The Twilight Years --- 1982 - 1990 (Part one)
He may not have had much in the way of commercial success --- okay, none --- but Rory was critically acclaimed and in great demand as a session man, and played on albums by people like Mike Batt, Mike Vernon and another of his all-time idols, Lonnie Donnegan. He even got to jam with the
enfant terrible of rock, Jerry Lee Lewis, and was present when the man almost flipped his lid when John Lennon unintentionally upstaged him at one of his gigs. Rory was a great diplomat, though, and when no-one else would approach the fuming rocker in his dressing room it was Rory who made overtures towards peace that were eventually accepted.
Life could perhaps have turned out differently for Rory. Before Ron Wood joined the Stones it was the shy Irishman who was approached by Jagger, and Mick liked him so much it looked like he might be a good fit for the band. But at the time Rory was in the middle of a tour and had to jet off to a gig. Events took their own course while he was away and history unfolded the way it did, but even at that, Rory's songwriting talent and his desire to sing would probably have been stifled in the egocentric atmosphere of the Stones, so it's probably just as well he didn't accept the offer.
An interesting and humourous story is related by Rory to Liam Fay in his interview with him in 1992's "Hot Press":
Most of the well-wishers understood the situation and left without any hassle but there was one strange-looking guy with straggly hair and a scarf around his face who wanted to talk to Rory and just wouldn't take no for an answer. When he became too insistent, Donal started to get more forceful and told him in no uncertain terms that Rory wanted to be left alone.
Eventually, this over zealous fan relented and turned to leave but not before telling Donal that he was a musician himself and that he was impressed with Donal's resolve and dedication to `looking after the man'. It was several minutes later that somebody pointed out to Donal that the person he had just chased away was actually Bob Dylan.
"This threw poor old Donal into a panic `cause he knew I was a huge Dylan fan.” laughs Rory. "So he ran out after him and looked everywhere for this fella with the scarf. Eventually he found him and put out his hand to shake Dylan's hand. Then, he literally grabbed him and dragged him back to the dressing room. Dylan was very nice. He said he liked the show and all the rest and we talked a bit about the blues and that. I'm usually not starstruck by any of these people but it really was great to meet Dylan. He's one of my all-time heroes."
(Source:
The Rory Gallagher Story)
The early eighties saw quite a few changes for Rory. "Jinx", his first album in two years, saw a return to the raw blues style he had championed on albums like "Blueprint" and "Tattoo", and also saw another change on the drumstool, with Ted McKenna out and Brendan O'Neill in. Rory also added two sax players and reintroduced keyboards, this time via Graham Parker and the Rumour's Bob Andrews. Although again he sticks to his habit of writing all the songs, there is one cover version, a song he introduced to us at the gig I went to (in support of this album) as "an old Louisiana rail song". Although his albums as I've already pointed out never even came close to charting, never mind being hits, this was really the last high-profile album of his career, and it would be five years before he would release another.
Jinx --- Rory Gallagher --- 1982 (Chrysalis)
It kicks off with "Big guns", good heavy sharp guitar with a stop/start style something familiar to "Brue force and ignorance" off the "Photo finish" album, and you can certainly hear he's glad to be back playing again. I think this may have been released as a single, have some vague memories of buying it, but of course it did nothing in the charts. Great, powerful song with a lot of fun about it. "Bourbon" could almost be a self-portrait of himself as he sings
"His mind feels like crazy pavement/ Gettin' more lines every day" and rocks along again with a great sense of energy and excitement. I don't really hear too much of the keys now I have to say at this point, but Rory of course is at his fretburnin' best. Perhaps feeding into that theme, "Double vision" is a slower, almost poppier song and you can hear the keyboards for the first time here, the song itself reminding me of something off "Tattoo" or even the debut.
Some almost Thin Lizzy style guitar work on this, then we're into "The Devil made me do it", a fast, rip-roaring trip of a song, and though Rory claims credit for writing it, I have to admit it's really, really close to "Devil in a blue dress", though don't ask me who it's by --- Little Richard? Anyway it's a great song for just putting the head down and shaking the hair to, if you have it! Rory really enjoys himself on this one, and it's very fifties rockabilly in tone. Great bouncing bass lines from stalwart Gerry McAvoy, though I'm surprised not to see a big jangling piano here; no sign of keys at all. "Signals" then opens with a little synthy bit --- obviously meant to represent a radio transmission of some sort --- then bursts to life with a chugging guitar and a really uptempo blues rocker. Great work on the kit by new man O'Neill, and again it seems Gerry is capable of meshing with any drummer: this is the fourth he's had to work with in over ten years. The man's just a total professional.
Santana-like guitar feeds in the title track with a mid-paced and broody blues number, not a ballad but definitely slower than anything else on the album. Again, no keyboard involvement; kind of makes me wonder why Rory took the (perhaps backwards?) step of bringing keys in to the lineup again. The ballad then comes in "Easy come, easy go", with a lovely slow blues groove, while the standout for me is that railroad song I mentioned earlier, the only one on the album not composed by Rory. With a big screech on the guitar to open some harmonica is thrown into the mix as "Ride on red, ride on" powers out of the station and takes the album on a rollercoaster ride. Very simple but effective song, driven on the twin rails of Gerry's bass and Brendan's chugging drumwork. Great blues solo from Rory, as ever, with his Strat almost talking for him. Like "Top priority" before it though, I feel the album ends weakly, as "Loose talk" is just not up there with the rest of the tracks on this album. It's a good mid-paced rocker, but nothing terribly special.
