If were true I would be dead myself many times over.
I don't know if Rory would understand what rockist means. Then we would have to clarify it for him and.....things would get ugly.
Voila!
― George Smith, Saturday, 23 July 2005 20:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― DV (dirtyvicar), Saturday, 23 July 2005 20:30 (eighteen years ago) link
You appear to be implying that he is somehow the progenitor of your in-laws' small-mindedness - that listening to his work somehow limited their ability to appreciate other forms of music.Gallagher's medium of choice was blues-rock, and it was a genre he rarely strayed from, but he was a consummate musician, a man who lived for music, and I doubt he ever urged his audience to foreswear everything else. Guys like him usually understand that it's all good.
― Palomino (Palomino), Saturday, 23 July 2005 22:00 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0530,eddy,66199,22.html
― xhuxk, Saturday, 23 July 2005 22:47 (eighteen years ago) link
No "Laundromat," first off. That was Gallagher's early signature tune. "Tattoo'd Lady" was second and that one, happily, is on the omnibus.
"Calling Card" was picked from the album of that title. The pick should have been that -and- "Secret Agent."
"Out on the Western Plain" comes from "Against the Grain," which I thought was his finest. But skipped are the entirely over the top "Souped Up Ford" and greasy rocking, "Bought and Sold," which was always a sweet crowd-pleaser.
"Shadow Play" is all right. I would bet Mark Knopfler got a lot from it. Gallagher had a way with country rags, and I don't see much of that on the omnibus.
One plus, "Born on the Wrong Side of Times" from Taste, which was one his best hooks.
Rory Gallagher got the complete remaster and deluxe reissue treatment a few years ago. I'd recommend finding some of them and picking the stuff you find that looks the best to you from that. It's hard to get a bad record in the bunch. He spanned styles. First boogie and blues, in the middle a couple nods toward refined FM before it fossilized, later in his career he got heavy to take advantage of some interest from the NWOBHM. Most of the louder stuff is good, too. Gallagher never overplayed things or pandered.
― George Smith, Sunday, 24 July 2005 00:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 24 July 2005 00:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Earl Nash (earlnash), Sunday, 24 July 2005 10:45 (eighteen years ago) link
As time went on, his music got heavier, and maybe a little less hooky. His best tunes are on the earlier studio albums (self-titled, Deuce, Blueprint, Tattoo), but the studio versions can come off as a little dry. In addition to "Laudromat," search "Hands Off."
For a blues rocker, his lead playing is surprisingly free of blues mannerisms. And his voice can grow on you.
― Sang Freud (jeff_s), Sunday, 24 July 2005 11:05 (eighteen years ago) link
for some reason I always confused Rory G w/Roy Buchanan, dunno why.
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 24 July 2005 11:09 (eighteen years ago) link
Rory wouldn't have known what rockist meant and if he were around to have it explained to him, he would have dismissed the teller as a moron. But the teller wouldn't have known it because Gallagher appeared to have been, faultlessly, a gentleman.
I, ekkp, keep coming back to the new anthology and, as usual, I'm mixed up as to why what was included, was included. Prob'ly because the anthologist wasn't there, or was there later. No matter, it's hard to hurt yourself seriously sampling from the Gallagher catalog.
What I didn't mention was "Cradle Rock"!!!! Another sig tune of his.Again, so much to recommend. The remaster series, organized by Rory's brother, Donal, who was his manager, spit out a BBC session double disk. The first disc alone is worth twice the price of admission. Builds from "Calling Card" to OTT boogie rock madness, different from many else of the time in the electric piano of Lou Martin and the velocity with which Gallagher -riffed-, not shredded. "I Take What I Want," from "Against the Grain," and "Cruise on Out" or on fire, as is most of the material from "Calling Card" that's played in the set.
"Lost At Sea" should have been included on the anthology. It's a subtle bolero which a magnificent climax and sounded great on radio. Never played much, but it's one of the reasons I bought the album.
Don't know if the anthology mentions this but Gallagher was tortured by the collapse of Taste and wrote a good number of songs as a result of his anger at that. Often, they were really great songs. According to his brother, he was also indifferent or opposed to the spawning of singles off his records.
