A
real sonic revelation for fans of the late, great Irish rocker Rory
Gallagher, the 12 track 2010 CD release of The Beat Club Sessions
presents the guitarist in the finest light yet. Perhaps the first
thing you notice is just how well Radio Bremen recorded Gallagher
and his band, here including Gerry McAvoy (bass) and
Wilgar Campbell (drums). Sure this is live but it’s live
for radio broadcast in the studio, so it’s a little like a variety
of the live in the studio, BBC type recordings that resurfaced on
CD, from a number of bands including The Beatles, for the first time
in the ‘90s and ‘00s. Actually, Gallagher first played the
Beat Club show with his innovative power trio, simply called Taste,
yet these 12 cuts are taken from three different shows Rory played
as a solo artist in ‘71 and ‘72. Gallagher had just released
his famous first solo album in 1971, here in the U.S. on ATCO, and
the first five cuts on his Beat Club CD shows just how well Rory played
music from that album in a live "in the studio" setting.
The intimate, yet live nature of recordings for Radio Bremen shows
why Rory was the hardest working guitarist on the blues rock scene
back in the early ‘70s. Eagle's CD packaging is fantastic too
with silver hued artwork, liner notes and rare color pics. After spinning
this classic audio CD relic, fans may also want to pick up on a new
double DVD released on Eagle Vision called Ghost Blues: The
Story Of Rory Gallagher. Disc one of the 179 minute
DVD set is a superb documentary of Rory’s meteoric rise to blues
rock superstardom, even eclipsing giants like Alvin Lee and Kim Simmonds,
in his heyday. The DVD documentary combines vintage video footage
of Rory growing up and out of Ireland with current interviews of Rory’s
brother Donal Gallagher, Bob Geldof, Cameron Crowe,
Slash, Bill Wyman of the Stones, along with long time
Gallagher band mates Gerry McAvoy and Ted McKenna. The
double DVD packaging is excellent, complete with DVD booklet depicting
a number of memorable, scaled down Melody Maker magazine covers back
when Rory was on the cover. To seal the deal, disc two of the Ghost
Blues release is an expanded 16 track video version DVD of Rory
performing the music documented so well on The Beat Club Sessions
CD. www.EagleRockEnt.com
/ www.RoryGallagher.com
