Is Gary Moore appreciated in the States?

Amazingly Gary's version is different to, but the equal of Roy's... and that is no faint praise

 

he is by me... I am a fan in the US!

 

G Force and Dirty Fingers are just as good

 

I admire him for his blues records, his shredding not so much. His solo on "Still Got The Blues" is beautiful.

 

I agree. "Corridors Of Power" being my favorite by him.

 

I thought Dirty Fingers was after Corridors... not familiar with G Force

 

"Dirty Fingers" was recorded in 1981, but released in 1984.

 

G Force is a short lived band he put together after leaving Lizzy.
I think of albums when they were recorded rather than released so Dirty Fingers is pre Corridors to me.

 

Dunluce- makes the hairs on my neck stand up!

 

Absolutely appreciated. Almost every guitarist friend of mine rates him highly. Probably a
similar level of stateside fame as his countryman Rory Gallagher. (I have every Rory album though. I only have a couple of a Gary's solo works.) One thing that may have hurt Gary was he didn't tour here (a part from maybe a few appearances.) I remember reading a few interviews where he said he had no plans to tour the US in the future.

 

Really? So, same as Clapton, Page, Beck et al.

Gary Moore's blues has a soul Eric Clapton can only dream of.

 

In that case i should "urge" you to delve in his hard rock albums as well. They all have lengthy ballads with jawdropping guitar solos that rival / surpass his solo on "Still Got The Blues". Recommended to look up on youtube (among others): Empty Rooms, Still In Love With You, Parisienne Walkways, The messiah Will Come Again and especially an extended live version of "The Loner". In most cases they were the highlight of the many Gary Moore concerts i saw. An excellent 15 minute version of "The Loner", live in Stockholm 1987:

 

White Knuckles/Rockin' And Rollin' off the G-Force album is fabulous. It strikes me as a response to Eruption/You Really Got Me. Unfortunately the album has a fair amount of pop rock that doesn't work as well in my humble opinion.

 

I think they have their moments guitar wise but the songs are not as good. Just my opinion.

 

Yeah, I am surprised someone called him a "shredder". Gary is the opposite of a shredder. Everything he plays, no matter how fast, is very melodic. Paul Gilbert (a player I very much enjoy btw) is a shredder. Gary is melodic player who can play fast when he wants to with a lot of fretboard runs, but they all work for my melodic cravings (shredders tend to bore me after a while but not Gary)..

 

Tbh, I think all of his albums are somewhat patchy

 

I like him when he played hard rock (Victims of the future, Corridors of power).
Not fan of his blues side at all.

 

Here's a young Gary Moor; before the Metal or Blues years.

 

A real conundrum is there aren’t many who know or have heard him throughout his entire career. He was actually a total musician. The need to pigeonhole means he gets lazily inserted into Thin Lizzy or metal or blues. The clip at the beginning of this thread shows him playing jazz and his fusion playing with Colosseum was never less than amazing.
He was all of that but, as has been touched on, it was emotional intensity that burned behind the speed and visceral playing.
When guitarists play across genres it can be a bumpy career road. Jeff Beck is one of the very few that managed it. Danny Gatton refused to be pigeon holed saying that “there were many colors in nature”. Unfortunately, all it got him was the accolade of being “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of.”

He loved ballads and much of his really melodic playing was like a fist hitting you in the heart. His live shows showed what a monster player he was - I saw him play throughout and a Gary Moore concert was always an incredible event - high in energy and emotion leaving the crowd in a heap afterwards. Immense light and shade and that Irish intensity. He absolutely belongs in the top 5 (imho) - but like Danny Gatton (another unsung genius in the US) he went mostly unrecognised in the US. He did have a mortal terror of flying so may have limited trips to the USA.

I saw many of his concerts and in my book he is world class and for me he joins Jeff Beck and Danny Gatton in my top 3. Yes, I am a guitarist. Maybe this is the issue. As a live performer he had few equals. A real shame that the US didn’t get him but good to see that he is being discovered over there through Joe Bonamassa’s constant references to him.

 

For me, his best (live) period was with Skid Row.

 

I'm envious that you have seen him a bunch of times. Despite my not liking his blues period he remains my favorite guitarist ever.

I thankfully did get to see him, only once though, but it was his peak period for me (1987 during his hard rock daze), and the show was unbelievably FREE!!! It was the only time he's ever played around here afaik (other than when he was with Lizzy and subbed for Robbo, at the Tower Theater in the late 70's, which a friend of mine was at in like the first row!).

 

I about jumped on a purchase yesterday but decided to pass without any information of the master and the resource for this album.




Gary Moore ‎– Still Got The Blues
Label:
Universal Music Ltd. ‎– 5390544
Format:
SACD, Hybrid, Stereo, Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue
Country:
Hong Kong
Released:
18 May 2020
Genre:
Blues

 

I was lucky enough to see him at the Albert Hall where he introduced George Harrison onto the stage. He also excelled in smaller venues and left everything on stage. His Les Paul (the Peter Green one) finally got sold to Kirk Hammett
Metallica's Kirk Hammett Remembers Thin Lizzy's Gary Moore

 

Well he did host I've Got A Secret:

 

I've seen Gary Moore and Eric Clapton from the front row. Moore was by far the better player - in fact Clapton was blown away by Albert Lee who was in his band.
Gary Moore could play rock, blues, jazz - anything with his own special tone.
To answer the OP's question regarding his lack of renown in the US, I'd pin the blame on record companies and the balkanization of the US music industry/radio. Gary was hard to pigeonhole due to his versatility. The blinkered A&R people in the US couldn't deal with someone who thought outside the box as Gary did.