50th Anniversary 180g Vinyl 3LP Reissue with Brand New Mix of Original Album Plus 18 Unreleased Alternate Take/Live Bonus Tracks!
After the demise of Taste, Rory Gallagher forged ahead, choosing to go solo and seeking a suitable new rhythm section. He initially rehearsed with former Jimi Hendrix Experience rhythm section Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, but eventually recruited two more Belfast natives, bassist Gerry McAvoy and drummer Wilgar Campbell, to complete his durable, new-look power trio. Prolific from the off, the newly-established unit were in the studio recording Gallagher’s first studio album within weeks of their initial rehearsals.
Recorded at the legendary Advision Studios in Fitzrovia, London and released in May 1971, the ensuing Rory Gallagher LP featured an eclectic mix of songs, ranging from hard-driving live favorites (“Laundromat Blues,” “Sinner Boy”) to delicate, Bert Jansch-esque acoustic folk (“Just The Smile”) and the jazzy “Can’t Believe It’s True.” It was hungrily embraced by Gallagher’s expanding fanbase and yielded the first of seven consecutive gold discs. Available here as a 180g vinyl 3LP-set, Rory Gallagher’s eponymous solo debut celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2021 with a brand-new mix of the original album plus 18 unreleased alternate take/live bonus tracks.
If ever there was a “musician’s musician,” then that accolade belongs to Rory Gallagher. Renowned for his blistering live performances and highly respected for his dedication to his craft, he died in 1995, aged just 47. Rory’s timeless reputation has continued to flourish in the years since. Indeed, some of rock’s most seminal figures, from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, Joe Satriani to Joe Bonamassa, Queen’s Brian May to The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Slash of Guns N’ Roses to the Edge of U2, have cited him as an influence. Rory remains a touchstone for all would-be guitar heroes in the 21st Century.
“When asked “How does it feel to be the best guitarist in the world,” Jimi Hendrix replied, “I don’t know, why don’t you go and ask Rory Gallagher.”
“The man who got me back into the blues.”–Eric Clapton
“There are a million guys who sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan, but I never heard anybody who could really pull off sounding like Rory Gallagher.”–Slash
“As soon as I heard Cradle Rock, I was hooked. I thought, ‘This is what I want to be when I grow up’.”–Joe Bonamassa
“He was just a magician, he’s one of the very few people of that time who could make his guitar do anything it seemed. It just seemed to be magic. I remember looking at that battered Stratocaster and thinking “how does that come out of there?”–Brian May
“The man who changed my musical life was Rory Gallagher, I picked up a guitar because of him.”–Johnny Marr
“An amazing player, very spirited… he had a particular sound using that Stratocaster and he really got it because of the brute force in the way that he played, he just had such a passion about it.”–Joe Satriani
“Rory was the one to measure yourself against. He was a real credit to music and pushed it to another level altogether.”–Peter Frampton
