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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As Good As Live Rock Gets, June 9, 2002
Back in the early '70's my friends and I used to refer to Rory Gallagher as the "King of the Cut-out Bin". A frist rate
guitarist with a great feel for all kinds of blues, soulful singer, and charismatic performer (though without pretense), Gallagher was, for some reason, a non-seller. This album was the first Gallagher cut-out I bought and when the CD was released I didn't flinch at all at paying full price because this is some of the best live blues and rock on earth. After a perfunctory introduction and some enthusiastic applause from what sounds like a small audience, Gallagher rips into the first notes of his cover of Junior Wells' "Messin' With The Kid" and never lets up. His acoustic blues are just as impassioned as his electric rock; his performance of "Pistol Slapper Blues" is actually reminiscent of Blind Boy Fuller's, complete with fine Piedmont style fingerpicking and "Going To My Hometown" features mandolin and audience participation. Bassist Gerry McAvoy and drummer Wilgar Campbell fir perfectly with him. ther challenge and push him without getting in the way. Campbell's fills never intrude on the music, rather they help to fill the background and tend to keep the intensity up. Gallagher's own virtuosity never seems to exist for its own sake; his ego seems totally subsumed in the music. This is the mark of a true musician. The production is competent without being the least bit slick and there are just enough wrong notes to indicate a minimum of overdubbing. This is a great live rock album, doubtless one of the best, and an object lesson for many musicians with great chops and little maturity. Don't miss it.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Proof positive of the incredible musical genius of Rory Gallagher, April 16, 2006
Of the many inanities on the Rolling Stone list of the 100 greatest guitarists that came out with great fanfare a few years ago, the most absurd is this: Rory Gallagher did not make the list. One can argue about where various guitarists should have been placed, but around 65 of the guitarists on the list truly belonged there. But 90 or 95 of the ones on the list must cringe with embarrassment that they were ranked above Rory Gallagher. There is simply no way that one can listen at any length to Rory play one scintillating solo after another and place him outside the top ten guitarists in the history of rock. Yeah, he was never terribly popular and even now is not especially well known to the public at large, but the fact is that he had utter mastery over his primary instrument. And unlike most guitarists, Gallagher was a multi instrumentalist. It is widely reported that when Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones, the first choice to replace him was Gallagher. It is easy to see why. He was even more of a blues purist than any of the remaining Stones, was a better slide player than Keith Richards, Brian Jones, or Mick Taylor, would have provided far better back up vocals than anyone ever has for the band, would have brought some of the same multi-instrumental mastery that Brian Jones contributed in the sixties, and just generally would have forced everyone else in the band to get better just to keep up.
A lot of guitarists fake it in the studio. They get the benefit of multiple takes, double tracking, and various sound effects. Live albums show what you can really do, and luckily we have two great live albums from Gallagher, this one and IRISH TOUR. I actually prefer this one, however, because most of the cuts here did not appear on other albums. For the most part, he sticks with reworkings of classic blues songs. Unlike many bands, his versions never, ever sound like parodies of the originals (for instance, Led Zeppelin on all their blues covers except the truly haunting "When the Levee Breaks"). This album illustrates something that I think shows just how special Gallagher was: how superbly he managed to play while singing. The overwhelming majority of guitarists shift to a sort of back up or rhythm mode when they are singing, moving away from a kind of counterpoint until the singing stops and they can shift to lead guitar mode. Even a guitar god like Richard Thompson does this (though his "back up" mode is far better than most). What is eerie about Gallagher is how is intermixes his singing with lead playing. He often is effectively soloing or playing counterpoint to his singing, as if he able to devote separate parts of his brain to singing and playing. The only other guitarist that I know who does this as well as Gallagher is Jimi Hendrix. Anyone wanting to see what I'm talking about should just listen to this album carefully, noticing not just how he shifts from singing to playing, but how he is playing WHILE he is singing. This also comes across with the way he can play a guitar solo while also playing the harmonica. Whatever else this proves, it demonstrates his almost freakish musical gifts.
