Gary Moore

Mostly blues period stuff sad to say (since I am not a fan of that GM era). Should be a must have for Gary blues fans though.

 

If you have the time, listen to this....



JG

 

I dug out Blues Alive for first time in years the other day and played it the car today. Simply awesome guitar playing (and vocals!).

 

Literally?

 

For me, live with Skid Row was the best Gary. A great live band. The recordings don't do them justice.

 

He's one of my favorites, yep, yes he was.

This is a good recommendation.....

 

From his great cd package, Essential Montreux [5 CD Box Set Special Ed.] Box set, Special Edition

 

He played a strat too, here's proof from 1987.



Can't get much better than this.

 

Can anyone comment on the sound of the 2016 year SHM CD's? Are they the same old horrible remasters? Or have a new, better mastering?

 

Here's another great one from Gary playing on Cozy Powell's solo album....



JG

 

And another one from the same album...



JG

 

I don't think he played a Strat prior to concentrating on the blues. For most of the 80's/90's (pre the blues stuff), he was playing Charvel, Hamer and PRS's

 

He was playing strats way before his blues phase. For instance a friend of mine saw him with Thin Lizzy in 1978 and Gary was using a Les Paul and a Strat for that show.

Just look at live or various album shots from early in his career, you'll see plenty of shots of him with stratocasters. I even saw him do a show in the height of his "metal" days in the '80's where IIRC he used a white strat all night.

Corridors of Power (1982)


Live In Japan - (from 1983 tour)



The Lord of the Strings Gary Moore fan website even has a page on him and his guitars, and according to the link below on the page about Fenders Gary himself said this:

Guitars - Fender | The Lord Of The Strings - World Wide Gary Moore Fanclub »

"I've been using the Stratocaster off and on for about seven years, since I was with Colosseum II." (Gary Moore - Guitarist Magazine, Vol.1/No.8 January 1985)"

Note that his first record with CII was in 1976.


Oh, wow, that page even has a photo of him with that white guitar I saw in the 80's and this quote!! Cool.

Guitars - Fender | The Lord Of The Strings - World Wide Gary Moore Fanclub »

"On the whole of the American tour I used a white Strat which I bought in a shop in L.A. for $600 off the rack. It's a '62 reissue. What happened was that my salmon pink one was stolen just before the tour, some guy in the customs here tried to nick it and then it turned up again because he found out whose guitar it was and it turned up in Houston at Interpol. I got it back halfway through the tour but by this time I'd got the white one and got used to it and I don't like changing guitars halfway through a tour." (Gary Moore - Guitarist Magazine, Vol.1/No.8 January 1985)




And this shot, which looks like really early daze....
Guitars - Fender | The Lord Of The Strings - World Wide Gary Moore Fanclub »




Most of the shots I've seen of him in the blues phase with were Les Pauls btw as opposed to Strats. It's not like he switched to Strats for the blues and did not play them before that. I think if anything he played them less rather than more by that point (I'm not sure). Although I believe that for his Hendrix show in 2007 he was playing a strat all night.

 

And lest I 4get, his iconic metal-period live album We Want More from 1984, with the strat cover of course,

 

I got into GM a few years ago. I was listening to him non stop for Several months. My overall opinion of him is that he is a great guitarist but I kind of got bored of him as an artist. He is not a great songwriter, the voice is average at best and his music sounds very dated.

 

To each his own. That is how I feel about his blues phase (boring songs with great guitar work), but I really love the hard rock/metal stuff both song and playing wise. I do happen to like his singing voice on everything though.

 

Yes.....Your probably right. It was more those Blues ballards that I found rather dated!

 

YES!!! The best version of my favorite Gary tune! Absolutely sublime soloing, dripping with emotion. Also, his best singing IMO.

 

There is/was a tour film called 'emerald isles' (I have a bad vhs copy) from the We Want Moore era..it's great and hopefully it will come out on DVD or blu ray eventually

 

when he did Red House on the guitar festival, it was one of the best guitar pieces I have ever heard. Love his work with Lizzy also

 

I have that on vhs, too. I love the backstage clips of Gary & Phil, especially when Phil laughingly says, "I showed him the sights of Dublin." The performance of Parisienne Walkways on that is just phenomenal!

 

I thought the solo on Empty Rooms was going to melt my brain the first time I heard it!

 

The guy was a good one, could posess real feeling, AND had the chops to back it up, Black Rose is my favorite Thin Lizzy album, and I dig some of his solo stuff too.

 

Sadly, there isn't a lot of work with Lizzy... There is The Black Rose and some odd dates ...

 

The Out in the Fields 2CD Best of is a MUST have just for all the live B-sides which included a couple of duets with Phil L.