Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: clyde billt on May 05, 2011, 11:23:28 PM
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Just spotted this the other day
http://www.rorygallagher.com/#/news/2011/03/notes_from_san_francisco (http://www.rorygallagher.com/#/news/2011/03/notes_from_san_francisco)
And this sounds great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2wmF1rZl6k (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2wmF1rZl6k)
New live stuff also.
You on top of this AndyR?
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A new Rory Gallagher album means it's a good day :)
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Oh excellent, this is good news.
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Interesting stuff.
I'm definitely keen on the live CD.
Less so on the "studio album". It's the ditched precursor to Photo Finish (he ditched Rod and Lou as well). Over half of the songs were reworked with the three piece for Photo Finish, so it'll be interesting to hear these rejected versions to see what the problem was. The others have all appeared already on the remastered CDs as bonus tracks. Could be new mixes here though. B Girl is what became Public Enemy on Top Priority.
I'm slightly reticent after what Donal's done to the original albums though. In some cases I feel like he's taken the opportunity to "fix" stuff that he thought was wrong (Rory wouldn't let him near the artistic side at all and it sounds like he had a bit of an issue about this). It wouldn't be so bad if the remixes were extras. And some of the remixes are actually better (eg most of Photo Finish - Rory had left notes on how he'd like to remix this album). But now it's impossible to buy the versions that Rory originally released. Jinx is the worst one, he's had all this out-of-time acoustic work brought out that Rory had muted for somewhat obvious reasons! And he even resequenced the entire album - WHY??!!? And why can't I buy a digital version of Rory's original albums? (With the original fecking artwork!!!! - don't get me started :lol:)
I strongly suspect that Rory would not have released these tracks if he was alive (same as he wouldn't have released some of the bonus tracks on the remasters - there are hidden gems, but the rest are unfinished demos). Live stuff I think was different, he was already taking ownership of bootlegs and releasing them before he died. I suspect that he'd release CD 2 or the (superb) live sessions from 71 or so that came out last year. But I really don't think he'd release stuff that he'd already rejected as not good enough - he'd always rerecord the songs or reuse the ideas for different songs.
So, somewhat mixed feelings on this one... I have to admit I've been mildly surprised for some years that the "lost album" hadn't been released already... I think there might be another one hiding from the late 80s as well, but that doesn't show up in the biographies etc as a complete album rejected.
Hmmph...
Still, it's more Rory... I'm in! :D :lol:
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From what you've said, Andy, it's a shame they didn't take the same approach as the Deep Purple back catalogue - digitally remastering the original albums without tampering*, then only adding remixes, alternate takes etc as bonus tracks or second discs.
(* I say that from a position of blissful ignorance - there may be a huge debate among audiophiles about how well or badly they've been remastered, but I'm unaware of it.... )
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From what you've said, Andy, it's a shame they didn't take the same approach as the Deep Purple back catalogue - digitally remastering the original albums without tampering*, then only adding remixes, alternate takes etc as bonus tracks or second discs.
(* I say that from a position of blissful ignorance - there may be a huge debate among audiophiles about how well or badly they've been remastered, but I'm unaware of it.... )
I'm not a massive DP fan, but from listening to the Burn album, the vocals are higher in the mix on the remastered stuff - I like the original mix better.
For the most part, remastering is great and they usually improve on the original mix, but not on this one, imo.
Good news on the Rory stuff though, that guy was a monster guitar player. Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
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Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
That is epic.
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Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
That is epic.
I never get tired of that performance, just awesome.
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Well, a coupla months on and I finally got round to acquiring this album.
Turns out I love it.
It is the "lost" album. As far as I can make out it has no extra overdubs, but most of it has been remixed. So it's not the masters that Rory (literally) dropped in the bin.
In some ways I feel myself going Rory, Rory, why did you ditch it?? But on the other hand we can't hear the original mixes he ditched.
It would have needed a bit more tidying up, not much mind. And some of the weaker material wouldn't have made it anyway - there's too much for a vinyl LP. But if he'd finished it, for me it would possibly have been the best of the 4-piece studio albums (Blueprint, Tattoo, Against the Grain, Calling Card, and then this).
However, I need to keep in perspective what he was trying to achieve at that moment.
He was trying to do an "American" sounding album as strongly requested by the record company. He seems to have bought into the idea, and had some sort of idea of how he wanted to do this... but it fell short of his own expectations. One of the reasons I think it fell short is that he was always a bit of a "balls-to-the-wall" rocker. It doesn't really show up on the official 4-piece studio recordings. But the producer of these sessions has captured the live Rory guitar unlike any of it's predecessors - there is some stunning playing on here, and you can tell that Rory's already evolving in a more "rock" direction. The producer's also managed to get more out of Lou Martin's keyboards. The stuff does all gel together, better in many ways, for my money, than Roger Glover managed on the previous album, but not how I suspect that Rory had imagined it should from his perspective in the middle of a stage with his amp blasting at him.
