Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part Two (2021)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from the Agora Ballroom, Cleveland Ohio, sometime in September 1972.

SOUND QUALITY: Meh…you really need to turn it up to hear it, the recording hollow, brittle, and empty-sounding. Just a step above full-blown bootleg status, really, but Gallagher’s vox are easily discernable and his guitar cuts through the muck like a surgeon’s scalpel, but his otherwise talented rhythm section is blurred and slurred into sonic roadkill on most tracks.

COVER: It’s a major label release, so the packaging isn’t too shabby – nice B&W “action” shot of Rory strangling his Stratocaster on the front, a B&W full band photo on the rear cover along with the track listing. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog (so fire up those credit cards, kids!).

TRACKLIST: 
(Side A) 1. Messin’ With the Kid • 2. Used To Be • 3. Should’ve Learnt My Lesson

(Side B) 4. Laundromat • 5. Pistol Slapper Blues • 6. Banker’s Blues • 7. In Your Town

COMMENTS: Let’s clear up any potential misconceptions about this “Record Store Day” album from the beginning…released on July 17th as part of the second RSD “drop” for 2021, Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part 2 isn’t a two-album set (like it says on the RSD website), it’s a single, seven-song 12” record pressed on a thick slab of 180g wax. There’s no “download card,” as some sources claim (or else my still-sealed copy didn’t come with one…as last year’s predecessor didn’t have a download, I’m pretty sure that Universal went cheap-o again and didn’t include one here, either…). Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features a previously-unreleased radio broadcast of a promotional concert done exclusively for Cleveland’s WNCR-FM. 

Gallagher and his band performed seven songs in the otherwise empty Agora Ballroom on some day in September 1972 (no date listed, but Gallagher opened for Fleetwood Mac in Cleveland on September 8th). The album is a “sequel,” of sorts, to last year’s RSD release Cleveland Calling, a previously-unreleased in-studio acoustic performance for WNCR-FM from August ’72. That album was a resounding success upon its RSD release, peaking at #2 on the Billboard magazine “Blues” chart, a feat matched by this new archival release. Gallagher’s band at the time included bassist Gerry McAvoy (who would remain with Rory until his death in 1995), keyboardist Lou Martin, and drummer Rod de’Ath, the same talented group that would later record Gallagher’s critically-acclaimed 1973 albums Blueprint and Tattoo. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the greatness that was Rory Gallagher, he was an Irish blues-rock guitarist who, after finding inspiration in the music of U.K. hitmaker Lonnie Donegan, picked up the instrument at the age of nine and subsequently fell in love with the blues and rock ‘n’ roll music he heard listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) on his radio late at night. Influenced by artists as diverse as Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly, and Woody Guthrie, Gallagher taught himself slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo. His first band that anybody remembers was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 that would release a pair of critically-acclaimed studio albums before breaking up. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce, both albums breaking the Top 40 in the U.K. 

Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features one song from Rory’s debut and three from Deuce, alongside a trio of previously-unrecorded tunes that were part of Gallagher’s concert setlist that would appear on his breakthrough1972 album Live In Europe. The Agora Ballroom was a great venue for Gallagher’s “meat and potatoes” approach to rock and blues music, the historic stage hosting notable concerts by talents like Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, Boston, Todd Rundgren, Ian Hunter, and many others. Oddly enough, the club’s proximity to popular FM radio station WMMS meant that the station frequently broadcast live shows from the location. Cross-town rival WNCR seems to have pulled a fast one here, broadcasting an exclusive Gallagher performance from the venue.

As for the performance itself, Gallagher and crew bring fire and brimstone to the stage. Opening with Junior Wells’ signature song “Messin’ With the Kid,” Rory does a little noodling guitar intro until the band explodes into a revved-up, amphetamine-fueled Chicago blues jam that hits your ears like a drive-by mugging. Martin’s honky-tonk piano-pounding livens up the performance by offering a counterpoint to the Gallagher’s raging guitarplay. (Note: “Messin’ With the Kid” is incorrectly attributed to Wells but it was actually written by Chief Records founder and producer Mel London, who also wrote hits for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James). Gallagher’s original “Used To Be” is a bit of a letdown by comparison with the album-opener, but it features some tasty fatback six-string bending by the Irish maestro against a strident, if somewhat smudged rhythmic backdrop. 

