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Gallagher, Rory: Live at Montreux
 The "Live At Montreux" videos from Eagle Vision are certainly a wondrous collection of music from some of the worlds finest talents as they graced the stage of this popular festival over the years. Rory Gallagher is among the guitar greats to be featured five times on the esteemed stage and in celebration of these appearances Eagle Rock Entertainments has made two separate pieces for the fans of the performer. The CD release, while a single disk, covers a wide number of years with tracks coming from 1976, 77, 79 and 85 running 12 tracks. It's a nice collection for the novice and new fan but will only serve the long time supporters as a teaser for the main product release which is the DVD collection. The CD was released as a compliment to the double DVD concert piece that features not one full appearance but six of this legendary player. I enjoyed listening to the CD especially tracks like "Mississippi Sheiks" and "I Take What I Want", but was more interested in watching the DVD performances since from these you are able to absorb better the level of talent that Gallagher possessed. Sadly the music world would lose Gallagher in 1995 from complications after a liver transplant. To this day Gallagher is referred to as one of the finest Rhythm & Blues guitar players the world had seen. I must say that while I highly recommend the DVD I am not so sure of the CD, since it is only the twelve selections. It's more for the fan who wants to complete his Rory Gallagher collection and since the "Montreux" releases are so well-done this makes investigating them both something any discerning music fan should do.
Track List
1. Laundromat
2. Tore Down
3. I Take What I Want
4. Bought And Sold
5. Do You Read Me
6. Last Of The Independents
7. Off The Handle
8. Mississippi Sheiks
9. Out On The Western Plain
10. Too Much Alcohol
11. Shin Kicker
12. Philby
Added: July 27th 2006
Reviewer: Ken Pierce
Score: 
Related Link: Rory Gallagher Website
Hits: 2715
Language: english
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Gallagher, Rory: Live at Montreux
Posted by Pete Pardo, SoT Staff Writer on 2006-07-27 18:12:51
My Score: 
The music of the legendary Irish blues-rock guitarist Rory Gallagher is celebrated here on this latest installation of Eagle Rock's Live at Montreux series. His untimely passing at the early age of 47 a little more than a decade ago robbed the world of one of music's true treasures, as Gallagher's gritty guitar style and powerful vocals led to many strong releases throughout the 70's and 80's. This CD set is a companion, or better yet, a sampler of the material contained on the DVD, which features sets from Gallagher's many appearances at the Montreux jazz festival starting in 1975.
Basically the CD moves in chronological order from 1975 all the way to 1985. Earlier tracks like "Laundromat" and "Tore Down" see the guitarist and his band combining traditional American blues with European hard rock, which was a pretty popular style at the time. His muscular blues rock guitar tone is all over "I Take What I Need", a scorcher from his 1977 set that also features some great Hammond organ work from Lou Martin. Honky tonk piano meets Delta blues on "Bought and Sold", and funky hard rock is all the rage on "Do You Read Me"(both also from 1977) , while the five songs from the 1979 appearance are especially aggressive and will certainly appeal to fans of Jimi Hendrix, Pat Travers, Frank Marino, and Robin Trower. Of these, "Last of the Independents" and "Off the Handle" are especially sizzling, with scorching blues and hard rock solos from Gallagher. If you like the more acoustic based Delta blues style, check out "Out on the Western Plain" and 'Too Much Alcohol", both with a fun blues/country/folk flavor.
The guitarist would show in the 80's that he was keeping up with the heavier music that was in style at the times, as evident on 1985's live cuts "Shin Kicker" and "Philby", the latter a wild piece with distorted, sitar-like guitar licks from Gallagher's beat up Fender Stratocaster.
There's some kick ass material here, but my guess is most of Rory's fans will see this as being a teaser to the real treat, which is the full-blown DVD set. This CD still serves its purpose and serves it well, as a reminder of a great talent who is no longer with us, who wowed the audiences at the fabled Montreux Jazz Festival for many years. Pop the CD in the car, crank up the volume, and enjoy. We miss ya Rory!
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