And definitely, his band seem to have had difficulty in tapping into the spirit of the songs Rory had in his head. It's all nice performances, but they don't have the bite that the same songs eventually ended up with.
During the middle of it all he seems to have reacted against the direction he was trying out, was getting bored with where a 4-piece was taking him, and ended up thinking "I want an all out rocking 3-piece". I understand he saw the Sex Pistols during the sessions, and Brute Force and Ignorance is reputed to be about a punk band that impressed him greatly.
Now, Brute Force and Ignorance is one of my favourite Rory songs. I suspect it was one of his as well - he played it live an awful lot. Basically, it's actually country music song - when you try playing it, it sounds pretty mellow (except for the intro). But the way he captured it on Photo Finish later with the 3-piece is something else. Same chords, but the attack lives up to the name and the lyrics.
The version on here is almost the same in the guitar and vocal department. But the band is playing something a lot more laid back and, well, stodgy. It's still good, but it's an album filler track, not the "Rory-manifesto", second or third song in the live set, that it became.
For me personally, I can imagine him listening to that one alone on these recordings and going "it's useless, start again...".
I feel a bit sorry for Rod D'Eath, the drummer. He was a fine drummer, but he wasn't best suited for where Rory ended up going. And added to that, I understand that he led the revolt for more wages at precisely the wrong moment - when his employer didn't think he could deliver in the style needed :lol:
SO, although I feel Rory perhaps made a mistake in not putting this out - this is more from a point of view of "you denied me these recordings for 30-odd years!!!". He might even have had more commercial success if he'd gone this direction. But he wouldn't have been able to do Photo Finish and then Top Priority, and he wouldn't have been the metal-blues super-hero that I saw a year or two later.
The second CD, the live album, is the 3-piece live in December 1979. I think he must have been promoting Top Priority. Follow Me is the set opener, and there's a superb version of Off the Handle. These recordings were made just 9 months before I first saw him. It is the Rory that I first saw, the Rory of the Stagestruck live album, but it kind of sounds just a bit more like what I remember than Stagestruck, even its remastered version, manages.
So, Clyde (and any other die-hard Rory fans), you MUST have this album. It's fab and groovy :D
Folks less obsessed with Rory than I am, it is well worth a listen. And CD2 is definitely great if you like the metal-Rory. The performances aren't quite as stunning as on Stagestruck, but the sound is a lot less wearing on the ears :lol:
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i'm still abit of a Rory n00b... am curious as to what do you mean by his metal period Andy? I listened to a track called 'The Watcher' this morning, and it was incredible - would that be a good example?
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The Watcher is a bonus track on one of the remastered studio albums. I'm not sure which? Might be Top Priority. It's definitely an "unfinished" recording by his standards, I'd like to have heard a finished one.
Top Priority is his most "metal" studio album. It was the current album during NWOBHM. It's not metal by today's standards at all, nor really by Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon, and Judas Priest standards of the time either. But the folk going to see Rory 79-81 were going to see those bands as well. He was a LOT heavier than say, Wishbone Ash, Alvin Lee, and maybe even Girlschool, all of which I saw around the same time.
His whole approach to guitar playing and all on stage was a lot more heavy rock (or "metal" of the time) than a lot of guys playing lead in the rock/metal bands.
Years later, I was trying to get a young guy into him. I lent him a double CD with Live In Europe (from 72) and Stagestruck (from 80). I thought he'd be into the later one but wouldn't "get" Live In Europe.
He loved Live In Europe, but was bored by Stagestruck - "it sounds too much like Randy Rhodes" was what he said :lol: ... and I suppose, lead wise it does. His playing seems so much more energetic than that to me though. Out of the recordings I know of, Stagestruck has captured the most soaring, melodic and fluent period of his playing. The over all mix is a bit harsh and lacking bottom end. Unless you can see through it, I suspect it is one of those "you had to be there" recordings.
So that's kinda what I mean by "metal Rory" :lol:. When I was into "metal", it was mostly blues-based rock. That's what he did, and he did it harder than, say, the guys in Iron Maiden were doing it at the time. (I saw Iron Maiden support Judas Priest on the British Steel tour - I first saw Rory a few months later. Priest were monstrously good, Maiden were novices at the time, but Rory kicked the most @rse).