The scorching, Chicago-styled blues of “Should Have Learnt My Lesson” closes out the album’s first side, the song’s languid tempo disguising a fiery heartbeat and truckloads of emotion channeled through Gallagher’s strings and Martin’s subtle keyboard flourishes. It’s a captivating performance made all the better by Gallagher blue-eyed soul vocals. “Laundromat,” the lone song here from his debut album, roars out of the grooves to open side two, the song’s mix of raucous British blues and jazzy undertones providing a clever bit of songwriting alchemy. Gerry McAvoy’s bass and drummer Rod de’Ath are more discernable here, providing a rhythmic backbone for Gallagher rowdy performance and soaring solos. 

A cover of legendary bluesman Blind Boy Fuller’s “Pistol Slapper Blues” never made it onto a proper Gallagher studio recording, its only contemporary appearance coming on the guitarist’s Live In Europe (it would later appear as a bonus track on the CD reissue of Irish Tour ’74). Gallagher seems to have treated live albums like studio work anyway, his setlists peppered with new originals and cover songs that he’d seldom revisit. Fuller’s Piedmont blues classic is provided a spry acoustic setting here, with Gallagher’s inspired vocals rising above his elegant fretwork. The Big Bill Broonzy song “Banker’s Blues” is cut from similar cloth, Gallagher’s half-spoken vocals accompanied by melodic harmonica, subtle piano, and filigree acoustic guitar. Deuce’s “In Your Town” closes the set with a booger-rock frenzy driven by Martin’s rollicking keyboards and Gallagher’s stinging, energetic guitar solos.

While he never built more than a cult following stateside during his lifetime, Gallagher nevertheless forged an influential and modestly-successful career, releasing eleven studio and three live albums over roughly 20 years as a solo performer. Gallagher died of complications from a liver transplant in June 1995, but his unassailable catalog of music influenced artists as diverse as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, and Joe Bonamassa, among many others. In the wake of his death, Rory’s brother Dónal has kept the guitarist’s legacy alive with a steady stream of high-quality live and archival releases. He may have dug deep into the vaults to find the performance featured on Cleveland Calling, Part 2 but it’s a worthy addition to the artist’s canon and a necessary addition to the collections of Rory’s avid fans. Grade: A (Chess Records/Universal Music, released July 17th, 2021)

Review originally published by the Original Live! Music Review website...

Also on That Devil Music:
Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling review
Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour review
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions review

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling (2020)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from Agency Recordings Studio, Cleveland Ohio; August 7th, 1972

SOUND QUALITY: Pretty darn good, actually, given the antiquated original source material. If you want to be overly-critical, there’s a lack of depth to the performances, which are missing the electrifying dynamic present on most of Gallagher’s records. However, the nature of an acoustic performance covers a lot of sonic flaws as there are not as many layers to capture – just the magic of a man and his guitar, his voice, and his harmonica – another gig played by a bluesman older in spirit than his young age (24) would suggest. 

COVER: Simple but effective major label quality packaging with separate B&W photos of the legendary Irish guitarist on the front and rear covers and an overall neutral greyish tone. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog should newbies wish to discover more great music from the gifted guitarist.

TRACKLIST: 
(Side A) Pistol Slapper Blues • Don’t Know Where I’m Going • Gypsy Woman • Out of My Mind

(Side B) The Cuckoo • Banker’s Blues • Should’ve Learned My Lesson • Blow Wind Blow    

COMMENTS: 

Like many a U.K. youth in the 1950s, Irish blues-rock guitarist Rory Gallagher found early inspiration in popular skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. Gallagher began playing guitar at the tender age of nine years old, and bought his first electric guitar (a Stratocaster) at the age of twelve. Listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) late at night, Gallagher broadened his musical palette with early rock ‘n’ roll influences like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. It was when he discovered the music of Muddy Waters that he fell in love with the blues and, throughout his teenage years, he would play a mix of folk, blues, and rock music, finding further inspiration in artists like Woody Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy. Gallagher subsequently taught himself to play slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo with vary degrees of virtuosity.

