Help me learn about Rory Gallagher

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Harlanator, Sep 20, 2013.

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  1. Harlanator

    Harlanator Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alameda, CA, USA
    I'm flabbergasted I missed this genius, don't even know where to begin. Please advise.
     
  2. John Fell

    John Fell Forum Survivor

    Location:
    Undisclosed
    Irish Tour '74
    BBC Sessions - excellent 2 cd live and studio sampler

    Big Guns, The Essential or Crest Of A Wave for a 2 cd sampler.

    My favorite studio albums are
    Tattoo, Calling Card, Top Priority & Defender

    All of them have their moments.

    w/ Taste - Best Of - sampler
    On The Boards
    Taste

    His live stuff is usually better than the studio stuff for the most part.
    Live At Montreux
    Beat Club Sessions
    Stage Struck
    Live In Europe
    Notes From San Francisco - Live + unissued studio album

    This should get you started
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2013
  3. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
  4. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    Buy the first two albums immediately...Rory Gallagher, and Duece. Pure and utter fire and soul. One of my top ten, period.
     
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  5. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    The newest reissues mastered by Andy Pearse are very cheap at Amazon.uk. Start with S/T, Deuce, Tattoo; hell grab them all, you won't be disappointed :D
     
    Bananas&blow likes this.
  6. gazatthebop

    gazatthebop Forum Resident

    Location:
    manchester
    I would listen to the solo albums in chronological order and avoid compilations until last. If i had to pick one it would be "Calling Card".
     
  7. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Your best first buy is "Live In Europe" which is superior to all the other live albums (especially "Irish Tour" which is ruined by the Lou Martin's terrible and absolutely unnecessary keyboard playing - what was Rory thinking?).
    "Live In Europe" presents a perfect cross section of his talents with rockers, blues, folk. Go for it!
     
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  8. patrickd

    patrickd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin TX USA
    AS folks suggest, you can love it all but there's really two Rory's: the live side is one many of us really heard first and for this I'd strongly recommend Irish Tour 74 (or Live in Europe from 71) as a starter. No fat, straight blues rock and some acoustic stompers -- the man living through his guitar, even now.

    For the studio side, this can be more of an acquired taste but I am very partial even now to Calling Card for the quality of the songs and the guitar playing. Am probably biased by memories of it being released when I was at school and all of us grabbing a copy. Tattoo is another great one, but really, I own them all, as you likely will too if you get into the man. The current catalog can be a bit confusing in terms of the re-releases available but I've most of his stuff on vinyl and picked up several of the lastest Sony remasters as they were priced so attractively.

    There's also been some great video/DVD releases in the last few years, all worthy but I am particularly fond of the Montreax performances. Enjoy.
     
  9. rockerreds

    rockerreds Senior Member

    Great live,too-caught him opening for 10CC (of all people) at Tower Theater in Upper Darby,PA in 1975.
     
  10. arthurprecarious

    arthurprecarious Forum Resident

    Location:
    North East England
    The Live at Montreaux DVD well worth investigating too.
     
    MarkO likes this.
  11. All of the above plus BBC Sessions.

    There's also this

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Al...ywords=rory+gallagher+original+album+classics
     
  12. joepepitone

    joepepitone Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I saw Rory as an opening act for Deep Purple in 1973 AND Jethro Tull in 1976. Both times he played for maybe 20 -30 minutes. After watching various youtube videos, hearing him on XM radio AND decades after seeing him live, I picked up the two CD The Essential Rory Gallagher collection a couple of years ago. I very happy with the collection. One incredible song is "Edged in Blue".
     
  13. NapalmBrain

    NapalmBrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I'd recommend Tattoo for studio recordings and Irish Tour or Live In Europe for concert recordings. Been a long time fan, my guitar teacher introduced me when I was 13
     
  14. ManFromCouv

    ManFromCouv Employee #3541

    Start with the Taste albums and move forward. They are the foundation.
     
  15. Django

    Django Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    and remember, the second g is silent.
     
    Hazuki and Carserguev like this.
  16. Electric Phase

    Electric Phase Forum Resident

    I'd start with the Original album classics.
     
  17. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Lots of great stuff to check out on YouTube like this little film I had never seen before:

     
  18. celticbob

    celticbob Forum Resident

    There is no bad Rory Gallagher. Everything I have heard is great. I love the first one, DEUCE, AGAINST THE GRAIN, CALLING CARD, TOP PRIORITY, BLUEPRINT. Good stuff. The new Remasters are excellent. I have begun to get them on LP now but they are not cheap. I have the debut and BLUEPRINT so far. I may go chronologically or pick favourites which would lead me to ATG then CC.
    Hope that helps.
     
  19. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    +1

    Some of his stuff is more raw and slower, well, less furious. I really like "Stage Struck" because it's less on the meandering and bluesy side and more fast rock. That's just my taste so YMMMV.

    You can find some clips on YouTube from different eras to sample. Better yet, that's why I subscribe to MOG, you can listen to like 20 of his albums.
     
  20. ruben lopez

    ruben lopez Nunc Est Bibendum

    Location:
    Barcelona Spain
    Irish Tour.the album AND the movie.
    i'm not much into his studio material but he was untouchable live.
     
  21. TommyTunes

    TommyTunes Senior Member

    I've been a fan since 1972, he was the best blues rock guitarist that ever lived, period. Had the pleasure of meeting him twice, he was a genuine nice and friendly guy. There was nothing phony about him. There is no album that I don't love but live he was untouchable.
    I'm not one who dwells over an artists' death but the day he died was a very sad day for me.
     
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  22. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Rory was incredible, but I would rate Stevie Ray Vaughan above him as a "blues rock" guitarist.
     
    old school likes this.
  23. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Exactly the word I used when I found out about him a year or two ago.
    My first impression was general sound similarities to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
    All I have currently is Notes From San Francisco.
     
  24. kirkhawley@q.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    Notes From San Francisco, the studio CD anyway, is a bad way to get into him. The band was atrocious - the keyboard player played arpeggios all the way through every song regardless of what was going on, the drummer would rather be playing rolls than the groove at any given moment. The result was sludge. Just absolutely the wrong guys to be backing up somebody of that caliber. The album was shelved and Rory Gallagher dissolved the band. The album should have been left in the can.

    The live CD - recorded with the new band if I remember correctly - is good.
     
  25. garymc

    garymc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida, USA
    For me it is Tatto (studio) and Live in Europe (live). I played my vinyl copy of Tatto (when originally released) over and over and over. And I love Stevie Ray Vaughn, and probably agree that he was "better" than Rory. But this is like comparing Picasso and Rembrandt...both geniuses. Fortunately for me, at the time I was "wearing out" my copy of Tatto, I was seeing Stevie live in small dives in Dallas, Tx (Mother Blues, etc.) years before he hit it big.
     
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