Customer Reviews

Dark Days in Paradise

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I remember buying this CD as an import when it was first released, as usual there was no fanfare surrounding a new Gary Moore album and I was lucky to stumble upon it.
This is a very different Album from Gary, I don't claim to know to much about him outside of his many recordings but there is deep emotion expressed here and the lyrics really seem to explore his inner self and his feeling of the time. There are strings, sequencers, various drum programmings and musical styles very out of the ordinary for this artist. It is a deep and engaging album, the track, Business As Usual really hits home. Gary is always changing in some way and this is another excellent step in his long and varied career.

Admittedly, I missed this CD when it was first released even though I have been a huge Gary Moore fan for more than 30 years. Thank goodness the Montreaux CD box set has Gary's 1997 concert included as it includes many songs from this CD and you can check it out for a listen...which is what I did before (finally) buying "Dark Days in Paradise."

I have seen reviews of this CD that "pooh-pooh" it for not being a Rock album, for not being a Blues album, for having synthesizers, or, for being different than what was expected. Everyone needs to remember that Gary Moore often changed musical gears since his days with the original Skid Row. Not many people have ever been as successful as Gary in doing so (my opinion). That being said...

"Dark Days in Paradise" is a CD that requires more than 1 listen to really get the concept. This CD comes across as very therapeutic for Gary with its host of haunting melodies and melancholy lyrics. I think there is a lot of his heart and soul being bared for all to see. Songs such as "One Good Reason," "Cold Wind Blows," and "One Fine Day" justify these comments. Honestly, either version of his great song "Empty Rooms" would be right at home on this CD. And the song "Business As Usual" is one of the most wrenching retospective songs I've heard from any artist, and, the guitar work throughout this song is as poignant as his cover of "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" from the "Bad For You Baby" CD.

With Gary's untimley passing this year, we may not see any more new recordings...especially here in the US where he has been so (undeservedly) ignored. This may mean that "Dark Days in Paradise" is a great opportunity for you to buy a "new" Gary Moore CD. It is a CD that deserves a listen, and, a place in your collection.

One of my pet peeves in regards to music is fans who can't comprehend artist evolution. I can't imagine why someone would want an artist to recycle their music over and over again? When does it get tired? By 1997, Gary had a long run with the blues. Starting out with Still Got the Blues, he diverted his path away from heavy rock and into his blues roots. It was quite successful and it sure looked like he had become a bonafide blues guitarist, but when 1997 hit, he completely changed direction again, this time to an eclectic field. Dark Days in Paradise is a very song-oriented album with colorful melodies and lush instrumentation. The album shows Gary at a time of artistic development; discovering who he was as a musician at that time frame in his life. It mixes in many elements of blues, hard rock, celtic folk, hip hop, funk, and dance. It was quite a departure from Gary's older work which stayed in the rock-blues range. Most of the songs are extremely solid but the album does contain a few tracks that I felt were weaker than the rest. Despite that, this has become one of my favorite Gary Moore albums... actually, it has become one of my favorite albums of my music collection. I have to give Gary all the respect in the world that he would refuse to stand still, defy all public perception of his work and drop down his guitar ego to create an album so different, so diverse, and so powerful as Dark Days in Paradise. RIP Gary Moore.

the typical greatness of Gary Moore playing some awsome blues...the man has got it going on...hope he never stops playin' those blues...

This album is proof positive for me that Gary Moore has forgotten how to write memorable melodies. I am a fan of all of his rock output in the 80s and even of a couple of tracks from his blues albums of the late 80s. This stuff, however, is putrid. I'm not even complaining that this amounts to little more than a pop album from one of the best rock guitarists around. Simply put, these songs played in any style would not appeal to anyone looking for a solid musical statement. Part of the issue in my opinion is that Gary seems to have been much more interested in writing the lyrics (which, ironically, are not that bad) rather than worrying about the musical aspects of these songs. Many of the tracks are limited to one or two musical ideas, making them repetitive and fairly boring, especially as most of them cross the 6-minute mark. In my attempt to be fair to this album, I gave it repeated spins over the span of three days. What I found is that, with one exception, Dark Days In Paradise is Gary Moore's least inspired output of his career. The exception is the 5th track, "Like Angels" which is a nice medium-length ballad with clear pop leanings but with solid music. "Afraid Of Tomorrow" is another song that clocks in at 7 minutes but only has an idea in the first minute which just gets repeated ad nauseum. "Where Did We Go Wrong" is a long, meandering mess which is somewhat saved by a very nice guitar solo towards the end. Everything else, including the three awful bonus tracks, is unadulterated crap. Very disappointing...