If you read some of the histories of the Brit rock bluesmen, many of them were the first of the independents, before the word indie was coined. Gallagher was a true independent. He did his albums, he toured, it was all self-contained. The recordings were issued by majors with seemingly absolutely no control over what he chose to do, the music the better for it.
Another feature of Gallagher's catalog: Much of his high energy stuff was/is way too jacked up for a standard classic rock audience. So while Clapton, for instance, got a lot of mileage with material that made it to FM that indicates he was either asleep or on 'ludes while doing it, Gallagher was, by comparison, ferocious, or not particularly interested in the applying the meaning of the adjective -mellow- to his stuff.
― George Smith, Monday, 25 July 2005 04:39 (eighteen years ago) link
Both on Polydor for a while? Both start with R?
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 25 July 2005 06:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 25 July 2005 06:19 (eighteen years ago) link
I felt Laughner's few pieces of rock journalism for CREEM were duffer crap. I was doing some reporting writing for a newspaper at the time and was younger than him. But his long feature on Rory Gallagher was way more than halfway decent. He resisted the urge to be Lester Bangsian -- which Gallagher would have in no way deserved and simply brushed off -- and turned in a feature piece which was honest to the man and his art. Might have been the best longish article I ever saw published on Rory Gallagher in the US while he was alive and in his prime. And there weren't many of these.
Supports my suspicion that dudes in Rocket from the Tombs dug hard Brit white boy blooz -- at least the guitarists. And understood you could be reactionary employing variations on the style. Gallagher would have been a good teacher.
― George Smith, Monday, 25 July 2005 08:00 (eighteen years ago) link
(Still haven't heard him m'self - I downloaded "Laundromat" back in '03, right before my computer died, and so never got to hear it.)
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 25 July 2005 08:38 (eighteen years ago) link
He wrote great hooks (check out "Philby" off of Top Priority), and his live albums were blistering.
Such a tasteful lead guitarist too. Great tone. Damn, I wish I had all those LPs still.
― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Monday, 25 July 2005 15:46 (eighteen years ago) link
Here is a link that has the Peter Laughner article on Rory Gallagher.
― Earl Nash (earlnash), Monday, 25 July 2005 18:19 (eighteen years ago) link
Anyway, a guy at work with broad musical tastes recommended "Live in Europe" as the place to start with Rory Gallagher... what do you reckon?
― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 25 July 2005 19:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― George Smith, Monday, 25 July 2005 19:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― SoHoLa (SoHoLa), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 03:22 (eighteen years ago) link
There's something to that. Thanks to Earl Nash's digging up the URL, I went back and looked at it. As a music journalist, Laughner was a cliche. Happily, that's not what we know him most for or where his good creative work was handed in. Bangs imitation on Lou Reed records and Television. The Rory Gallagher assignment broke him out of that mold. Perhaps Gallagher made him nervous because he was totally unlike Lou Reed and Television. Rory Gallagher wasn't dangerous, avante garde or cutting edge, but he was legitimately dangerous -- in all the good ways -- on guitar.
Rory Gallagher was also a total guy thing. I can't remember any young women liking his music when I played. And I can't recall any numbers of note in attendance at his shows. And it wasn't that the guy was macho, or his lyrics were poor, quite the opposite. It just must have been the fearsome noise of the guitar and the velocity of the band. Pianner player Lou Martin always sounded like he was on speed.
I'd love to see sales stats in the US for 71-78 or so. I'm betting, usually well well less than 70,000/per but still turning a profit because his records were efficiently and cheaply produced. That was a a very good way to make hard rock records distributed by majors, a talent and tradition long lost. Your record would be in stores, one copy, maybe and it would get name recognition, and you would be an adequate draw on the undercard of major tours. Everyone would go away happy and ready to make the next record. It's called a career, something very few within the genre are allowed to have anymore.
Hah. I've been listening to Rory Gallagher this year -- now -- a lot more than I'll have clocked Johnny Winter for 2005. And I just played "Second Winter" & "Johnny Winter And" a month ago.
― George Smith, Tuesday, 26 July 2005 17:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link
do you mean when you played his music to them... or when you played in Rory Gallagher's band????
― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 20:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― George Smith, Tuesday, 26 July 2005 20:45 (eighteen years ago) link
http://shadowplay.hostingisfree.com/
― Sang Freud (jeff_s), Saturday, 30 July 2005 13:54 (eighteen years ago) link
Revive in honor of St. Patrick's day, which is a perfect day to play this guy. I love Rory Gallagher.
Also, a shout out to George Smith and his classic dismantling of the clueless "dirty vicar" nearly six years ago
― Thraft of Cleveland (Bill Magill), Thursday, 17 March 2011 17:58 (thirteen years ago) link
always wanted to buy a rory gallagher album, never have
always get him confused with roy buchanan
― what do it take to be a legend like noz is? (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:29 (thirteen years ago) link
He's pretty consistently great. Im not familiar with Buchanan, so i cant really compare the two.
― Thraft of Cleveland (Bill Magill), Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:37 (thirteen years ago) link
http://gratefulbreed.blogspot.com/2011/03/rory-gallagher-live-in-sausalito-ca-10.htmlsmoking show from 1975.
― tylerw, Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
i will have to check something out, assuming like something early 70s vintage be best? see his stuff at used record shops quite a bit....
i hope this isn't a disappointment like when i finally got bridge of sighs by robin trower
― what do it take to be a legend like noz is? (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
this is what you wanthttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FSqsEtbmL._SS500_.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
that's a dude who looks like he wails IMO
― what do it take to be a legend like noz is? (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
wrt roy buchanan i've never heard this but one of my fav album covers ever:
http://www.woundedbird.com/buchanan/9138.jpg
'ello mate!
― what do it take to be a legend like noz is? (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link
just 'avin a pint with me guitar ...
― tylerw, Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:51 (thirteen years ago) link
The Taste records are pretty cool, too. "blister on the Moon" is a great psych single.
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 17 March 2011 19:17 (thirteen years ago) link
^ Oh, he does. Irish Tour absolutely kills.Get that one, no doubt.
― Thraft of Cleveland (Bill Magill), Thursday, 17 March 2011 19:26 (thirteen years ago) link
lol at all the rockist fites going on when this thread began. kinda glad that whole argument has died down around these parts?
― tylerw, Thursday, 17 March 2011 19:29 (thirteen years ago) link
absolutely. I never understood that particular battle.
― Thraft of Cleveland (Bill Magill), Thursday, 17 March 2011 19:32 (thirteen years ago) link
i get not wanting rock music to be the standard by which every other music is judged, but after that ... so what?
― tylerw, Thursday, 17 March 2011 19:38 (thirteen years ago) link
kinda glad that whole argument has died down around these parts?
Pretty much. Boy, I'd forgotten about this thread. Well, I'll be listening to my RG collection tonight, I think.
― Gorge, Thursday, 17 March 2011 19:50 (thirteen years ago) link
woah this rocks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k4iocWURPk
― what do it take to be a legend like noz is? (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 March 2011 20:50 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, that song opens Irish Tour. Gallagher gets introduced, does a little tuning and then nukes the place. One of the best openings to an album ever.
― Thraft of Cleveland (Bill Magill), Thursday, 17 March 2011 21:01 (thirteen years ago) link
just downloaded irish tour
this is the definition of going ham on guitar. everything wow! hard shit, slow shit, acoustic shit, dude is a fucking master.
― i'm a fucking walking pair of Docs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:14 (twelve years ago) link
robin trower eat a dick
Eagle Records is reissuing his whole catalog; they started with Irish Tour '74 and just last week I got a package that included the s/t debut, Deuce, Live in Europe and Blueprint, plus a new 2CD set called Notes from San Francisco - a previously unreleased studio session from '77 paired with a disc of liveage from '79. I'd never heard the guy until I was flown to Ireland to follow The Answer around for Relix magazine in 2009 - I bought a 2CD The Essential... on that trip and became a casual fan. Now that I've got this much of his stuff, I intend to do some real wallowing.
― that's not funny. (unperson), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:25 (twelve years ago) link
That's pretty awesome, psyched he's getting reissued.
