Rory Gallagher
Live! In Europe

THE REVIEW

With the "Phase 2" of the Covid-19 emergency having just begun a few days ago, it was my intention to purchase a book that finally allowed me to wholeheartedly embrace the cause of the great Irish musician known as William Rory Gallagher, namely "Rory Gallagher: Il Bluesman con la camicia a quadri" written by the excellent Fabio Rossi, and consequently, I decided to continue the search for his very fine discography and my attention immediately fell on this "Live! In Europe" released in the distant (but not too distant!) 1972.

After the brief but intense adventure with Taste, the young and determined Rory composed two excellent solo albums, the self-titled "Rory Gallagher" in early 1971 and the other excellent "Deuce" a few months later, and then decided with his "power trio," composed of the excellent Gerry McAvoy on bass and Wilgar Campbell on drums, to give vent to the dimension undoubtedly most congenial to him, that is, the live performance. In 1972, this first, stunning "live" album was born with the European Tour that the great guitarist undertook in that year practically across half of Europe (one stop of which even took place in Milan in that year, precisely at the "Teatro Lirico" on February 12).

The album in question comprises 7 excellent tracks (plus two bonus tracks added in the remastered 2018 CD version) showcasing a Rory Gallagher in splendid form, capable of "matare" the audience of his adrenaline-pumping concerts with his legendary 1961 Sunburst model Fender Stratocaster (originally belonging, for the record, to a certain Buddy Holly, not just any name!). It kicks off with the classic "Messin' With The Kid" with Rory's spirited six-string definitely warming up the engines, followed by the equally unleashed "Laundromat" from the debut album, which hints at a powerful and incisive Hard Rock just enough to already send his adoring audience into raptures.

The classic Blues canons come back strongly with "I Could've Had Religion" where Rory's stunning "slide guitar" dominates the scene, and with another classic, this time by Fulton Allen, named "Piston Slapper Blues" where he demonstrates that even armed with the acoustic guitar, he is undeniably a cut above the vast majority of his peers.

But the best piece on the entire album is undoubtedly the magnetic "Going To My Hometown" with the usual monumental Rory on mandolin, where the (far too underestimated) singer-songwriter vein of the Irishman also emerges. In this song, he provides us with a glimpse of his childhood during his time living in Cork with his family.

"In Your Time," from "Deuce," is a piece reproduced here with energy, with another impeccable solo by Rory midway through the track, while the epilogue is entrusted to a classic rearranged by Rory's magical touch as "Bullfrog Blues," which effectively closes a Live album that can be considered not only an essential starting point to understand the absolute value of a Musician with a capital M too often overlooked and mistreated in life by certain critics, so to speak, "mainstream," but also to fully understand that "musical magic" that only the so-called "Seventies" could offer.

A final note concerns the two "bonus tracks" contained in the remastered CD version "What In The World" and "Hoodoo Man," which confirm the magnificent predisposition of the Irish genius to the rawest and most visceral Rock/Blues ever.