The "period" started with Photo Finish (the remake of the album in this thread), and included Top Priority and Stagestruck. Say 78/9 to 82 or so. Then Ted McKenna (drummer) left, worn out after a never ending world tour. There was a bit of a hiaitus, and then suddenly Jinx appeared, that's the last one in the same vein - but the remaster DOES NOT SOUND LIKE THAT, Donal had it remixed to bring out "all the hidden instrumentation". Rory mixed it like the hard, almost punky, rock power-trio he was fronting on stage - the remix sounds like punchy AOR.
And then later, after a few years, Rory suddenly reappeared with Defender, and finally Fresh Evidence. They still have elements of his early 80s "metal-ness" but they're more varied and he definitely brought more rootsy blues stuff back on the table.
HOWEVER! There is no real "period" for him... he was always the same guy. Liked all sorts of music, but for his own stuff his vision was LOUD rocknroll. Energy was what he thought it was all about. He p1ssed drummers off because they weren't hitting the skins hard enough for him. He wanted his guitar as loud and raucous as possible -and it's extremely distorted in a lot of live footage, from 75/6 onwards. Once amplifiers and pedals started giving him more overdrive he just piled it on like all the rockers did :lol:
His guitar skills and fluidity of playing increased all through the 60s and 70s. They kind of peaked 79-81. Because of the style he was playing, the amp sound he was using, showmanship, etc, people who heard him during that period classify him as heavy rock (and big fans tend to call it "metal Rory" :lol:). Folks that found him earlier tend to classify him as blues and look down on the rock period as not so good. I like it all, but I actually think he was a better player, more in command of the instrument, during the rock period. Sadly, he just gradually deteriorated as a player from the mid 80s. Still made some great music, but that OMIGOD how did he do that??!! disappeared.
Possibly one of the reasons he went back to "blues" was that he couldn't play the other anymore (there's a tale of him in tears in a rehearsal because he just could not play the intro to Shinkicker).
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Just started getting in to Rory's music, I have "the Essential" compilation and tracks like "Bad Penny", "Philby" and "I fall Apart" are just pure class, along with everything else.
I'll keep an eye out for the new album as well.
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great clip HTH, but the bassist wins the prize here for me, brilliant.
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Andy,
You mentioned my favourite Rory stuff I've heard so far. I like his heavier, melodic stuff very much - I think we're talking about the same period :) I need to listen to more. In fact the arrangements and lyrics of this stuff are rather subtle compared to the raw sounding guitars. Its all rather tasty!
edit: theres few better tones than a strat kicked into a cooking amp with a treble booster. i'm just listening through 'Top Priority', its god-like stuff.
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Andy, interesting posts about "metal Rory" - I'd always perceived him as a heavy, wild-abandon blues-rock guitarist, from hearing odd tracks on the Friday Rock Show (which would've been during the NWOBHM period, as you mentioned).
But then most of the full albums I've heard - I think I have 6 or 7 of them, but the one I'm most familiar with is Against the Grain - are relatively "polite" (not in a polished sort of way, it's just not particularly aggressive music). I really should listen to some of the later stuff.
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I think it's down to two things:
1) He never really captured what he did live on his studio recordings - I'm not even sure it would have been possible, the bloke that recorded this unearthed album almost managed it, but Rory rejected it for some reason, I dunno... it wasn't honest and pared-down enough or something... sounds honest enough for me, just a bit messy in places! :lol:
2) Live, whether he was playing with a cleaner or dirtier sound, he always "ripped it up"
Even the stuff on Against the Grain came over a lot more aggressive than that album makes out (in fact, the original vinyl mix has a bit more bite and punch to it - that's another one that's been messed with, they even managed to lose a bunch of vocal on Lost at Sea). There are storming "live in the studio" OGWT versions of I Take What I Want, All Round Man, Bought and Sold - I guess they'll be on Youtube somewhere. And there's a Souped Up Ford - wow - not sure that was from the same session.
I think you're right though Philly, the actual music itself isn't that aggressive - it's just the way he delivered it. It was like there was a danger the world might end before we get to the next song, so he'd put everything he had into this song. And he'd just keep doing it for two and half hours or so, hardly any let up.
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Even the stuff on Against the Grain came over a lot more aggressive than that album makes out (in fact, the original vinyl mix has a bit more bite and punch to it - that's another one that's been messed with, they even managed to lose a bunch of vocal on Lost at Sea).