All through this album I have strained to hear a contribution from either piano/keys or sax, but I have to say it's eluded me. Maybe I need to get my ears checked, or maybe the part played by the three performers was so slight that it can't be heard on the album. Either way, it's a return to the blues for Rory and not as much a step away from the previous two albums as I had thought it might be.
TRACKLISTING
1. Big guns
2. Bourbon
3. Double vision
4. The Devil made me do it
5. Signals
6. Jinxed
7. Easy come, easy go
8. Ride on red, ride on
9. Loose talk
Brothers in Arms
Lou Martin
Position: Keyboard player
Joined: 1972
Left: 1976
First album played on: "Blueprint", 1973
Last album played on: "Calling card", 1976 (He did however contribute piano to Rory's two final albums, "Fresh evidence" (1990) and "Defender" (1987), playing on one track on each).
Born: 1949
Died: 2012
Lou was playing in Killing Floor with Rod De'Ath when the drummer was called in to fill a temporary vacancy in Rory's band on the departure of Wilgar Campbell, and Rod suggested Lou as a possible keyboard recruit to Rory, who was at the time looking to change the sound of his band and open up from the power trio he had championed through his first two albums, and indeed before that in Taste. Lou added keys, piano and occasional rhythm guitar to four of Rory's albums, three of them widely considered to be his best, and then moved on with Rod to form the band Ramrod when Rory decided to change the lineup again. Lou also played on the seminal "Irish Tour" album and indeed returned to play piano on one track each of Rory's last two albums, "Defender" and "Fresh evidence".
He then went on to play with such legends as Chuck Berry and Albert Collins, and returned to his original band in 2004 for Killing Floor's "Zero tolerance". He was diagnosed with cancer and suffered several strokes, and eventually died peacefully at home in August of 2012. Rod De'Ath attended his funeral, along with a host of Rory's fans. Of the keysmen Rory employed, and there were not many, Lou is most closely identified with the legendary bluesman.
Defender --- Rory Gallagher --- 1987 (Capo-Demon)
The penultimate album from Rory sees him take another step back into his blues roots, and move away from the somewhat hard rock/commercial rock of "Top priority" and "Photo finish". It's five years since we've had a new album from Rory, and nobody realises of course at this stage that there will only be one more before the great man passes. Like all his albums it's released with little to no fanfare, and I think I picked it up almost by accident, browsing as I was in my local record shop one weekend. It is, I have to be honest, not the greatest of his albums. There are moments of brilliance but they're few and far between, and the hiatus between this and "Jinx" seems to be telling on the guy. He sounds a little tired, a little less enthusiastic than he has on previous albums. Which is not to say he doesn't give it one hundred percent: that was what you always got with Rory no matter what. But I don't know --- something's missing I feel.
You wouldn't guess it though from the powerful, uptempo opener, and indeed standout of the album, "Kickback City", which has all the hallmarks of a great Gallagher song, and one of the best hooks in the melody of any song he's written since "Shadow play". It rocks along at a nice sort of midpace, and there's certainly nothing wrong with his voice as he growls out the lines. It's definitely a darker album than anything he's done up to this point, with a lot of heavy references and political/topical themes. "Loanshark blues" is a mix of rockabilly and Delta blues with a desperate plea in the lyric:
"Gimme till Monday/ That's only a day or two/ I'll pay you back with interest/ If it's the last thing that I do." then he returns to his obsession with secret agents, cops and robbers in "Continental op", which swaggers and sways all over the place with a big, brash confidence and a hypnotic guitar riff.
Now here at the bridge is where I think a big sax solo would have fit right in, but no. Two sax players on the last album whose contribution I couldn't hear at all, and this time round no horn guys. Well, on we go with "I ain't no saint", something of a blues shuffle and I could swear I hear horns there, but none are credited. Oh my head hurts. Certainly would have gone well in that section though. "Failsafe day" then is one of those topical songs I mentioned earlier, referencing man's capacity to destroy himself. It's actually another of the better tracks, opening with an Alex Lifeson-like riff and tripping along then on Gerry's cool little bassline, the riff continuing on through the song. "Road to Hell" then starts off a little like "Off the handle" but quickly ramps up into a mid-paced rocker which again envisages the end of days with an almost Deep Purple hard rock groove running through it.
"Doing time" racks everything back up with a high energy rocker while "Smear campaign" returns to the political subject matter, and could refer really to any election of the last thirty, forty years, but it's clear Rory's pretty disgusted with "the dirty tricks brigade" as he calls them, though aware they'll always be there. The only cover on the album then is Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Don't start me to talkin'", with a return for Bob Andrews on the piano, and of course it's another standout. Some great harmonica on this too, courtesy of Mark Feltham, then we close on "Seven days", which sees an old friend back on the piano in Lou Martin. I don't know the history behind the song, but unless he came back for the one song, I assume this is an older song recorded when he was with Rory's band. Rory takes harmonica duties on this almost acoustic closer himself, picking at the guitar while the drums sound more like handclaps in the background. It's a low-key ending to an album that has to be fair no bad tracks, but more below par than you usually expect on an album by the blues great.
TRACKLISTING
1. Kickback City
2. Loanshark blues
3. Continental op
4. I ain't no saint
5. Failsafe day
6. Road to Hell
7. Doing time
8. Smear campaign
9. Don't start me to talkin'
10. Seven days