|
Post by unomusette on May 30, 2015 22:36:13 GMT
Here's another album that I played till it was nearly transparent in my youth - Top Priority by the immortal, hugely talented and much mourned Rory Gallagher. This man was the only serious rival to a certain J. Lynne in the Future Husband stakes for me, legend is too short a term for him. The music was always paramount for him, sadly I think his personal life and his health paid the price but I doubt he would change things much if he had his chance again. Despite my serious aversion to blues rock, once I'd seen him live I was smitten; he was a guitar genius with an effortless style. And I came away from most gigs with a serious case of Headbanger's Neck, he could rock like a demon. Apparently there was rarely a setlist, his band were so tight they could just follow his lead whatever he decided to play. And they always looked as if they were having the time of their lives on stage. He was one of the few acts to keep playing Belfast during the troubles and is hugely respected amongst better known guitar gods such as Brian May. He was once even tried out to join the Rolling Stones (I'm glad he didn't get the gig, he was so much better on his own) Annoyingly the whole album with all the right tracks isn't on Youtube so it's individual cuts again. Here's the playlist if you want to copy: Follow Me Philby Wayward Child Key Chain At the Depot Bad Penny Just Hit Town Off the Handle Public Enemy No. 1 As a special treat , and just so you can sample the live experience, here he is doing the classic set closer, Shadow Play. It does go on a bit so you can skip bits. But look how much Gerry McAvoy the bassist is loving it, despite his very silly perm and probably having played for about 2 hours before this. And the crowd towards the end - that could have been me there at the front bouncing about. It is a pretty repetitive riff, but if you were there it was magic, honest.
|
|
|
Post by jrmugz on May 31, 2015 14:55:52 GMT
Here's another album that I played till it was nearly transparent in my youth - Top Priority by the immortal, hugely talented and much mourned Rory Gallagher. This man was the only serious rival to a certain J. Lynne in the Future Husband stakes for me, legend is too short a term for him. The music was always paramount for him, sadly I think his personal life and his health paid the price but I doubt he would change things much if he had his chance again. Despite my serious aversion to blues rock, once I'd seen him live I was smitten; he was a guitar genius with an effortless style. And I came away from most gigs with a serious case of Headbanger's Neck, he could rock like a demon. Apparently there was rarely a setlist, his band were so tight they could just follow his lead whatever he decided to play. And they always looked as if they were having the time of their lives on stage. He was one of the few acts to keep playing Belfast during the troubles and is hugely respected amongst better known guitar gods such as Brian May. He was once even tried out to join the Rolling Stones (I'm glad he didn't get the gig, he was so much better on his own) Annoyingly the whole album with all the right tracks isn't on Youtube so it's individual cuts again. Here's the playlist if you want to copy: Follow Me Philby Wayward Child Key Chain At the Depot Bad Penny Just Hit Town Off the Handle Public Enemy No. 1 As a special treat , and just so you can sample the live experience, here he is doing the classic set closer, Shadow Play. It does go on a bit so you can skip bits. But look how much Gerry McAvoy the bassist is loving it, despite his very silly perm and probably having played for about 2 hours before this. And the crowd towards the end - that could have been me there at the front bouncing about. It is a pretty repetitive riff, but if you were there it was magic, honest. Sounds good Uno. I've heard of this guy all my life, will be interesting to hear what he is all about. So do his fans consider this his magnum opus? Look for my feedback within the next few days or so! Jim
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 31, 2015 15:57:47 GMT
Not familiar with this, Uno, but the fact that the guy was the only serious competition for Jeff Lynne in the "Future Husband" contest is enough of a fact to make me really curious about the listen. Let's see what it's about...
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 31, 2015 16:01:21 GMT
BTW, Jim, I don't know how this works in your computer, but in mine duplicating the number of videos it has to load when it loads this page means duplicating -at least- the time it takes to enter said page, so I'd really appreciate it if you could erase the videos from your quote (you can guess it's an answer to Uno anyway). Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by unomusette on May 31, 2015 20:37:20 GMT
Glad to see your curiosity has been piqued - I don't think Rory's fans would consider this his very best album but it's one of the ones I loved best. He'd been around for a while before I discovered him and I think his older fans would recommend more bluesy stuff, but this and the previous album, Photo Finish, did the trick for me as a mid-teens rock fan with an aversion to slow, generic blues.
Really sorry about having to post individual tracks, sometimes Youtube irks me by not having albums like this as a whole *kicks Youtube* I promise my next one will be a single post.
