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  1. #1

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    Hi !

    An Alexa Dot has been my Christmas Present, a lot of music is played.
    I knew Rory Gallagher, and I figured out Rory Gallagher had a band called Taste.
    Do you know what he played in this band ?

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  3. #2

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    Rory was one of the greatest. Period. He missed a chance to work with the Stones. He missed the chance to be recognized as one of the icons of guitar. I always considered Rory and Roy Buchanan as the most criminally overlooked and forgotten guitarists in rock.
    He was the real deal.

  4. #3

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    ^ What Jimmy said!

    Rory and Roy were my heroes in my teens.

  5. #4

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    I've never cared for his electric work. However, his acoustic singing and playing is almost unparalleled among white blues guitarists who are known mostly by their electric playing. He has a great singing voice which sets him apart from many others.

  6. #5

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    I'd never think of Rory Gallagher or Roy Buchanan as being overlooked: everyone I know thinks they're great! I got a bunch of vinyls, really enjoy both, especially Gallagher.

  7. #6

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    A lot of (very) positive comments already done
    May I add one : Rory concerts were of the most memorable I have attended to.
    Check "Irish tour '74", "BBC sessions" and "Notes from San Francisco"

  8. #7

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    With Taste he played some extraordinary extended jazz blues jams, especially on the two Live albums with that group. After he disbanded that group, he produced some very distinctive heartfelt blues, especially in the early 70s and up to the album 'Against the Grain' when he went in a rockier direction. One of my heroes, whom I met as a teenager. He encountered a lot of problems in later years. He was well enough known but not as widely appreciated as he might have been. He was managed by his brother.

  9. #8

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    One thing that impressed me with Gallacher besides the playing, was how much he knew about the music styles he played, and everything around them. In several interviews he starts to speak about the music, players, bands and schools of playing, he had very deep knowledge of the subjects..

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by DawgBone
    I've never cared for his electric work. However, his acoustic singing and playing is almost unparalleled among white blues guitarists who are known mostly by their electric playing. He has a great singing voice which sets him apart from many others.
    Cool. I wonder how much his roots were tied to Bukka White. These early Brit rockers seemed to have had stronger appreciation for the old black acoustic blues players than American counterparts. I don't know if that's actually true but it often seemed that way. I grew up listening to blues players that were largely second generation (often Brit, often white) and it was their love of American blues that reached the mainstream rock audience through Yardbirds, Stones and the guitarists that emanated from those wellsprings. (Of course there was Hendrix and Buddy Guy but record companies did tend to spotlight British blues more than black American musicians.)
    When I wanted to learn the blues, I moved to the south and found an old player John Jackson whom I learned from. Every day I'd wonder "Why doesn't anybody know about this guy?". Maybe like Rory Gallagher, it takes a record company's blessings to break the surface of mainstream awareness.
    Anyway thanks for posting this clip of acoustic Rory! What a feel!

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alter
    I'd never think of Rory Gallagher or Roy Buchanan as being overlooked: everyone I know thinks they're great! I got a bunch of vinyls, really enjoy both, especially Gallagher.
    You run in very hip circles I dare say!

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alter
    I'd never think of Rory Gallagher or Roy Buchanan as being overlooked: everyone I know thinks they're great! I got a bunch of vinyls, really enjoy both, especially Gallagher.
    Well if by everyone you mean people who are very knowledgeable and appreciative of musical talent...unfortunately, that's not too many people.

    Reminds me of the joke about Adlai Stevenson, when he was running for president. A wag said, "Adlai, you've got the intellectual vote!" And Adlai said, "Sure, but I want to win the election..."

    I don't think they had the recognition they deserved during their lifetimes. I know for sure they weren't common knowledge down South when I was a young kid learning about new musicians.

    Add Danny Gatton to the list.

    Anyway, Rory is a very expressive player. He influenced a lot of young musicians, including Brian May and The Edge. Eric Clapton says that Rory was very important in his musical career when he was in a down period.