(nb: I like Trower too)
― Thraft of Cleveland (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, dude pretty much goes IN at all times
― tylerw, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
I think Rory Gallagher's song writing gets a bit undersung in the wake of his instrumental prowess. I really particularly like his Duece LP.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
favourite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heD3siavZBg
― Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 22:42 (twelve years ago) link
― i'm a fucking walking pair of Docs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, May 17, 2011 4:14 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol
― usic for 18 magicians (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 15 August 2013 17:58 (ten years ago) link
the rory documentary "Ghost Blues" is on Netflix instant! pretty interesting! i didn't know how important he was to the sense of Irish rock identity w/kids like The Edge and Bob Geldof etc
johnny marr is in it really briefly and he just talks about how once he say Rory change a string WHILE STILL PLAYING A SONG which marr says "there should be a monument to that somewhere" haha
― usic for 18 magicians (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 15 August 2013 17:59 (ten years ago) link
van, phil lynott and rory are like the holy trinity of irish rock
― Old Boy In Network (Michael B), Thursday, 15 August 2013 18:32 (ten years ago) link
i didn't know how important he was to the sense of Irish rock identity w/kids like The Edge and Bob Geldof etc
^you wouldnt know by listening to their shit music that either of these clowns were influenced by someone like Gallagher. For kicks i may go back to back on Irish Tour and Rattle and Hum and hear how pathetic the latter fares.
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Thursday, 15 August 2013 19:08 (ten years ago) link
the influence wouldnt have been claimed as directly musical
― "fear of putting out" in one's early thirties (darraghmac), Thursday, 15 August 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
yeah i mean The Edge was only 15 i think he said when he saw rory w/his older brother and friends
the sense i got was that there just weren't that many bands that really ID'd as "Irish" that were big on the UK/world stage, so the kids there really identified and rooted for them, as michael b. said Van, Them, Thin Lizzy, Skid Row, Rory etc
also in the documentary Rory and his ppl put on some big outdoor Irish rock fest that i guess was a big deal, and he also would tour Northern Ireland when other ppl wouldn't
― usic for 18 magicians (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 15 August 2013 19:32 (ten years ago) link
though i never do understand how people don't get that you can be influenced by ppl musically w/o sounding like them :/
― usic for 18 magicians (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 15 August 2013 19:34 (ten years ago) link
I heard this for the first time a few days ago on the radio. lovely song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25x0OFIEhfA
― Old Boy In Network (Michael B), Friday, 16 August 2013 01:33 (ten years ago) link
I've been getting into this dude lately. His appearances on Don Kirshner's shows are pretty great, especially watch the keyboardist and bassist...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqtX8dGHhEs
― ^^^ NOT METAL (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, 10 April 2015 07:42 (nine years ago) link
irish tour right now...his soloing on "Million Miles Away" just stunning
I said some things about Robin Trower on this thread I regret.
Also the exchange in 2011 upthread about the Roy Buchanan album cover "Loading Zone" between me & tyler was a precursor to the "I've Got My Own Album to Do" thread lol
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 14:33 (seven years ago) link
lol rereading this thread i was thinking the exact same thing about that buchanan cover.
― new noise, Tuesday, 14 March 2017 15:05 (seven years ago) link
I find it endearing just how many RG songs are about being a detective or a spy or a crook/gangster. Interesting way to avoid a lot of trad blues cliches.
― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 4 February 2019 16:54 (five years ago) link
man the first few posts on any old ilm thread about a classic rock artist has the most absurd opinions
And there is a general sense that people who like Rory Gallagher are essentially people with a narrow, warped, and failed take on what makes music good or bad.
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 4 February 2019 16:55 (five years ago) link
Postcards From the Popist Past
― Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Monday, 4 February 2019 16:57 (five years ago) link
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/rory-gallagher-remembered-on-new-blues-collection/
― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 4 April 2019 17:26 (five years ago) link
The 74 Irish Tour doc is on Amazon Prime. What a fucking player, just pure excitement every time he takes a solo.
Also he's playing Cork and other towns in Northern Ireland and these crowds probably didn't get that many big bands, they are just out of their minds at times
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 15 February 2020 04:32 (four years ago) link
IIRC, there'd been an IRA bombing the morning of one of those shows, and the promoters wanted to cancel, but Gallagher argued that the city needed the show and carried on.
Also, due to the Troubles, they weren't able to get the mobile recording truck to most of the gigs on that tour, so as it ended up that most of the album was taken from Nagra tapes recorded for the movie.