Gallagher’s first band of note was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 when the guitarist was a mere 18 years old. That band released a pair of well-received studio albums – 1969’s Taste and 1970’s On the Boards – before breaking up; a pair of live albums were released in the wake of the band’s demise to capitalize on Gallagher’s bourgeoning reputation as a six-string prodigy. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce. Gallagher broke into the U.K. Top 10 for the first time with 1972’s Live In Europe, which was unusual in that the album featured performances of five songs that hadn’t been previously-recorded by the guitarist.  

The eight-song Cleveland Calling LP was released for October’s third Record Store Day “drop” in a limited edition of 3,000 copies and documents Gallagher’s live broadcast by Cleveland’s WNCR-FM radio in August 1972. I don’t know how they did it at WNCR, but I do know that their crosstown rival (WMMS-FM) used to broadcast slews of live performances, and taped many (if not all) of ‘em, creating a treasure-trove of live 1970s-era classic rock that languishes in a vault somewhere (hopefully). Evidently, things didn’t work out too well as many of the WNCR on-air staff revolted against company efforts to overly commercialize the station, going on strike in late 1972. They were subsequently fired en masse by management after a late-night meeting mediated by the station’s morning DJ, Don Imus (who would soon go onto bigger broadcast markets). The station itself switched over to an automated country format on January 1st, 1973. 

But I digress…Gallagher’s acoustic performance here is stunning in its passion and complexity. After a brief intro from the station’s deejay, Carolyn Thomas, Rory starts his short, sharp set with a rowdy cover of Blind Boy Fuller’s Piedmont blues gem “Pistol Slapper Blues,” one of the previously-unrecorded tunes from Live In Europe. With spry guitar pickin’, Gallagher does an admirable job in capturing the joi de vivre of Fuller’s original performance. “Don’t Know Where I’m Going” is one of three Gallagher originals from Deuce, a harmonica-driven country-blues jam that could easily be mistaken for 1930s vintage, Rory’s vocals flowing above simple strummed chords, the overall result greater than the sum of its parts.

“Gypsy Woman” was a cover of a Delta-dirty Muddy Waters song that first appeared as a bonus track on the 1999 CD reissue of Gallagher’s debut album. Probably the bluesiest track here, Rory’s scattershot vocals and imaginative fretwork make the performance a pure joy. Another song from Deuce, “Out of My Mind” is a folk-styled rocker with impressive vocal gymnastics, nimble guitar playing, and more than a few stylistic nods to the skiffle tunes of the musician’s youth. Flipping the flapjack, second side opening song “The Cuckoo” is a traditional English/Irish folk song that wouldn’t find proper release until the posthumous 2003 album Wheels Within Wheels, itself a treasure-chest of acoustic outtakes and lost recordings from across 20 years of Gallagher’s career. 

Deceptively complex in the manner of many a rusty old song from musty, forgotten songbooks, Gallagher pours his soul into the performance, gilding “The Cuckoo” with exotic fretwork and strong vocals that help shape the song’s lyrical story. The guitarist follows up with a reading of his idol Big Bill Broonzy’s “Banker’s Blues,” which he’d record a year later for the critically-acclaimed Blueprint LP. After giving Ms. Thomas a lesson in harmonica styles, he launches into a fine approximation of Broonzy’s folkie proto-Chicago blues sound, capturing all of the tongue-in-cheek humor of the lyrics with his light-hearted vocals and intricate guitar strum. The last of the three original Deuce tunes, “Should’ve Learnt My Lesson” is another slab of old-school blues, rich with Gallagher’s elegant string-bending and the overall “high lonesome” Piedmont vibe captured by Rory’s mournful voice.       

