My Heart on Rory's Sleeve

 

It's wonderful that vinyl has made such a great comeback... and with it the return of sleevenotes.

I'm particularly pleased with the 3,000-word booklet accompanying the new triple LP from Rory Gallagher – not so much because I wrote it... but because I was asked to write it. And that was genuinely one of the outstanding honours of my long career in journalism.

The blues-rock guitar genius Gallagher died prematurely in 1995, and I am glad to say that I lost count of the number of times I saw him play live. Thankfully, one of those occasions was his appearance at London's Town and Country in 1990.

It was my Evening Standard review of that night that led to my being involved in the production of the beautifully packaged new album All Around Man – Rory Gallagher Live In London.

Rory's nephew Daniel – whose father, Donal, was Rory's manager – saw a cutting of that review, tracked me down and asked if I would write an essay to accompany the release of the live recording.

I said yes immediately – even before I'd heard the tracks. Rory's performances were anyway still fresh in my mind – and a bonus was that I had also met and interviewed him around that time.

The rest is now part of blues history... and I'm beyond delighted to be a part of it too.

Rory Stories

Mention of Rory Gallagher (see previous post) seems to have sparked off numerous Gallagher-related stories. The affection that people have for this great musician is typified by the wonderful statue (above) that stands in his birthplace of Ballyshannon.

My barber (and blue/rock aficionado) Chris reminded me of the story that Jimi Hendrix is reputed to have referred to Rory as the greatest guitarist in the world. During my haircut, we also discussed the stories surrounding the Rolling Stones' supposed invitation to Rory to replace Mick Taylor.

Chris reckons that Rory's brother and manager, Donal, told him not to join the Stones – on the basis that Rory would end up upstaging Mick Jagger ("and Mick wouldn't like that"). Rory was certainly a greater musician and, arguably, a greater showman, since he could run and duck-walk all over a stage while continuing to play the most amazing guitar.

It appears that Rory did hang out with the Stones and may have contributed some riffs. But he allegedly grew impatient with waiting for some sort of decision from a comatose Keith Richards, and walked out to meet his own tour commitments.

Whether Keith's bad habits would have accelerated Rory's demise or vice versa will never be known.