 1920s minstrel singer and a poignant lament for Rafferty.
The second album is dominated by “interpretations” (he hates the word covers) of songs from early Cliff Richard to Garbage and Beck, along with the skiffle standard Freight Train, on which he’s joined by Jimmy MacGregor and a finely sung treatment of the traditional The Two Sisters. Magnificent.".
