If you enjoy learning about musicians whose love is in pure performing (and letting it show) while not having any interest in the "star making machinery of management", this is one great little film.
Rory was pure blues and paved the way for the Irish rock bands that followed him and Van Morrison off the island and into international fame.
I'd heard that he made Clapton look like a poser and this film shows it.
All he wanted to do was play guitar - when he got off stage, he was just a very NICE GUY - no ego, no attitude (except his arguments with those that insisted he focus on getting out a "hit single" for fame and fortune). All the other musicians interviewed said the same thing and they all loved him.
I was amazed.
Available as a NETFLIX instant watch, btw. ---------- The Iceman
watch as he breaks down the barrier between performer/audience with no ego in between....pure joy, pure music. He was into performing and didn't care about money.
It was said that Rory gave a concert in Northern Ireland during the middle of the IRA campaign...while explosions were going off in the background, both the Protestant and Catholic factions attended his concert and partied together...an amazing feat.
Thanks for the heads up on this, I just finished it. I saw Rory many times between about 77 and till his death. Every live show he seemed to give his all. Fantastic performer!!!
He did lotsa session work in England and also was on quite a few movie soundtracks....
Is it my imagination, or did Rory give Mark the stage signal to solo early on and Mark missed it, resulting in about a minute of slight awkwardness?
Always keep your eyes on the band leader looking for cues!
also, that great fender guitar that Rory plays...was his first electric guitar from when he was a teen...paint stripped off because his internal chemical makeup was very acidic and he sweated a lot. His sweat literally stripped off the paint job on this guitar over the years. ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Feb 17, 2013 12:42 PM
That harp player is Mark Feltham. He's the harp player from Nine Below Zero. Mark has some seriously good chops and was/is in demand for session work. He has recorded with many non blues artists, like Godley and Creme, Paul Young, Roger Daltrey, Oasis and Roachford.
Here's Mark in action with Nine Below Zero.
Last Edited by Kingley on Feb 17, 2013 12:37 PM
I just bought "the essential r g" to help me through the day at the desk...for the first time I noticed the cover shot shows RG with a loaded harp rack. ----------
I was introduced to Rory's work several months back, and I've spent a fair amount of time on the internet since then digging into it(gotta love YouTube!) I don't know near as much about him as I might, but what little I have discovered so far shows Rory as a man without ego or pretension. As said above, he's just a nice guy who loved music and performing.
Here's one of my fav Rory tunes that hasn't been mentioned yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDWsrld6rMY
It's tragically edited, however. After enjoying the abbreviated video of his performance, treat yourself to the full-length version, audio-only.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsppIcQ_8lA
Edited to add: Here's an occasion where you'll see him use that harp rack.
Last Edited by DocJon on Feb 18, 2013 2:42 AM
I had a Rory Gallagher live double LP as a teen and played the heck out of it, but I don't see any need to bash Clapton as a poseur in order to celebrate RG. Clapton had a period of extraordinary creativity between 1964 (when he's still playing simple-ass stuff with the Yardbirds) and 1968 (by the end of which year Cream had broken up). Here he is in 1966. This isn't posing:
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Feb 18, 2013 6:22 AM
It was during the early, dry-darkness of an October evening that Rory was first listened to; and listening to him perform was decidedly like thesweet dreams at the end of a journey home.
At the time, other guitarists seemed like Dedhamware bunny lamps compared to Rory.
He had sqebhhcuch monumentally-bold expression; you could spot-weld with his energy on stage. ---------- Eddy "Skunk" Taylor
Yes, main reason why he is my new "musician hero".
For some reason, I've always looked deeper than notes played on stage and into the musician himself and the combination of these two factors are what move me.
For instance, Rod Piazza sounded great to me, but something about his persona left me cold.
Kim Wilson, Mark Hummel, Rick Estrin all radiate joy as they play and have a palpable "non-ego" feel to me.
My empathy and slightly autistic personality pick up on self involved and/or ego driven musicians and this factor somewhat diminishes my enjoyment of them.
kinda weird, but what can I say?
Rory Gallagher is the most non-egotistical down to earth filled with joy just to be playing music at a very high level musician I've ever experienced. As I stated before, he seemed to totally break down the barrier between performance and audience, dragging the audience into his world with joy.
Love the fact that what he wore on stage was exactly the way he dressed off stage. No pretensions there.
Iceman. Right you are. Some musicians think their sh*t don't stink but their farts give them away. It is evident when a performer loves what they're doing and are sincere . When they get you as the audience to become included in the show instead of just watching/listening to the show , being emersed , (no I'm not talkin owsley style) so to speak, that's my gauge of a musician that is in love with what they do and wants you to join the love of it too.No ego stuff. Just losin oneself deep enough in it to take you along with 'em. Dat's what I'm talkin 'bout baby !!! Can I get an "Amen" !?!
Messy, I don't recall noticing anyone use that expression for a long time. As a teenager growing up on the NW corner of Tasmania I used to hear it regularly, but not these last 30 years or so..except from me. Made me smile to see it in print. :0) ----------
a few other performers (past and present) that love and project it:
Dave Brubeck Curtis Salgado Kim Wilson Rick Estrin Mark Hummel Charlie McCoy Charlie Musselwhite Tony Bennet Kenny Werner Toots Cleo Laine and John Dankworth Dr. John Peter Gabriel Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith Earl Scruggs Carol Burnett Foster Brooks Tiny Tim ---------- The Iceman
The couple of clapton comments here in the thread got me thinking. I saw that 121212 concert on TV and was kind of dreading EC performance. Last few times I saw him, he as good, but seem tired or uninspired,letting Trucks and Bramlett carry the water. But I was pleasantly surprised to see him step out as a 3 piece and sound very good. For an evening of performances from big names, most the sets were pretty bloated or a mess, but EC sounded fresh and real.
This man was a fine blues guitarist and singer. Always enjoyed his stuff.. The harp thing tho wasn,t that great=lots of energy but nothing near his strat work
You wanna see a guy you can tell loves to play-check out Willie Nelson some time
some early videos I've seen of Rory may prove that he was one of the first (if not the first) to develop that hammering string w/finger technique that became big with the metal crowd and Eddie Van Halen.
Also saw some interesting stuff where he sustained a note and used his pick hand to push down on the string between the tuning nut and beginning of neck bridge on the guitar.
I can remember getting my first Rory Gallagher Live 8 track tape in 73 or 74.Awesome to say the least,Laundromat(which our band back then covered)Messin With The Kid,Pistol Slappin Blues etc., was worn out on our 8 track players.As for the harp mic he,s using on the one clip its a 1970.s Hohner rubber harmonica mic which was very similar to the Strnad.My girlfriend/wife of 39 yrs bought me one of these way back then.What a woman,she actually talked me into buying my Meteor many yrs later.A woman who backs you and your music is definity a keeper.39 yrs later she still does,nt miss a gig.(neither does my 81 yr old Mom)
i've got recorded off sky arts rory playing the jazz festival and when mark plays his bit rory is playing air harp and noding with intense,how f-ing cool is that!!!!
too bad we lost rory....the opinions of him are all very positive...he never seems to make it high on the greatest guitar list....no matter...its the favorable opinions of that matter
I don't know guys from the looks of those videos I would say the guy has the ego of the size ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
