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I've heard about him several times over the years but I don't know where to start in checking him out.
Thought someone who knew the range of his career might point to a good starting point.
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02-12-2025 04:19 PM
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How about Souped Up Ford?
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"Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…"
Kind of jazzy don't you think?
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Longtime fan of Rory here, I got into him in college and he's one of the inspirations to me for picking up the instrument. I would suggest starting with his most classic albums, which for me were the high point of his output: Calling Card, Against The Grain and Irish Tour 74. A Million Miles Away on the latter is outstanding. Tattoo and Blueprint are also worth a spin.
Rory's later output, mainly with a trio, becomes hard rock-edged and less bluesy. At the end of his "classic period," he had recorded an album with the quartet and saw the Sex Pistols while doing the mixing. Realized that his album was out of step with current trends in music and he basically binned the thing right then and there. Pretty much threw the tapes in the garbage can and walked out of the studio. If I understand correctly, his brother Donal saved the tapes and the album was released posthumously; to my ears Rory actually was right. He found new gigs for the drummer and keyboard player, kept the bassist and hired a new drummer. Photo Finish and Top Priority typify this period. While his sound became harder and more rock based rather than blues based, he didn't change enough with the times to remain popular and got little if any radio play. His live performances, however, continued to draw steadily.
Rory's earlier stuff under his own name is endearingly quirky, at least to my ears (his eponymous first solo recording and his second album Deuce). The band with which he came to relative prominence, Taste (also a trio that had two different rhythm sections over several years), could be downright weird and very much sounds like the mid to late 60s. He learned alto sax and uses that sometimes with Taste. That band broke up in a storm of acrimony and issues with the manager.
There's a lot of performance videos on YouTube. You'll notice as time goes on his playing gets more uneven as his health and substance abuse problems deteriorated. He died at 47, if I recall correctly, from an MRSA infection following a liver transplant. He was apparently very, very shy and may have used alcohol as a way to bolster his nerves for public performance. As an employer, he could be downright difficult; his bass player, Gerry McAvoy, was with him for 20 years, but was never officially told that he "in the band." He thought this stemmed from Rory's experiences with Taste having been extremely painful.
And, FWIW, it's pronounced "Galla-her."
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Rory Gallagher, I feel like all his albums sound dated, chorus is like.... the worst thing to happen to guitar tone. He's someone you have to hear live to get the blistering energy. That's just like, my opinion anyway....
Rory Gallagher - YouTube
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That was the album where I began to lose interest in Rory, who had been a great hero of mine. I bumped into him in Dublin when I was 15 the morning after one of his gigs in the Carlton Cinema, O'Connell Street Dublin. He was very friendly. As years have gone by I continue to have an affection for 'Live in Europe' and the live albums by Taste which really are 'out there'. His move into what I considered more straightahead rock didn't do it for me. His later years were blighted by ill health. I would have loved to have seen him become the aged blues guitarist he always he imagined he would become.
Originally Posted by digger
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Great Album. Originally Posted by jazzshrink
Bought it and the song book early 70s
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One shouldn't neglect Rory's acoustic stuff, too. He had a great feel for the acoustic blues.
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Irish Tour '74, comes first to mind, so much energy !
As stated above, live performances were something really outstanding, you can find a lot on YT, for instance :
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Big fan - see my avatar...I started with 'Live Taste' recorded at Montreux Jazz Festival the day after 'Live at the Isle of Wight', the latter captured by DA Pennebaker who was supposed to tape one or two tracks but kept the cameras rolling, resulting footage took 40+ years to come to light because of copyright wrangling. Saw him live multiple times in the 70's & kept buying everything after my tastes 'matured' (?) in gratitude for the music he introduced me to..Irish Tour 74 & the Tony Palmer Doc of the same name's good too....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNV0wpErolQ&list=PLr3V30a-iJtgDz8RPfZ_IXxn2LdYlrPpP
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I watched the Irish Tour Doc in the cinema when it was released, six car bombs exploded in Belfast on the day of the first gig, no one else had / would tour N Ireland at the time anyway & Gallagher's 'fuck it, we're playing' was noted...great player in his earlier years, Ritchie McCracken, who now works in hospitality (or something) at wembley stadium was a great foil as a bass player too,
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He had a nice sound on the sax.
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