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    Cool. I wonder how much his roots were tied to Bukka White. These early Brit rockers seemed to have had stronger appreciation for the old black acoustic blues players than American counterparts. I don't know if that's actually true but it often seemed that way. I grew up listening to blues players that were largely second generation (often Brit, often white) and it was their love of American blues that reached the mainstream rock audience through Yardbirds, Stones and the guitarists that emanated from those wellsprings. (Of course there was Hendrix and Buddy Guy but record companies did tend to spotlight British blues more than black American musicians.)
    When I wanted to learn the blues, I moved to the south and found an old player John Jackson whom I learned from. Every day I'd wonder "Why doesn't anybody know about this guy?". Maybe like Rory Gallagher, it takes a record company's blessings to break the surface of mainstream awareness.
    Anyway thanks for posting this clip of acoustic Rory! What a feel!
    I was thinking of starting a separate thread about this, but with Beck's passing it seems there were 2 schools of 60's British guitarists--those mainly influenced by American black blues, and those influenced by rockabilly. Keef and Peter Green and Clapton were totally obsessed with American blues, whereas George Harrison and Pete Townshend were more into rockabilly. Beck and Jimmy Page actually had feet in both camps--Beck definitely more rockabilly, Page on the surface a "blues guy" but really more of a rocker.

    God only knows how a kid from Northern Ireland picked up an interest in the blues, but Rory seems to have been kind of Page-like in loving Buddy Holly and Muddy Waters about equally.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff

    God only knows how a kid from Northern Ireland picked up an interest in the blues....
    Lovely to read such appreciative comments about Rory. Not wishing to be pedantic, but Rory was born in Ballyshannon County Donegal, which is in the Republic of Ireland or 'the South' as we say (although Donegal is actually in the North-West). He was brought up in Cork which is actually in the south of Ireland.

  15. #14

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    Hi !

    Thanks for your answers, I post something about Rory Gallagher because I got amused when I heard him playing the saxophone, it was kind of bad (lot of limitations) but it was very sincere, good feeling.
    This guy is someone. I also appreciate how open-minded he is, he is not stuck in something.
    Great feeling, my hero when I was a teen was Ritchie Blackmore (I know it's fashionable to say he is an asshole but I like him) because he was original without a lot of gear. Rory Gallagher is beyond this maybe too sincere he was.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Irishmuso
    Lovely to read such appreciative comments about Rory. Not wishing to be pedantic, but Rory was born in Ballyshannon County Donegal, which is in the Republic of Ireland or 'the South' as we say (although Donegal is actually in the North-West). He was brought up in Cork which is actually in the south of Ireland.
    Yes, he moved to London or just England because of Christian Lent, I think Irish don't make fun of Catholic traditions.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Irishmuso
    Lovely to read such appreciative comments about Rory. Not wishing to be pedantic, but Rory was born in Ballyshannon County Donegal, which is in the Republic of Ireland or 'the South' as we say (although Donegal is actually in the North-West). He was brought up in Cork which is actually in the south of Ireland.
    Oh sorry. I read that the family lived in Derry when Rory was a kid, so I mistakenly assumed he was born there. My very distant relatives are from Cork, so I should know that stuff.

    LIstening to a lot of Rory last night—I think the challenge with Rory was that he kind of fit between the slots in the music business, at least in the States. He was really playing skittle- and blues-based boogie, which is kind of a narrow genre. He was of course a great guitarist, but he didn’t seem to want to go in the direction of Clapton and play more commercial stuff (and remakes of other popular songs) or go the full-on guitar wizard role like Robin Trower. He didn’t seem to collaborate with a lot of more successful people the way Clapton and others did.

    In the states his type of music was represented by American groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and Johnnie Winter, all of whom had distinctive personae and were marketed well to American audiences. Groups like Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac, etc. broke into the charts because they were heavily produced, had a very commercial sound, and came out at the right time.

    Maybe it was all timing. Elton John and David Bowie and any number of British/Irish groups (U2 for instance) broke through when they had successful US tours. I don’t know that it was one thing.

    Anyway, great music to listen to.

  18. #17

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    His brothers Noel and Liam are funny bastards.

  19. #18

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    I saw John Jackson perform at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz festival in 1974 and have a very clear memory of it. Though I was familiar with most of the other artists on the program, I had never heard of him. He played solo and was spellbinding. The crowd of mostly young white people thought so, too. Jackson seemed surprised and stunned by the level of appreciation the crowd showed him. Then he headed back to Virginia, I imagine.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vihar
    His brothers Noel and Liam are funny bastards.
    And their son, Conor, plays football.

  21. #20

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    Exactly. Irishmen own art.