Wikipedia tells me Rory Gallagher was born on 2nd March, 1948 in a place called Ballyshannon, Ireland. They talk a lot about his guitars, alcoholism and music career that peaked in the 70s (apparently he's sold over 30 million albums and was also approached to replace Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple after Jeff Beck refused....I would've never guessed). What they don't say is, where did this man born somewhere in southern Ireland get the blues from?
I had come across some Rory Gallagher numbers about a couple of years back. I remember being taken in by Moonchild and Tattoo'd Lady. Great rock tracks. But I didn't pursue him as an artist then. He was a great rock guitar player, but those were the days when I was discovering the sweet melodies of Southern Rock/Blues of Skynyrd, Neil Young, and Allman Brothers. I didn't have the time for Mr. Gallagher then. However, recently a friend picked up the entire Rory Gallagher discography, and since then I have been hooked to what this man can do with the six strings. He's fast, he's raging, he's got some Irish groove in him that makes him sound like nothing I've heard before, and he can play the blues. Without making any comparisions, I think Rory Gallagher's sound (in its entirety vocal+guitar) is closest to Jimi Hendrix's, in his own Irish way.
I don't think too many people have heard of him outside Europe. I once joined a Rory Gallagher community on Orkut and it had 5 members including myself. So if anyone's interested they ought to look up Tattoo and Calling Card. They are his commercially most succesful ventures. My personal favourites of the little I've heard have been The Cuckoo - Live FM Radio Jam (great acoustic blues covers in the first half) and his live album Live in Europe which contains some of the best live versions of his own studio work. Its his live albums that bring out the great electric blues artist whom I have come to revere. Eric Clapton cites Rory Gallagher as the reason he returned to playing the blues in the 80s. But it was Brian May of Queen who paid him the highest tribute. He was quoted saying, "So these couple of kids come up, who's me and my mate, and say 'How do you get your sound Mr. Gallagher?' and he sits and tells us. So I owe Rory Gallagher my sound."
A must listen for any music lover.
Happy Birthday Rory. Rest in Peace. Cheers.
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