Cleveland Calling closes out with “Blow Wind Blow,” as obscure a Muddy Waters song as you’ll find (it’s from the oft-overlooked classic 1969 LP Fathers and Sons). Fresh from playing on the Chicago blues legend’s The London Muddy Waters Sessions album, Gallagher acquits himself nicely here, digging into the song’s roots in the Mississippi Delta of Waters’ plantation-raised early days, his up-tempo guitar playing matched by syrupy vocals and a just-beneath-the-surface energy that threatens to explode with any random note. Sadly, a studio recording of the song wouldn’t be released until the excellent 2019 “odds ‘n’ sods” collection, Blues, a three-disc collection of rare, unreleased, and live recordings that would land Gallagher back on the Top 20 of the U.K. charts.
 
Gallagher move past 1972 to enjoy a modestly-successful career throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, releasing a total of eleven studio and three live albums over a 20-year span, with 1990’s Fresh Evidence representing the guitarist’s swansong. Gallagher would die of complications from a liver transplant (a tragic necessity due to decades of living a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle) in June 1995. Over the course of his career, Gallagher had the opportunity to perform and record with musical idols like Lonnie Donegan, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Muddy Waters and was part of the band Box of Frogs with former Yardbirds Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, and Jim McCarty. While he never rose above the status of “cult artist” in the U.S. his loyal following has supported a steady stream of posthumous live albums and DVDs. 

Perhaps most importantly, Gallagher’s undeniable talents would subsequently influence artists as diverse as Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Alex Lifeson of Rush, Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, and fellow blues guitarists Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, among many others who all cited the humble Irishman as an influence on their own music. Gallagher also swayed contemporaries like Eric Clapton (who once credited Gallagher with “getting me back into the blues”) and Jimi Hendrix (who, allegedly asked how it felt to be the world’s greatest guitarist, replied “I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”) and had been asked to join both Deep Purple and the Rolling Stones to replace those band’s wayward guitarists. 

While Gallagher could strangle his Stratocaster and torture a stack o’ Marshall amps as loudly and energetically as 1970s-era contemporaries like Johnny Winter, Leslie West, or Pat Travers, Cleveland Calling is a fine representation of the often-understated (acoustic) aspect of Gallagher’s talents, his between-song conversations with the station’s DJ providing the barest of glimpses into the personality of the gifted musician and performer. Cleveland Calling is a “must have” if you’re a longtime Gallagher fan but stands tall on its own for blues fans who just want a taste of this too-frequently overlooked artist. Grade: A (Chess Records/Universal Music, released October 24th, 2020)
 

Review originally published by the Original Live! Music Review website...

Also on That Devil Music:
Rory Gallagher’s BBC Sessions review
Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco review
Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions review

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco (2011)

By late 1977, Irish blues-rock guitarist Rory Gallagher had delivered six studio albums in as many years, and had toured constantly during the interim. After completing a particularly grueling six-month tour that finished in Japan, Gallagher and band flew back to San Francisco to record a new album with producer Elliot Mazer (who helmed Big Brother & the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills album with Janis Joplin).

After a couple months of intense and difficult recording, the guitarist deemed the final mixing process to be “too complicated” when it obviously wasn’t getting anywhere, and he put the entire album on the shelf, subsequently breaking up his band of five years in the process. In early 2011, Gallagher’s nephew Daniel, son of Rory’s brother and manager Donal Gallagher, rescued these unreleased recordings from the archives after 34 years and remixed the album that would have been released between 1976’s Calling Card and 1978’s Photo-Finish. Recorded with a four-piece band, the album’s nine songs are Gallagher originals, around half of which would be re-recorded in different form with a three-piece band for Photo-Finish.

Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco

The question on everybody’s mind, of course, is Notes From San Francisco worth the wait? Yes, I’d have to say that it was. While Gallagher may have had an inordinate amount of trouble trying to get the performances to sound like he wanted during the mixing process, Daniel Gallagher’s nuanced mix – performed with modern equipment, of course – brings out facets of the guitarist and band’s performances that the primitive late-1970s technology overlooked. The album-opening “Rue the Day,” for instance, offers up some tasty honky-tonk piano running like a river beneath Gallagher’s twangy leads and roaring vocals. Martin Fiero’s blasts of sax help round out the sound, which is revved-up boogie-rock evoking 1970s-era Rolling Stones.

