Rory Gallagher - Live In Cork DVD (2009)

/Home/The Blues and Other Music Forms/The Blues and Rock/Blues Rock CDs

Rory Gallagher - Live In Cork DVD (2009)
Rev. Keith A. Gordon
About.com

rish-born guitarist Rory Gallagher was one of the most underrated stylists on the 1970s British blues-rock scene. From the time of his initial late-60s performances as part of the power-trio Taste, through his constant touring as solo artist during the 1970s and '80s, Gallagher left audiences breathless with his blustery fretwork and soulful vocals.

In 1987, Gallagher returned home to Cork, Ireland - the city that he grew up in, and formed a unique musical style while haunting the Cork city streets - as a conquering hero. His performance at the Cork Opera House was his first hometown appearance in years, and would be broadcast on Irish television (RTE). Originally released on VHS videotape in Europe in 1994 as Messin' With The Kid - Live At The Cork Opera House, this dynamic performance has received its first North American release, and its DVD debut, as Live In Cork.
Rory Gallagher's Live In Cork

With naught but a bassist and drummer (and sometimes a harpist) behind him, Gallagher roars through a baker's dozen of his best and brightest tunes. Live In Cork opens with the red-hot rocker "Continental Op," from his then-upcoming 1988 album Defender. A rough-n-tumble blooze-rock boogie that features Gallagher's sandpaper vocals accompanied by squalls of white heat Stratocaster lightning while the rhythm section of bassist Gerry McAvoy and drummer Brendan O'Neill provide the thunder.

"Tattoo'd Lady," a long-time fan favorite, intros wit Gallagher's exotic fretplay before exploding into a lusty, riff-driven stomper. The song slips-n-slides all of the map o' style, from a bluesy ode with deep register vocals to a stinging rocker put over the top by Gallagher's fluid leads. At times Gallagher's vocals are almost an urgent shout, an attempt to keep up with the song's galloping rhythms and banshee fretwork, his fingers flying a light year ahead of his brain's ability to spit out the words.
Sweet Home Chicago

"Don't Start Me To Talkin'" sounds like the classic Chicago blues number that it is; penned by the mighty Sonny Boy Williamson, the song has been popularized by legendary artists like Muddy Waters and James Cotton. In Gallagher's hands, the song slaps more funky geetar into the mix, with guest harpist Mark Feltham acquitting himself nicely, providing some smokin' harp notes alongside the guitarist's licks. As for the song, well, it rocks like a juke-joint Saturday night.

Turnabout is fair play, and all that, and I guess that Gallagher figured that if he paid tribute to Sonny Boy II, he may as well cover something by John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, i.e. Sonny Boy I, as well. "When My Baby She Left Me" is a full-blown Chi-town houserocker. With a shuffling boogie-woogie beat, Gallagher tears up the strings with blistering solos. Jagged shards of harpwork ride atop the waves of rhythm, Gallagher's vocals are pure, inspired gravel-throated Irish soul, and the interplay between guitar and harp is priceless.
Messin' With The Kid

Unaccompanied by the band, Gallagher takes Leadbelly's "Out On The Western Plain" to new heights, infusing the song with bits of brilliant acoustic guitar and high-lonesome vocals. Gallagher's performance is every bit as haunting and otherworldly as Led Zeppelin's reading of Ledbetter's "Gallow's Pole," a vibe to which the folk-blues legend's songs seem to lean towards. This performance showcases the guitarist's immense skills, Gallagher more than just another blues-rock fretboard-buster. The song becomes a call-and-response number with the audience echoing Gallagher's bluesy prison farm moans and groans.

Through the years, Gallagher's "Messin' With The Kid" has become the guitarist's de facto theme song. A molten blues-rocker, the song offers up a little of everything that Gallagher fans have come to expect: the band lays down a solid groove while Rory tears up his Strat with talon-sharp leads and sledgehammer riffs. The hometown audience gets into the act, too, throwing the chorus back at the singer as Gallagher duckwalks, Chuck-style, across the six-string flames sparking from his fingertips.
The Reverend's Bottom Line

Although Rory Gallagher never hit the "big time" with a chart-topping album, his recordings usually received critical acclaim, and his playing received well-deserved respect and recognition from his fellow musicians. Although he was never embraced by mainstream rock fans on the level of contemporaries like Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page, Gallagher's cult audience has continued to grow since his death in 1995 as new fans discover the guitarist's unique style and incredible talents.

Live In Cork is an exciting visual documentary of Gallagher's music and onstage charisma. With sound upgraded from the original VHS release, and professional multi-camera video shot by the RTE television crew, Live In Cork is "must have" DVD for both Gallagher's loyal fans as well as for fans of guitar-driven blues-rock music. Across these thirteen thrilling performances, Gallagher coaxes vibrant sounds and wonderfully grungy tone out of his instrument so effortlessly that it seems like child's play. (Eagle Rock Entertainment, released March 17, 2009)