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 31, 2015 21:56:20 GMT
Uno, just in case: I wasn't talking about your post with the videos, which is absolutely necessary if we want to have access to the songs there. I was talking about Jim's post, which by quoting you unnecessarily duplicated all the videos -I mean, you can post an answer or even quote without quoting the videos- and it takes ages for my computer each time I try to load this page or post an answer here (I reckon it must happen to others as well).
|
|
|
Post by unomusette on May 31, 2015 22:20:13 GMT
No worries, Helmut, I was just having a general rant about Youtube, which I always expect to have everything in full on it. It's just me being my usual unreasonable self
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 31, 2015 22:30:29 GMT
That's OK... and then, I envy you for having had the possibility of kicking YouTube! I never had the chance to do it directly. So far I've only been able to kick my computer when YouTube is on the screen, but I'm not sure YouTube feels it that way (I can only guarantee my computer felt it a lot).
|
|
|
Post by Horacewimp on Jun 1, 2015 7:41:17 GMT
I've edited Jim's post to remove the duplicated videos.
|
|
|
Post by queenofthehours on Jun 1, 2015 16:59:37 GMT
It’s fantastic that you’ve chosen this unomusette! If you hadn’t chosen some Rory I would have .
I've only just discovered his greatness and haven't had the chance to dig into an album yet. It's wonderful to find another fellow Piscean guitarist to love as well as the lovely Nelson Wilbury. I've been playing 'Shadowplay' (the Rockpalast live version) obsessively for weeks now, so much so it was starting to affect my quality time with Jeff and co.
Until an acquaintance recommended to me 'Moonchild' (another track I've played obsessively) I'd always avoided Rory because I thought he only did fancy stuff that would appeal to guitar enthusiasts only. Now I realise how silly I was believing that; that was exactly the kind of blinkered attitude I had towards Jeff and see how wrong I was!
All the songs of Rory's I know so far have great, clear production and rely on a whole band rather than, as I imagined, just the guitar. Rory isn't just a guitarist - he's one man rock band!
I heard people say his albums are no match for his live work, well what's wrong with that? Who says albums have to be the only way to represent a musician? I can't wait to hear this.
|
|
|
Post by unomusette on Jun 2, 2015 23:22:42 GMT
I've said it before, queenofthehours, you have the best taste in music! I'm a big fan of Moonchild too, I was toying with putting up Stage Struck (the live album) because it includes that, but as I recall it has a cut-off version of Shadow Play which I simply can't have. No reason at all why an artist can't be good both live and on record, just in different ways. As you say, the production on the records is mostly really good, and you don't get the extended bluesy songs which could test even my patience live. Really hope you enjoy it, looking forward to your review
|
|
|
Post by jrmugz on Jun 6, 2015 2:37:17 GMT
Ok unomusette, here is my review of Rory Gallagher's "Top Priority":
01. "Follow Me" - Very straightoarward rock and blues. Like the voice. Great John Denver cover: "Follow me up and down, all the way all around." ba-doom-kshhhh!!!! 02. "Philby" - Reminds me of "All Along the Atchtower". Not bad. 03. "Wayward Child" - Nice stuff. 04. "Key Chain" - Reminds me of Van Halen. 05. "At the Depot" - Very fun one, like it a lot. Gives me the sense that this guy is all about rip-roaring blues rock. 06. "Bad Penny" - Sounds like "Philby". Godd tune. 07. "Just Hit Town" - "A" for energy and and the guitar solo. 08. "Off the Handle" - Very cool riffin' muscle blues song. Really like this one. LOTS of feel to it. 09. "Public Enemy No. 1" - Reminds me a lot of Foreigner, I'll bet they got some influence from him, like for the "Feels Like the First Time" riff.
Star Rating: 4.3 out of 5. Prime Cuts: "Follow Me", "At the Depot", "Off the Handle" Bottom Line: Fantastic bluesy rock album.
Love the Stevie Ray Vaughn power trio band approach to the album. Makes me want to hear "Photo-Finish" and "Jinx" which I'm reading that he also did in that genre.
Looking forward to hearing more of his stuff. Thanks for this introduction to this very cool Irish blues-rockin' artist, unomusette; I really enjoyed it. Just let us know any
other albums of his that you would highly recommend us checking out next, would love to hear any of your recommendations.
No ballads on this one, does he have any good ballads? Sounds like he would have a decent voice for some, would be cool to hear how it sounds it in that vein.
Other than that, got you marked down for a couple months from now, will remind you as the time approaches!
Jim
|
|
|
Post by Chippa on Jun 7, 2015 1:23:53 GMT
"Follow Me"- Kinda Kinks-like. Good, 70's rock/pop sound. Very much of the era.
"Philby" - I can see where Bruce Springsteen may have been influenced by Rory. Some hints of The Who, in this song, as well. Good.
"Wayward Child" - Good guitars, here. Sounds like the perfect driving song.
"Keychain"- Very Hendrixian. Solid blues rocker.
"At The Depot" - Nice slide work! Parts of it actually remind me of Meat Loaf, believe it or not.
"Bad Penny" - Prototypical 70's rock. Kinda surprised this song isn't better known. It has that kind of sound that would draw in people who are fans of Foghat, Bad Company, etc..
"Just Hit Town"- Relentless! Good stuff. Almost reminds me of "Radar Love".