Only hardcore fans of Gallagher’s bootleg albums have heard “B Girl,” but for everybody else, it’s a new song, and a good ‘un at that. With a sleazy guitar riff circling in and out of the mix, the band lays down a fat, funky rhythm that dances beneath Gallagher’s comparatively gruff, whiskey-soaked vocals. It’s this contrast, between the guitarist’s dark-hued vocals and the band’s bright instrumentation that makes the song truly shine. A long-time live favorite, “Mississippi Sheiks” would be re-recorded by Gallagher for Photo-Finish, but it’s performed here with a different arrangement. Gallagher’s stunning guitar intro and the band’s stammering rhythms are akin to the sort of blues-derived hard rock pursued by Savoy Brown or Status Quo. But what sets this performance apart from all the others is the addition of Joe O’Donnell’s lively electric violin, which provides the song with an otherworldly, soulful vibe.

Wheels Within Wheels

Notes From San Francisco includes two different versions of the popular Gallagher song “Wheels Within Wheels,” the first being a gentle MOR radio ballad with touching vocals and Lou Martin’s rolling piano-play, while the second, alternate version is delivered at the same mid-tempo pace, but with a bluesier inflection in both the vocals and in Gallagher’s fretwork and with less emphasis on piano, sounding like a 1980s-era Eric Clapton ballad but with more heart and soul. Another track that would appear on Photo-Finish, “Brute Force & Ignorance,” lives up to its title with a muscular, bludgeoning performance with crashing drumbeats, brickhouse bass lines, and scorched-earth guitar. Fiero’s sax makes another appearance here, lending a bit of R&B feel behind Gallagher’s weeping, soaring guitar solo.
 
One of the lesser-known Photo-Finish tracks, “Fuel To the Fire” represents another outlier in Gallagher’s musical evolution. With sparse, but strong instrumentation behind his mournful vocals, Gallagher’s atypical fretwork finds him pursuing a less bluesy, more rock ‘n’ roll oriented sound with jazzy undertones and some odd, invigorating phrasing and extended solos that are simply beautiful. The album also includes two “bonus tracks,” including the previously-unreleased or re-recorded “Out On the Tiles,” a wildcat rocker with locomotive rhythms and a scattergun approach, Gallagher’s guitar spitting out notes with reckless abandon, razor-sharp tone accompanied by blistering speed and joyful chaos.

Live In San Francisco

Notes From San Francisco includes a second live disc, culled from a December 1979 performance at The Old Waldorf. Fronting the power trio had recorded Photo Finish, Gallagher leads longtime bassist McAvoy and drummer Ted McKenna through a set that includes a mix of the old and new material. Crowd favorites like the raucous “Shinkicker” and “Off the Handle” are perfect showcases for Gallagher’s onstage charisma and dynamic guitarplay, while old chestnuts like the soulful “Tattoo’d Lady” and “Calling Card” are provided new vigor by Gallagher’s incendiary fretwork and the band’s muscular backing rhythms.  

A handful of tracks from the live portion of Notes From San Francisco stand out in particular from Gallagher’s previous (and frequent) live sets. One is a performance of “Bullfrog Blues,” from the guitarist’s early British blues-rock band Taste. Revving up the tempo, Gallagher and band crank out an unabashed boogie blast with machinegun drumbeats and flamethrower guitar licks. The concert rarity “I’m Leavin’“ is another up-tempo raver with brokeback drums, rapidfire vocals, and raging fretwork all delivered with punkish intensity, while a cover of the 1950s rock ‘n’ roll gem “Sea Cruise” is amped-up and ramped-up from the original but manages to capture the restless, rockin’ soul of the song nonetheless.     

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Although collections such as Notes From San Francisco are typically aimed at a collector audience that eagerly grab up everything new or novel from a musician, in this instance this two-disc set serves as an excellent introduction to an underrated and too-often overlooked blues-rock talent. Gallagher’s guitar rages like an out-of-control wildfire throughout these studio tracks, and roars like a jet fighter on a bombing run in the live setting.

