The unsung member of the late 60’s guitar gods including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, Rory Gallagher’s profile has risen dramatically in the years following his untimely death in 1995. Stubbornly refusing to compromise for commerciality’s sake, this man refused to allow singles to be pulled from his albums to attract a wider mainstream audience and he avoided, for the most part, the kind of self-promotion that might well have brought him a measure of success worldwide on his own terms. Nevertheless, his stubborn integrity, combined with the furious immersion in his live performances, won him a staunch following that has compelled the remaster of his entire original catalog. Uniformly excellent, even if a bit similar from album to album, these recordings capture the essence of what blues-rock was intended to be, a genre unto itself honestly derived from its roots.
Irish Tour ’74 (Eagle Rock): Released in truncated form as a companion piece of the DVD of the same name, there’s no specific reference to its remastering, but the sound, especially in the lower registers is clear enough to hit any listener hard. Rory Gallagher was rightly renowned for his live shows and the recordings of same and this is no exception, except insofar as it is one of the few albums in all his discography to feature traditional blues arrangements. Nevertheless, “Walk on Hot Coals” and “A Million Miles Away,” suggest why the man preferred to feature his own original material: it was a logical, deeply personalized extension of his mastery of the blues form.
Rory Gallagher (Eagle Rock): Soon after the dissolution of Taste, Gallagher released his first eponymous solo album, thereby reaffirming the strengths of the defunct power trio as they related to Rory’s own talents. There’s a palpable sense of abandon in these tracks as the Irish bluesman was no longer a member of a tentative democracy and, consequently, material distinguished by its rocking power such as “Laundromat,” sounds equally authoritative as the more subdued acoustic material like “Just A Smile. ” Though not as polished as the work of Stevie Ray Vaughn, all of Gallagher’s work evinces an intelligence and self-restraint not usually associated with the blues-rock genre.
Deuce (Eagle Rock): Rory Gallagher’s second album is a work of careful craftsmanship form start to finish, both in terms of the material and the recording of it. Given that was all overseen by Gallagher himself may not be much of a surprise in retrospect — he was purposeful about his work throughout his career—but the discipline he brought to bear on his studio work was in marked contrast to the furious abandon of his live performances. Additional photos and liner material on each of these reissues (as well as slightly different cover graphics) highlight the backstory and illuminate the determination at the heart of this music.
Blueprint (Eagle Rock): There’s an underlying irony in the title of this third Rory Gallagher solo album because, unlike its two predecessors, it relies much more heavily on pure blues-oriented song structures. The addition of Lou Martin on keyboards also gives way to a more colorful but no less authentic approach: the credibility established on its predecessors is no less in evidence. Bonus tracks on this disc support its concept and are, like the others in this group, identical to those on the previously- released and now out-of-print cd’s (though the cover graphics differ in some respects).
Live in Europe (Eagle Rock): Presenting a facsimile of a full-scale Rory Gallagher show illustrates how this man avoided pandering to his audience, preferring to play what he enjoyed most and rendering it with an irrepressible glee that radiated from the stage. Whether in the acoustic realm (three of the nine tracks here like “Pistol Slapper Blues”) or in electric attack, there’s a primal abandon in the playing of the main man as well as his two accompanists, all of whom stamp their own musicianship with style. Rory’s live releases are among his best overall because they come closest to capturing the power he had at his command as a musician.