It's the vinyl version I know - I bought a second-hand copy when I was about 16, mostly because of the cover with close-up photos of that amazingly-beaten up Strat! I was absolutely fascinated by all the peeling paint, rust and mould on that guitar. Maybe that's why Relics appeal to me now! :lol:
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Even the stuff on Against the Grain came over a lot more aggressive than that album makes out (in fact, the original vinyl mix has a bit more bite and punch to it - that's another one that's been messed with, they even managed to lose a bunch of vocal on Lost at Sea).
It's the vinyl version I know - I bought a second-hand copy when I was about 16, mostly because of the cover with close-up photos of that amazingly-beaten up Strat! I was absolutely fascinated by all the peeling paint, rust and mould on that guitar. Maybe that's why Relics appeal to me now! :lol:
I'm not sure, I don't remember accurately, but I think that might be how my old drummer got into Rory - because of the cover of Against the Grain. He certainly had the same sort of things to say about it. I was fascinated by it more because it was close ups of "THE" guitar. But certainly I wouldn't be that sold on the idea of beat-up looking guitars if it wasn't for seeing/hearing the combination of Rory and his.
By the way, Against the Grain and Calling Card were the last studio albums which featured that strat almost exclusively. What Rory did take away from these San Francisco sessions was two studio techniques he used a lot from then on - overdub lots of guitars for texture (probably why it was such a nightmare mixing stuff!), and choose the right guitar for the song. He had a doctored Corvette he used a fair bit, a 57 strat that sometimes sounded better than his 61, various Esquires and Teles, and... (wait for it Philly!) ... a Les Paul Junior and a Melody Maker. The gorgeous slide stuff on Doin time on Defender (according to Gerry McAvoy) is a Tokai Talbo.
And, Gwem, I just remembered - there is a further connection that might grab you for the heavier "metal Rory" period - Dieter Dierks. He was the guy that helped Rory out of the hole that he found himself in after these San Francisco recordings (the album was meant to be called "Torch" by the way). They went to Dieter Dierks's studio in Cologne to re-record it as Photo Finish. They got on so well with him, his mum, The Scorpions, etc, that all of the "metal-period" studio albums I mentioned (Photo Finish, Top Priority, and Jinx) were recorded there.
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He had a doctored Corvette he used a fair bit, a 57 strat that sometimes sounded better than his 61, various Esquires and Teles, and... (wait for it Philly!) ... a Les Paul Junior and a Melody Maker.
See, a man of taste! (or Taste..... ) :D
I remember seeing a Rory gig on TV - no idea of the dates - during which he used a black Tele at least as much as the Strat.
Andy, did you ever read Guitar & Bass back in the very early days when it was The Guitar Magazine? They once had a Strat shootout in which they got none other than Rory himself to try out a bunch of different Strats - '50s, '60s and '70s ones and possibly even a new one or two. He came across as not vintage-snobbish at all - there was a '70s Strat he really liked, although he said he'd prefer bigger frets on it.
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Yep, I remember that very well - I was even thinking about it while I was typing it. I have a feeling that there was at least one of the "re-issue" Fenders that they were doing at the time - so a Japanese one (although they weren't advertising that the "US" re-issues were also made in Japan at the time :lol:). I couldn't afford them, but I helped a friend pick a strat, and he went for the "US" 50s reissue.
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Good news on the Rory stuff though, that guy was a monster guitar player. Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
i was listening to this again today, and for some reason was reminded of Iron Maiden's Drifter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkPb-kCST1o
only Maiden are a bit less rocking as Andy suggests. i guess its a standard blues progression, but the bass is very similar.
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I was a Taste fan but then seemed to lose touch with Rory. After listening to some of these tracks I can see it was my loss. Loved Souped Up Ford - what a tight rythym section. So much energy.
CALLING ROO - see what effect playing a Tele has on women ( 1:25):-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBagcBSavIM&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBagcBSavIM&feature=related)
I think Rory was playing Hair on a G-string at the time. A fine looking Mufty PDT_023
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Good news on the Rory stuff though, that guy was a monster guitar player. Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
i was listening to this again today, and for some reason was reminded of Iron Maiden's Drifter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkPb-kCST1o
only Maiden are a bit less rocking as Andy suggests. i guess its a standard blues progression, but the bass is very similar.
I too always think of Drifter when I hear this track
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Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
That is epic.
M...O...N...S...T...E...R
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Good news on the Rory stuff though, that guy was a monster guitar player. Here's one of my fave Rory moments...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQIv-BQXecM
i was listening to this again today, and for some reason was reminded of Iron Maiden's Drifter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkPb-kCST1o
only Maiden are a bit less rocking as Andy suggests. i guess its a standard blues progression, but the bass is very similar.
I too always think of Drifter when I hear this track
Sounds like they was Rory fans :lol:
That version of Souped Up Ford is well fast though!