While hardcore Rory Gallagher fans will eat this stuff up, Notes From San Francisco is more than a mere musical curiosity. The album stands on its own as both a studio recording and a live document, and it would have been welcome had it been released in 1978 as planned. As such, its current release represents an important and impressive addition to the guitarist’s growing legacy. (Eagle Records, released May 17th, 2011)

Buy the album from Amazon: Rory Gallagher’s Notes From San Francisco

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions (2010)

If not exactly a contemporary of British blues-rock guitarists like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, Ireland’s Rory Gallagher came of age in the wake of trailblazers like the Yardbirds and Cream. From the time of Gallagher’s band Taste’s 1969 self-titled debut album, through an acclaimed solo career that began in 1971 and resulted in over a dozen albums until Gallagher’s tragic death in 1995, the guitarist earned a well-deserved reputation for powerful guitarplay; gruff, soulful vocals; and a skilled manipulation of blues and rock music that easily rivaled that of Clapton and Page as well as peers like Gary Moore and Mick Taylor.

Interest in Rory Gallagher and his music continues to grow some 15 years after his death and, luckily for us punters, there seems to be a deep well of archive material being brought up by bucket and chain and trickled into the marketplace on compact disc and DVD. Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions represents a new high in the guitarist’s growing catalog, a dozen white-hot performances that burn brighter than phosphorus, blasting through the eardrums to rattle around in the brain like a maddening sustain. Recorded during three of Gallagher’s frequent appearances on the German television program The Beat Club, the album (and accompanying DVD) features material culled from Gallagher’s 1971 debut and that year’s follow-up Deuce, as well as a couple of choice covers, like the guitarist’s signature romp through Junior Well’s “Messin’ With the Kid.”

Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions

The Beat Club Sessions opens with the lively “Laundromat,” a scalding hot tater that jumps around like a lobster in a pot. Gallagher’s guitar playing here is positively stunning, flowing effortlessly from raw scraped rhythms to jazz-inflected solos, his gravel-throated vocals almost an afterthought in the face of the song’s massive groove. Gallagher’s “Sinnerboy,” from his album, is a horse of an entirely different color. The intro offers up some delicate guitar picking, Gallagher’s vocals complimented by shimmering cymbals before he cuts loose with a muscular, bluesy rhythm that leads into a taut solo that cuts like a razor. Contrasting with these scorchers is the long-time Gallagher favorite “I Don’t Know Where I’m Going,” an acoustic blues number with a little Delta mud in the grooves, Gallagher’s subdued guitar strum matched by his warbling harmonica work.

The serpentine slide-guitar that introduces “I Could’ve Had Religion,” from the album, opens the door to a smoky, down-n-dirty sin-and-salvation tale that sounds like Robert Johnson with an Irish lilt to his voice. The song stomps and stammers out of your speakers like a hungry beast, a change in fortunes from Johnson’s hellhounds as the song’s protagonist willingly chooses the dark side. Gallagher’s slide-guitar runs wild through the song like a jolt of electricity guaranteed to tickle the fancy of any blues-rock fanboy. “Used To Be” is another long-time live fave, a raucous houserocker a la Cream, Gallagher using the power-trio format to its fullest, the song bristling with electric guitar riffs and crashing rhythms.

Crest of A Wave

The rollicking “In Your Town” shows just the slightest hint of Chicago blues in its deep rhythmic groove, Gallagher almost shouting his vox above the din, an aural assault partially created by his flamethrower fretwork. The song’s rapid pace is propelled by drummer Wilgar Campbell’s incessant percussive percussion and bassist Gerry McAvoy’s heavy bass-work. Again, Gallagher’s squealing guitarplay tortures the arrangement with a black cat moan and a spine-shaking intensity.

Gallagher’s “Crest of A Wave” is one of his signature tunes, a lyrically and musically epic song that offers ringing, circular guitar, strident vocals, a rock-solid rhythmic backbone, and a leather-tuff solo that soars like a bird of prey. Gallagher’s cover of Junior Wells’ “Messin’ With the Kid” may be absent the master’s powerful harp playing, but the guitarist claimed equal ownership of the song with soulful vocals and an inspired, fleet-fingered bit of guitarplay. McAvoy’s bass solo here is a thing of beauty, while Campbell’s drum solo adds a bit of bluster to the song’s braggadocio, but it’s Gallagher’s wailing solos that steal the spotlight.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Rory Gallagher fans have long known of the man’s immense talents as a guitarist and a performer, but he remains one of the best-kept secrets in blues-rock music. Gallagher arrived late to the party, perhaps, the British blues scene already moving on to harder-edged rock by the time that the guitarist made his debut. Still, as these early performances from the dawn of his career show, Gallagher had the skills, the heart, and the soul to deliver emotional, moving blues-rock music that connected with the listener.

