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Rating: Several years ago, I happened to spend a bit of time in the dressing room of Premiata Forneria Marconi before one of their concerts: a group of my friends was set to "open" for them that evening, and their guitarist had seized the opportunity to approach the virtuoso Franco Mussida to get some musical "tips"...
While we were there, around the two warming up with their acoustic guitars, someone asked Mussida who his favorite guitarist was. "At the moment, Rory Gallagher!" he replied dryly.
I was taken aback, expecting a Robert Fripp... or Steve Howe given their shared classical background, and instead, he named this Irishman full of feeling and immediacy, the opposite of his musical approach. So, I said on the fly: "But you play so differently, much more difficult!"... and he replied, "I don’t even try to do what he does! He’s from another planet! I had to study everything, while he just arrives there like that (and he snaps his fingers in front of my nose)... doing incredible things!"
If America gave us Stevie Ray Vaughan, Europe gave us Rory Gallagher: both donning a heavily used Fender Stratocaster, always the same one, both in a rock-blues trio making the guitar (magnificent) and voice (rough but "true", sincere) take center stage, both left us too soon, with Rory not making it after his liver, devastated by cirrhosis, was transplanted. When he gave up ten years ago, all of Ireland halted; it was a national mourning for what might be the world's most "musical" land, a great nation.
"Deuce" lets us hear him at the start of his career, in 1971. It’s his second work under his name, after two or three albums as Taste that rooted in the late sixties. A studio recording but the approach is totally and deliberately "live", and to fully achieve this, the "bases" of the tracks were recorded by rushing to the studio immediately after concerts, in the dead of night. The production is furthermore kept to a minimum, execution errors and imperfections are not corrected, and when the "vibe" was right, all well and good, onto the next. You can tell the songs emerge from inspired jam sessions (with him the loyal Gerry McAvoy on bass and Wilgar Campbell on drums) the group is extremely cohesive, the interaction among the musicians is spontaneous and vivid. Some overdubbing of solos, Rory’s gritty voice shot straight at you, and nothing else.
The album starts with "I’m Not Awake Yet", it’s semi-acoustic, very Irish due to a light Celtic jig rhythm, Rory starts by drawing inspiration from his land before referring to his American loves, using the electric only for a linear and quiet accompaniment, reserving embellishments and solos for the acoustic. Then comes "Used To Be" and it feels like a different record: imperial riff, magnificent, syncopated rhythm with his "rough" voice filling the pauses and the Stratocaster contrasting with its inimitable clean tone that leaves no escape, you can hear everything, the quality of each pick stroke, the micro uncertainties of intonation, and almost even the speaker cone working and the air it moves...
In "Don’t Know Where I’m Going" that follows, Gallagher is alone, voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica, it feels like listening to a more bluesy Bob Dylan... who knows where to put his hands on the instrument. "Maybe I Will" smells of the sixties with its beat aftertaste and here too the guitarist performs an uncompromisingly clean solo, without safety net, alive and kicking, while in the next track "Whole Lot Of People", his first slide solo (a metal slide worn on the pinky and slid along the strings, without pressing them on the frets) is appreciated. Rory lingers there amidst continuous stop&go and intricate arpeggios.
The atmosphere rises to white heat with the next "In Your Town", a heart-stopping slide performance on a hypnotic and expand-at-will boogie rhythm (indeed, it was a classic in his concerts), then it partially calms in the dragging Muddy Waters-style blues "Should’ve Learnt My Lesson". With "There’s A Light", the musical landscape expands with very esoteric and sophisticated jazzy chords, offbeat drumming, and a melancholic melody, the kind Sting could successfully sing (listen to believe!). In contrast, the subsequent track "Out Of My Mind" is again acoustic and distinctly American-influenced, Rory plays and sings in Nashville folk style with tight virtuoso arpeggios and a “southern” vocal style.
"Crest Of A Wave" placed in conclusion is the most beautiful song on the album: highly lyrical and dominated by a long slide solo capable of bringing down saints. The guitarist lingers on a single chord stretching the emotional bow, and then, backed by the rhythm, he slides into a harmonic progression dispelling all possible doubts: it’s realized one is enjoying great music, the slide's work in this masterpiece generates something primordial, wild and free, ancestral and definitive, intense and nourishing feeling.
If you like rock guitar and in a store your gaze falls on CDs with a guy invariably wearing a checkered shirt and a battered Stratocaster on the cover, make sure to grab at least one. It’s him, it’s Rory Gallagher.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Used to Be (05:24)
Baby i no longer wanna be
just a thorn in your side
Tell me what you gave me baby
and i will give you back
The troubles you gave to me
Gonna wrap em up in a box
tie 'em up with string
send 'em back to you
They no longer mean a thing to me
Better get used to bein' my used to be
Baby i no longer wanna be
just a cushion for your pride
here's my badge back baby
This man's gotta ride away
Before you make me change my mind
I'll be gone before you notice that i'm not around
You'll look everywhere baby
but i just won't be found
Better get used to being my used to be
I used to be the hands of your clock baby
But i always knew in time
I'd no longer be the key to your lock baby
and you would change your mind
I used to be the hands of your clock baby
But i always knew in time
I'd no longer be the key to your lock baby
and you would suddenly change your mind
Baby i remember a time
when you really used to try
But nowadays baby
you can't even look me in the eye
Your love is drifting with the tide
Well i ain't gonna blame you
if you ain't gonna blame me
I'll just move on down
i'm sure that you'll agree
get used to bein' my used to be
Well i ain't gonna blame you
if you ain't gonna blame me
I'll just move on down the line
i'm sure that you'll agree
better get used to bein' my used to be
02 I'm Not Awake Yet (05:06)
I'm not awake yet, I haven't opened my eyes.