"Off The Handle"- More blues. Nothing earth shattering, but a solid track.
"Public Enemy No. 1"- Damn fun song. Love the flow of the lyrics and again, some totally badass guitar work.
Overall, I give this a 7/10. Nothing too experimental, but if you like solid rock with some stellar guitar work, it's right up your alley.
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on Jun 7, 2015 8:10:44 GMT
- Follow me: a good way to catch one’s attention, which is what a started should do: distorted electric guitars, powerchords and some hard drums beats. The verse is pretty dynamic and good. It softens up a bit too much on the chorus. I’d say it’s rather good, although a bit too messy, particularly towards the end. - Philby: a bit slower but full of energy, it has a nice walking rhythm, but it’s the lead electric guitar what steals the show here. Great performance. As for the sung part, it’s another case of “verse better than chorus”, but still the song sounds very convincing. - Wayward Child: at this point I have to say this guy seems to have the particularity of putting up great verses but not being able to crown them with effective choruses. This song is faster and starts great but then never explodes as you are expecting. Also, the style of guitar playing gets too messy at points, like you want to hear a clearer riff (with less notes) from time to time. - Keychain: this reminds me of something Neil Young could have done, particularly the instrumental part. The song has a bluesy feeling, although the rhythm is still 4x4. I like how he switches a bit his singing style in order to fit the song better, something that in my opinion worked really well. The guitar always with that distortion and with the same messy way of playing is getting old by now though. - At the depot: the rythm is really strange. It’s like a rockabilly but with the bass drum hitting both it’s natural beat and the one of the snare as well, which creates an odd effect. It was nice to hear a harmonica though, even if it’s usage was stingy. I didn’t like this song, and I wouldn’t recommend it to nervous people. - Bad penny: a strong rocker. The song is based on the riff (and it’s correspondent chords) of the intro that repeats itself on small instrumental interludes throughout the song. It’s a really good one, quite epic. - Just hit town: fast-paced, too noisy for my taste. To add to the guitar, the drums are like a drill. Sorry to be redundant, but the guy doesn’t seem to have discovered the button to turn the guitar distortion off. A change in sound would be very welcome at this point. - Off the handle: something slower like this blues was really needed. Nice one, nothing too original but a nice blues. There’s a harmonica but it’s usage is quite stingy; a solo or a few arrangements more would have been great. - Public Enemy Nº 1: it has a funky rhythm which runs fluently, but it's nothing special for these ears. I usually like this kind of ‘70s straightforward rock which doesn’t have the pretentiousness of the progressive bands of the era, but I didn’t find most of this one particularly inspired, except for 3 or 4 tracks (mainly “Bad Penny”, great song… and then “Philby” and “Off the handle”, good ones… and to a lesser extent “Follow me”, enjoyable). The intentions are there, but most times the melody doesn't reach a good, convincing climax. Main sin: even when the songs differ between each other in rhythm and melody, the sounds is always the same. Exactly the same. That is a huge minus because it tends to bore the ear -and it could have been avoided so easily-. Mainly that distorted electric guitar… couldn’t he have gotten a more clear sound for a few songs? The drums and the bass also sound always the same, so the whole guy and band end up being a bit like a one-trick pony. What I love about artists like the Beatles –except their early albums- or ELO is how multifaceted they were, to the point where you could hardly recognize the same artist through different songs. That’s clearly not the case in this album (although I don’t know therest of Gallagher’s discography). As for his guitar playing, I don’t like his style. I think it’s way too messy, which is not bad in itself, but sometimes it sounds better if alternate with a few more elegant, sensual, smooth, better-shaped figures (particularly, for example, on “Off the handle”, which was a mid-tempo, almost slow blues). Good guitarists play dirtier at times and more clear other times. His playing style was mess, mess and more mess throughout all of the 9 songs, and to make matters worse the ever-present distortion sound made things more messy. There's not even one riff, lick or phrase you could memorize and recognize on whistling because everything he played was so shapeless. So if I were asked if he’s a great guitarist, I’d say “definitely no”. OK, I’ve gone after the bad ones so far, but in the worst of cases, this is listenable music. Except for “At the depot” and “Just hit town”, the rest of the songs are easily “digestible” and worth giving a listen. They have that vibe of the ‘70s rock that makes you feel that something musically great is about to happen at any moment. Tidier guitar playing, some changes in sound and a few more convincing choruses would have taken the thing to a much better level in my humble opinion. So Uno, it should have been no contest back in the day: the guy to marry was Jeff Lynne.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2015 5:10:19 GMT
Everybody here has summed up the album pretty well, so I'll just rank the songs.
Follow Me : A Philby :A Wayward Child :C Key Chain : B At the Depot: A+ Bad Penny : C- Just Hit Town : B- Off the Handle : B+ Public Enemy No. 1 : D
I'd buy this cd without much hesitation, but probably skip over the last song.
|
|