Audience 9.1 - A fascinating document! Well, for one thing, it has that visceral, thump to your chest power and immediacy while you are immersed in the pit with your bros…but the crowd only makes this better. Such amazing atmosphere! The other thing is that this is NOT your mid 70’s blues guitar pub rock – it is much more along the punk/grunge aesthetic in how Rory is playing and his tone. Sure, he plays a lot of blues, but it does not come across the same as it did in ’74…it comes across as music that can breathe new life into what could be considered a dated musical form.
Rory Gallagher Inselwiese Dinkelsbühl, Germany 05. Juli 1986 Disc 1 01. -Ansage - Moonchild 8:03 02. -Shinkicker 6:39 03. -I wonder who 12:22 04. -Nadine 9:34 05. -Bad Penny 9:08 06. -Seven Days - I'm Ready 12:03 07. -Tattoo'd Lady 8:46 08. -A Million Miles Away 8:42 Disc 2 09. -Follow Me 7:01 10. -Out On The Western Plain 6:39 11. -Walkin Blues 7:06 12. -Rollin & Tumblin 5:43 13. -Big Guns 7:48 14. -I'm A Man 2:58 15. -Messin With The Kid 8:39 16. -Bullfrog Blues 6:37 17. -Seven Days - I'm Ready 10:22 18. -Follow Me 5:32
Dublin 1974 Soundboard 9.4 - This is a sweet one, it’s early in the new year (a year he would tour extensively during), and he’s in the beautiful city of Dublin, possibly thinking maybe this is how he’ll kick off the ambitious tour, and he just kills it! I would rate the recording higher but for some sizzle on the highs (cymbal crashes, etc.) that don’t hurt the tape so much as they don’t belong on a professionally made for release recording, if indeed that is what this was for. So, that being said you can still dive into this with the full knowledge that it will live up to the rating and then some!
Limerick 1972 Soundboard 8.8 - Sounds like this originates from TV or local radio and suffers from some compression limitations and occasionally drop outs due to sheer age. It’s still professionally recorded, so it’s got bones to work with and you’ll be able to get into it but because it is made for TV (or radio?) there is interruption for interviews – so you have to take this short piece for what it is. It’s filler for the excellent Dublin ’74 and it is fine in that capacity.
Rory Gallagher Carlton Cinema Dublin, Ireland January 2, 1974 Disc 1 1. -Cradle Rock 2. -Tattoo'd Lady 3. -Hands Off 4. -Walk On Hot Coals 5. -Laundromat 6. -Too Much Alcohol 7. -A Million Miles Away 8. -As The Crow Flies 9. -Pistol Slapper Blues 10. -Banker's Blues Disc 2 11. -Unmilitary Two Step 12. -Going To My Hometown 13. -In Your Town 14. -Bullfrog Blues Savoy Theatre Limerick, Ireland May 11, 1972 15. -I'm Tore Down 16. -Interviews 17. -Laundromat 18. -Interviews 19. -Pistol Slapper Blues 20. -Interviews 21. -Patch Of Grey Cloud (AKA Don't Know Where I'm Goin') 22. -Interviews 23. -Bullfrog Blues
Soundboard/Audience matrix 8.8 - This recording is pretty clean but is just a touch…how would I say, maybe doesn’t highlight the upper high end so it almost sounds like the edges were trimmed on the rock bush. It still delivers a punch to the gut, particularly if you like your drums to rattle your insides a bit because they do here, in a good way. Overall, this is a real fine set of tunes and is rather long and includes a pre-show interview at the end of the 3rd disc.