But I haven't been late yet, I'm gonna to be on time.
For today's the day that you are coming back.
And I can't wait to see you materialize.
How much can I take now before I break inside?
How long will it take now before I realize,
That I can't live without you by my side,
And nothing else will keep me satisfied?
I've looked at my heart now and I trusted my eyes.
I made that mistake now ain't gonna make it twice.
But time can put the man on the other side.
And I can't wait to see what's left behind.
I'm not awake yet, I haven't opened my eyes.
I haven't been late yet.
Gonna be on time, gonna be on time,
gonna be on, gonna be on time.
But today's the day that you are coming back,
And I can't wait to see you materialize.
05 Whole Lot of People (04:57)
A whole lot of people talking,
Trying to make sense.
Seems everybody's living on a barbed wire fence,
Whole lotta people too proud to call,
'Cause it won't get no help at all.
Everybody's waiting for the good news day,
But it seems so far away.
Wonder if it's ever gonna come,
'Cause the way it's been,
The restless one.
Lot of things have gotta change,
If it's not already too late.
But it is worth the wait,
So, let's not hang our heads,
The light will shine one day.
Lot of things have gotta change,
If it's not already too late.
But it is worth the wait,
So, let's not hang our heads,
The light will show through yet.
Yeahh...
Now listen baby, and listen well,
I've got only one thing to tell.
Don't you worry about people telling lies,
They're only catching flies.
Yeahhh..
A whole lotta people talking,
Trying to make sense.
Seems everybody's living on a barbed wire fence,
Whole lotta people too proud to call,
'Cause it won't get no,
'Cause it won't get no,
'Cause it won't get no,
Help at all,
Help at all.
06 In Your Town (05:47)
Look out baby, your man is back in town
Look out baby, your man is back in town
Look out baby, I won't stand no messin'`round
The first man I wanna see is the Chief Police,
bring that man right over here
I wanna speak (?) my peace
I wanna 'cause no trouble, no fuzz, no fight,
but you look out man, you know this is Saturday night
The second man I wanna see is the old fire chief,
bring that man right over here
Stand him right in front of me
I wanna cause no trouble, no fuzz, no fight
see this match, I might set this place alight
So look out...
The third man I wanna see is the old D.A.,
he was the man who sent me away
Twenty two years, twenty three days, twenty four minutes
I was locked away
You come along baby, ask me where I've been,
up-the-river-holiday (?), up in Sing Sing
One cold floor, four bare walls,
that's all they gave me, nothing else at all
Sing Sing, Sing Sing, Sing Sing,
when I came out I could not feel a thing...
Now I'm back in your town,
in your town, in your town, in your town...
07 Should've Learnt My Lesson (03:36)
Should've learnt my lesson
long long time ago
Should've learnt my lesson
long long time ago
Bored like a mule
i've always learnt my lesson slow
Should have listened
taken my friends advice
Should have listened
to my best friends and to my eyes
They said "you must be prepared to lose"
If you choose to chance the dice
Well i'm feeling
about as tired as a bad pair of shoes
When you don't fit
then you know it's time to move
But if you had my troubles you'd be cryin too
My first mistake
was when i thought that you'd be true
My first mistake
was when i thought that you'd be true
now i realise that was a foolish thing to do
10 Crest of a Wave (06:00)
Well you can ride on the crest of a wave if that's where you want to be
But does the look on your face mean you're really feeling happy
Or do you feel like you're standing on a wooden leg
Or a poor man much to proud to beg
Or a page from a book that can't be read at all
Well you can see by the way that they are talking
That it's time for you to pick up your grip and start walking
'Cause they want to see your long ... legs flying
Go to the place where the earth meets the sky and
don't turn around and wave goodbye at all
They won't be satisfied, till you're out of their sight
But I wonder how will you feel
With a deck of cards and you're not around to deal
You're not around to deal , yeah
They won't be satisfied, till you're out of their sight
But I wonder how will you feel
With a deck of cards and you're not around to deal
You're not around to deal , yeah
You can say it's a lie, a joke that you are living
But you know one thing they don't,
You won't give in
'Cause you're like a cat chasin' its tail makes a million circles
But you're gonna fail
Sometimes you just don't understand
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By March Horses
Rory Gallagher, in his devotion to the old word with the wonders of modern amplification, was perhaps the greatest blues-rock musician of all time.
Splendidly and exquisitely imperfect.