Every cut on the album is nothing short of amazing. Later in his career Gallagher would throttle back ever so slightly on his playing, adding more of a lyrical touch when he played. But here he is playing with almost reckless abandon, though never out of control. The only rock guitarist that I think was better on slide was Duane Allmann and on several cuts here Gallagher shines in his slide work. I utterly love, for instance, the way he shifts from regular playing to slide on "I Could Have Had Religion" while also moving from vocals to harmonica. And while he is equally as impressive on cuts like "Messin' with the Kid" and Laundromat" and "Bullfrog Blues," the icing on the cake is what he does with acoustic guitar on "Pistol Slapper Blues" and mandolin on "Going to My Home Town." The most astonishing thing about the number he performs on mandolin is how incredibly exciting it is. One wouldn't normally imagine this to be the case, but the proof is in the listening.
This is without question one of the great live albums ever released and vivid proof of how great Gallagher was. It also stands a rebuke to whatever morons were in charge of that silly Rolling Stone list.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Live in Mott, April 25, 2003
After four years and three albums, not counting the posthumously released 'Live at the Isle of Wight', Rory Gallagher split up his previous band ''Taste'' in 1970, just as they seemed destined to break into the big time. But then Rory Gallagher always did things his own way, never one to do the obvious. Rory then set about putting his own band together, under his own terms. It was very much Rory's way or the Highway, and Rory's way could not of been a bad one as bassist Gerry McAvoy stuck it out with Rory through thick and thin from the first to the last.
With Rory now firmly in control a new trio was formed under ''The Rory Gallagher Band" banner with the aforementioned Gerry McAvoy on Bass and the powerhouse drummer Wilgar Campbell. For the next two years they toured incessantly, wherever people were prepared to listen to them, and at every performance never less than a 110% was given by Rory and the boys. They often played for over three hours when they were only booked to do one. There was never any money or time wasted on stage - attire either. What the band wore on the street is what they wore on stage. What you saw was what you got. Rory never believed in Set Lists, playing what he thought was appropriate to the moment; some nights opening with one song, the next playing the same song as a final encore. Giving the other two just seconds to know which song he would be launching into next. Rory would do this with songs as well, playing 'Too Much Alcohol' one night as a full blown electric rocker with the band, and the next as an acoustic Blues with just him on acoustic guitar and a Harmonica.
During this time they recorded the first two studio albums. The self-titled debut album released in May 1971 mostly made up of songs left over from Rory's "days with Taste", followed by the far more adventurous 'Deuce' released in December of the same year. But it was not until the release the following year of this groundbreaking Live album that Rory Gallagher achieved record sales to match his fanatical live following. 'Live in Europe' reached Number 12 in Britain, but more importantly breaking into the American Billboard Top 100, opening up a whole new audience.
The set starts of at a frantic pace with two rockers, the evergreen chestnut Junior Well's 'Messin' with the Kid ' (which Rory turned into his own), and the Rory original `Laundromat', then everything is slowed down for the aching blues of 'I Could've Had Religion', where Rory's slide and harmonica work are allowed to shine. Then, without the band, an acoustic version of Blind Boy Fuller's 'Pistol Slapper Blues'. This time Rory gets to show off his fine guitar picking. For a complete change of tempo we get the stompin 'Going to my Home Town' with Rory on Mandolin, some very effective bass work from Gerry and Wilgar plus some marvelous Audience participation. Rory could of had a hit single on his hands if he had released an edited version of this song as a 45. But like 'Led Zeppelin' Rory never released a single during his career, leaving that area to the so called Pop Bands. Live set centerpiece is 'In your own Town', a ten minute band work out. And when Rory cries out "See this match? Well I am going to set this whole place alight.'', you just know it's time for the band to cut loose.
Next in the running order are the two tracks added on to this digitally Remastered CD version. Two great blues workouts in traditional Rory Gallagher style, a worthy addition to any set. The album closes with Rory's raved up version of 'Bullfrog Blues' including a pulsating bass solo from Gerry followed by a thrashing drum solo before the whole band crashes back in with Rory bringing the house down with a screaming slide solo.....which leaves everybody breathless.
After this batch of touring, Rory took on a keyboard player to fill out the sound in both the studio and as a touring unit, but I always preferred this pioneering first band. Whatever you think 'Live in Europe' is a fine testament to a credible live act and a fine Human Being
Mott the Dog
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