Rory Gallagher Cardis Houston, Texas, U.S.A. May 26, 1985 Disc One 01 - Double Vision 02 - Moonchild 03 - I Wonder Who 04 - Shinkicker 05 - Mississippi Sheiks (with Rain) 06 - Tattoo'd Lady 07 - Off The Handle Disc Two 08 - Big Guns 09 - Failsafe Day 10 - Out On The Western Plain 11 - Seven Days 12 - Banker's Blues 13 - Philby Disc Three 14 - Bought And Sold 15 - Shadow Play 16 - Bullfrog Blues 17 - Sweet Little Sixteen 18 - Nadine (encore audience cheering) 19 - Messin' With The Kid 20 - All Around Man 21 - Interview by FG (Pre-Show)
FM Broadcast 9.0 - A tape that seems to be intact but missing a little of the sharpness and attack of a low gen or master which just means you crank it a little louder. It’s all there, the quality is there, but needs your input to get it up to loudness. Performance is cracking!
Rory Gallagher Hammersmith Odeon Theatre London, England 1-13-79 Rory Gallagher Group; May 1978 - March 1981: Rory Gallagher - guitar, vocals Gerry McAvoy - bass Ted McKenna - drums Set List: 01 - Radio DJ introduction 02 - Shinkicker 03 - Do You Read Me 04 - Off The Handle 05 - Out On The Western Plain 06 - Goin' To My Hometown 07 - Brute Force & Ignorance 08 - Secret Agent 09 - Shadow Play 10 - Tattoo'd Lady
| Audience 8.4 - A recent discovery, and man what a good one. A very strong recording for the time, minimal errors although maybe a touch hot on the upper end of the bandwidth but not enough to harm. The sound is pretty direct and forceful, if even a touch of rawness that harkens back to his really early days with Taste. |
Audience 8.7 - Brassy, loud, and guitar dominant recording that delivers where it counts and finds Rory sounding, to my ears, much more rock/metal/grunge even though he features plenty of raw, blues soaked numbers in his set. It’s just that the atmosphere and volume don’t suggest this is a “blues” band blowing through town…I just get the feeling Rory felt the times changing and adjusted accordingly. Either way you parse it, this is high-intensity music, and the recording here really manages to capture that pretty realistically.
Rory Gallagher The Stone Palo Alto, California May 17, 1985 Disc One 01 - intro - Double Vision 02 - Bad Penny 03 - band intros - Off The Handle 04 - Moonchild 05 - Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut 06 - I Wonder Who 07 - Tattoo'd Lady 08 - Mississippi Sheiks 09 - Big Guns Disc Two 01 - Out On The Western Plain 02 - Seven Days 03 - Philby 04 - Follow Me 05 - Shadow Play 06 - My Babe 07 - All Around Man - Bullfrog Blues - Roll Over Beethoven - Route 66 Rory Gallagher Group; May 1981 - 1991: Rory Gallagher - guitar, vocals Gerry McAvoy - bass Brendan O'Neill - drums Mark Feltham - harmonica
Audience 9.3 - This is, to my ears, sort of a return to the edgy hard rock of Taste. The distorted guitar (wonderful tone!) and punchy rhythms really hint more to his very early period and are ideally suited for the mid 80’s where maybe pure, raw blues was not as widely consumed as before. This show, and recording, really highlight the gut punch effect where straight forward guitar/bass/drums is the formula that works.
Rory Gallagher Oldenwaldring, Schaafheim Germany 18. Juli 1987 Disc 1 01. -Announcement 0:41 02. -Ansage - Moonchild 7:04 03. -Double Vision 7:37 04. -I Wonder Who 12:09 05. -Nadine 9:58 06. -Walkin' Blues 6:04 07. -Continental Op 9:57 08. -I Ain't No Saint 8:25 Disc 2 09. -Out On The Western Plain 6:08 10. -Want Ad Blues 5:34 11. -Tattoo'd Lady 5:50 12. -When My Baby She Left Me 7:23 13. -Shadow Play 7:15 14. -Bad Penny 4:28 15. -Bullfrog Blues - Dizzy Miss Lizzy 7:57 16. -Messin' With The Kid 4:50 17. -Knock On Wood - La Bamba 8:02 18. -Long Tall Sally 4:30 19. -Don't Start Me Talkin' 3:35 Track 01 - 18 Schaafheim Track 19 Mainz, Sendezentrum "Tele Illustrierte" 13. November 1987 1.Gen/TV (He plays live in the show)
