"When I listen to something, I like to
be taken out of my seat and thrown across the room. I like guts, a good
drive, which can include gentle stuff, too. If it sounds good and feels
'good, that's it." - Rory Gallagher
Normally, a person would
attribute that quote to someone like Johnny Winter, but the "Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde" of rock has definite ideas about his music.
In his concert appearance, January 16 at the Aragon, he showed why he
is not only a favorite among fans all over Europe, but also of many
musicians. Rory has appeared on cuts in the new Rolling Stones album,
and at one time was one of the few guitarists being considered to replace Mick Taylor upon his leaving the
Stones. He was also one of the first people Muddy Waters selected to
help him put together his London Sessions album in 1971.
"Ah, it was fantastic! Just to
sit in the same room with Muddy Waters was a big deal for
me," said Gallagher. "I wasn't able to get any of his records until my
late teen years, but I was well aware of him from reading about him. In
Ireland, where I was living at the time, it was quite difficult to get
Muddy Waters records."
Rory has covered blues, as well
as rock and boogie type music, on vinyl albums since 1969, first with
the band, Taste, through his
ninth and current album, Against The
Grain, give samples of
all those moods.
But seeing Gallagher in action
is really where it all comes into focus. Bearing the gutsy voice that
goes so well with his style, the soft spoken young man I just talked
with backstage becomes pure energy, screaming, running, skipping,
leaping, all the while relentlessly pushing his beat-up '60
Stratocaster seemingly beyond its limits. Just as he's got everyone
whipped into a frenzy, the rest of the band walks off the stage, and
Rory picks up an acoustic guitar. However, this is no ordinary acoustic
guitar. For this portion of the show, he has chosen
his 1932 National Steele and goes into three great songs by three
legendary bluesmen: Leadbelly's "Over[sic]
The Western Plain", J.B. Hutto's
"Too Much Alcohol", and Blind Boy Fuller's "Pistol Scupper[sic]
Blues".
These tunes soothe and relax,
but before you know it, Lou Martin is back at the piano, Rod de' Ath is
thumping the bass drum, Gerry McAvoy is laying down the heavy bottom,
and as if by hypnosis, I am back up on my seat stomping again to the
James and Bobby Purify rock number "I Take What I Want", and one of
Rory's compositions "Souped-Up Ford". After two solid hours and two
extended encores, I left physically exhausted and in rock and roll
heaven.
Thank God I had my stompin'
boots resoled just in time! From
the February 1976 issue of Illinois
Entertainer reformatted by roryfan