That he never found a larger audience is an oversight that The Beat Club Sessions can help correct. These twelve powerful performances showcase a guitarist at beginning of a substantial career, full of vigor and brimming over with ideas, both musical and lyrical. That Gallagher’s long-time fans will grab up The Beat Club Sessions is no surprise, but the album would also make an intoxicating introduction to the man and his music for the newcomer. (Eagle Records, released September 14th, 2010)

Buy the album from Amazon: Rory Gallagher’s The Beat Club Sessions

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour (1998)

As recounted in our reverent review of his seminal BBC Sessions set, Rory Gallagher was a hell of a guitarist, a gifted artist with one foot in rock ‘n’ roll and the other solidly in the blues. As a handful of legitimate live albums and dozens of bootlegs would attest to, Gallagher was at his best when onstage. This Buddha Records reissue of Irish Tour showcases the artist at the top of his game, a six-string guitarslinger without peer who could tear off blistering riffs and crunching chords with lightning fast ability, a powerful showman holding the audience in the palm of his hand.

Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour

The performances on Irish Tour were taken from shows done in Belfast, Dublin and Cork during January 1974. Gallagher was an Irish homeboy who had made good, a star of significant drawing power throughout the European continent. Because of the violence and chaos in Northern Ireland, however, most artists refused to play the region, leaving audiences starved for rock ‘n’ roll. In this environment, Gallagher came home, causing everybody to forget their differences for a while. Consisting mostly of familiar songs drawn from previous Gallagher studio albums, Irish Tour nonetheless offers up a handful of inspired covers alongside the scorching originals.

Among the highlights of Irish Tour’s ten tracks are a soulful cover of Muddy Water’s “I Wonder Who,” which includes some sparse tho’ well-placed guitar licks, and a simply unbelievable rendition of the crowd favorite “Tattoo’d Lady” that showcases Gallagher’s considerable six-string skills alongside some tasty keyboards from Lou Martin. A funky, down-and-dirty cover of J.B. Hutto’s “Too Much Alcohol” will knock you on your ass every bit as quick as a pint of Old Crow whiskey. With flaming keyboards behind him, Gallagher knocks out a firey, hard rocking version of “Walk On Hot Coals” that includes an extended instrumental jam while “Back On My Stompin’ Ground” is a cajun-fried slab of Southern-styled funk that is razor sharp and sonically dense as a bayou fog.

The Reverend's Bottom Line

Gallagher would go on from this performance high to play hundreds of shows and record dozens of albums during a career that stretched across a quarter-century. Although he always delivered the goods on stage, never again would he play with such feeling and fire in a series of performances that would mean so much. With a talent the equal, not less than contemporaries like Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher was a true rock ‘n’ roll treasure. (Buddha Records, released September 7, 1998)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ music zine

Also on That Devil Music: Rory Gallagher - BBC Sessions CD review

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour

Archive Review: Rory Gallagher’s BBC Sessions (1998)

He never played with one of John Mayall’s legendary bands, nor did he go through the revolving door that was the Yardbirds’ lead guitar slot. He’s a contemporary of folks like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck – the holy trinity of British blues guitarists – but has never enjoyed the kind of semi-legendary status conveyed upon those three artists. Much like Gary Moore, another fine axeman, guitarist Rory Gallagher has attracted a cult following; unlike Moore, who is still alive and well, Gallagher’s death seemed to doom the blues guitarist to rock ‘n’ roll obscurity.