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 15 February 2020 04:56 (four years ago) link
Wow.... had no idea, they do show some bombed out houses in Cork, parts definitely look like warzones
He's so inventive and exciting as a soloist. In a just world he'd be regarded higher than Clapton
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 15 February 2020 05:38 (four years ago) link
There weren't any bombs in Cork, wrong Ireland.
― Load up your rubber wallets (Tom D.), Saturday, 15 February 2020 10:42 (four years ago) link
Rory was from Cork! In fact you can see this statue of his guitar outside the station:
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0b/99/2d/ee/found-rorys-place-in.jpg
And this awesome statue in his birthplace, Ballyshannon:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Rory_Gallagher_Statue_-_Ballyshannon.jpg/800px-Rory_Gallagher_Statue_-_Ballyshannon.jpg
― it's after the end of the world (Matt #2), Saturday, 15 February 2020 11:17 (four years ago) link
He really was one of the best guitarists, makes Mr J. Bonamassa sound like a beginner
― it's after the end of the world (Matt #2), Saturday, 15 February 2020 11:18 (four years ago) link
tom may recall this differently (better!) but in the 70s uk rock papers, gallagher was held in fond regard, as a good thing that was also an anomaly: as like the honest and committed flying dutchman of great blues guitarists, who never lets up touring
(which notion i believe i gathered from the EOY awards, where he was year-on-year chosen by the readers for the "annual vasco de gama medal for always being on the road")
iirc this special EOY category vanished with punk, when "blues guitar" was no longer considered necessarily a virtue? but i haven't checked this in all the relevant weeklies tho: nme switched away from what was left of this kind of music and never got on the metal train -- sounds in particular may have remained more loyal to the concept :|
― mark s, Saturday, 15 February 2020 11:48 (four years ago) link
I don't remember much talk about Rory Gallagher at all, tbh! I imagine you're right he wasn't thrown on the scrapheap though.
― Load up your rubber wallets (Tom D.), Saturday, 15 February 2020 11:55 (four years ago) link
My confession is that I don't think I'd heard Rory Gallagher until a few years ago and I still have heard next to nothing other than the occasional live thing I might stumble across on YouTube.
― Load up your rubber wallets (Tom D.), Saturday, 15 February 2020 12:01 (four years ago) link
Just FYI, Cork is at the opposite end of the island, about as far away as you can get from where the bombs were going off. The footage you saw was probably filmed in Belfast.
― Diddums Is a Ranter (Vast Halo), Saturday, 15 February 2020 18:47 (four years ago) link
oops yeah they seemed to play a little loose with editing
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 15 February 2020 19:09 (four years ago) link
also I'm dumb
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 15 February 2020 19:19 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvO5OdZgtyM
I love how it's just the jam parts.
― "what are you DOING to fleetwood mac??" (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 March 2021 00:56 (three years ago) link
I've been listening to so much 70s blues rock lately (latest purchase was Foghat's debut) but had never really given Irish Tour '74 a listen before today. Guitar playing is incredible, but I really wish his keyboardist didn't sound like he was using a Casio.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 14 June 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
You might want to check the Live! In Europe album, which was done right before he added keyboards.
― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 14 June 2021 19:32 (two years ago) link
I personally like the rinky-dink electric piano, as it adds a unique flavor absent from other acts of the time & ilk. I can see how it could grate tho.
― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 14 June 2021 19:36 (two years ago) link
Thanks for the Live in Europe recommendation, this sounds better to me already.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 14 June 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link
No keys on the 1979 Stage Struck live album either, more in the hard rock direction too if that's your thing.
― speaking the language of goals, going forward (Matt #2), Monday, 14 June 2021 21:23 (two years ago) link
i'm another one who's grown to love those keys. that guy's on "blueprint," one of my faves. plus i love how he announces his bandmates on the live albums. "rod de'ath rod de'ath." talk about your de'ath metal! (i know he's the drummer but...)
― Thus Sang Freud, Tuesday, 15 June 2021 20:57 (two years ago) link
The Beat Club Sessions is great early live stuff if you don't mind it a little raw
― Shaidar Logoff (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 16 June 2021 07:09 (two years ago) link