Thanks to the folks at the brand new Buddha Records, however, Gallagher’s fate may not be quite so bad. An ambitious reissue and rediscovery program by the reformed label is placing Gallagher’s musical legacy back on the street, where it belongs. The label reissued Gallagher’s self-titled first solo album and Deuce, his second effort – both on CD for the first time domestically – about a month or so ago. Buddha seems to be buying up Gallagher’s work from other labels, as well, suggesting a champion somewhere in the corporate ranks, and rumor has it that we’ll be seeing reissues of Irish Tour ‘74 and the underrated Photo Finish on compact disc sometime soon.

Rory Gallagher’s BBC Sessions

Perhaps Buddha’s greatest coup, however, is the recently released BBC Sessions, a two-disc collection of live performances and radio broadcasts that serves as an excellent place for the uninitiated to become familiar with Gallagher’s talents. Following hot on the heels of BBC collections from Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix and preceding an upcoming release from the Who, Gallagher is among heady company, as well he should be. British union rules required BBC radio to broadcast a certain amount of live music each day, which led to a number of different programs that featured live performances from local venues around London, as well as in-studio appearances from various popular performers. The BBC has hundreds of hours of this stuff, covering almost every British artist of note and more than a few American talents, as well. Realizing the treasure trove of recordings in their hands, the BBC has begun to cash in on their archives, much to the delight of music lovers everywhere.

The Irish-born Gallagher grew up listening to these BBC broadcasts, and made his first appearance on those airwaves in 1968. Gallagher’s first breakthrough came with Taste, a blues-oriented power trio much like Cream, and his work with that band caught the ears of European audiences. As a solo artist, Gallagher toured relentlessly, both across Europe and the United States. It was his BBC appearances, however, which helped support this touring, Gallagher’s scorching six string work reaching out across the airwaves and making converts out of listeners across the globe. Gallagher did a lot of work on the BBC – his brother’s liner notes to BBC Sessions says that they had to work their way through 10 hours of tapes to compile this set – and if the material here is representative, he never disappointed.

Rory Gallagher In Concert

The BBC Sessions set is divided into two parts. The first disc is a collection of performances that were broadcast on a program called In Concert and were caught live in clubs like the Hippodrome, the Paris Theatre, and the Hammersmith Odeon. Most of these ten cuts are taken from 1977-79, a period that many consider to be Gallagher’s golden age. A lone cut from 1973, the traditional blues number “What In the World,” serves mostly as a foreshadowing of Gallagher’s still maturing talents. There are many great performances caught here, including the rollicking “Country Mile” and the fluid “Calling Card,” one of Gallagher’s signature tunes. “Got My Mojo Working” is an electric boogie while Gallagher’s original “Used To Be” showcases some red-hot playing beneath the artist’s growling vocals.

The second disc here is comprised of live studio broadcasts and, with the producers casting a wider net, features performances that range in age from 1971 to 1986, with an emphasis on the mid-‘70s era Gallagher. If the first disc shows Gallagher’s energy and skill in a live setting, the material performed in the studio on disc two showcases the deliberate and complex side of Gallagher’s talents. Again mixing scattered originals with inspired covers and custom arrangements of traditional blues numbers, these studio performances provide a more complete look at Gallagher’s evolution as a guitarist. A couple of more familiar tunes dominate the side – the haunting live staple “Daughter of the Everglades” and “Seventh Son of 7th Son,” which sounds as close to authentic Delta blues as any Irishman is every going to get, but there’s plenty of solid performances to choose from.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

A mesmerizing guitarist and charismatic performer, Gallagher was capable of both great subtlety and outrageous bluster in his playing. A hard-working performer who toured to the point of exhaustion, Gallagher often cranked out studio albums – especially in his later years – that balanced mediocrity with brilliance, hiding a truly magical performance or two among the musical chaff. His better tunes usually made it into his live set, and it’s indeed his live albums, of which he made several, upon which his legacy is built.

Gallagher deserves more respect than he’s received. With twenty-five years under his belt, he literally died from too much living. He left behind a lot of great music, however, and thanks to Buddha we’ll get to hear some of it again. Gallagher had a talent every bit as great as Clapton, Page, or Stevie Ray and, as such, is quite worthy of rediscovering. (Buddha Records, released 1999)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ music zine

Also on That Devil Music.com: Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour CD review

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