Artist: Rory Gallagher Title: “Irish Tour ‘74” Label: Eagle Vision Release Date: 4/12/2011 Genre: Blues Rock Rating: 5/5
The debut of “Rory Gallagher Irish Tour ’74” on Blu-Ray is a welcome addition to Eagle Vision’s flotilla of Gallagher titles. It is a seminal rock documentary capturing Gallagher at the height of his popularity.
The film has been available on DVD in the past but was unfortunately represented by a rather drab, badly speckled, print that severely undercut the viewing experience. Eagle Vision’s Blu-Ray is a spectacular visual upgrade that renders all previous versions worthless. I did a side-by-side comparison for the purposes of this review with my original BMG DVD and it was like watching the film for the first time. The EV Blu-Ray edition is a beautifully detailed, color-saturated, 16X9 presentation. A restoration that finally does this Tony Palmer film justice and makes it a joy to watch repeatedly. Continue reading “Irish Tour ‘74” (Blu-ray) by Rory Gallagher→
Artist: Rory Gallagher Title: “Ghost Blues: The Story of Rory Gallagher and The Beat Club Sessions 1971-1972” Label: Eagle Vision Release Date: 9/14/2010 Genre: Blues Rock Rating: 4.5/5
Eaglerock Entertainment expands it’s already impressive offering of Rory Gallagher DVD’s with “Ghost Blues: The Story of Rory Gallagher” a two disc package comprised of a brand new documentary on the Irish guitarist and a disc of live performances originally broadcast on Germany’s Beat Club TV show.
While under appreciated in America based on his single minded aversion to the hype of record company publicity departments, Gallagher carved a unique legacy in Europe through constant touring and barn burning shows. The guy did not have to stand underneath a laser pyramid to get his point across. He grabbed his signature Fender Stratocaster and laid down the truth. Continue reading “Ghost Blues: The Story of Rory Gallagher and The Beat Club Sessions 1971-1972” by Rory Gallagher→
Artist: Rory Gallagher Title: “Crest Of A Wave: The Best Of Rory Gallagher” Label: Eagle Records Release Date: 8/25/2009 Genre: Blues Rock Rating: 4.5/5
Let’s start off by thanking the fine folks of Eagle Rock Entertainment for breathing some new life into many classic performers and their incredible contributions to music. They’ve been keeping our personal music and video libraries stocked to overflowing by their regular dishing out of legacy concert films and even bringing some classic albums out from under the bed and back into the public eye. They continue the process with this amazing double CD release that celebrates the music of Blues-Rock guitarist Rory Gallagher and if you are someone like me who needs a healthy education in the man’s accomplishments, well these 24 tracks are bound to get you onto the right path. The singer and axe-slinger hailed from Ireland, and sadly left us in 1995 after complications from a liver transplant at the young age of 47. Despite the loss, the man’s music continues to impact the lives of innumerable guitarists of note and many of their acolytes and this will allow his name to carry on for generations. The compilation scans the musician’s fifteen albums and from them deducts the live releases which give us a solid nine to work with. Add to this a few of his touching acoustic numbers and you have a really great place to begin your own musical journey into his career or if you are one of the existing diehards that has the whole enchilada, you have a cool disc to bring along with you on trips in the car. I will assume that by leaving the live releases material off this particular release that we shall find a “Best Of Rory Live” coming up next. There is no material from his band Taste and that makes sense since it precedes his solo work releases by a couple of years. Similar to my views on their hopeful release of a live compilation sometime going forward, perhaps if the demand is high enough they will look into doing something for Taste. I would like that since it is a band that was clearly before my time and not something I focused on much as my own interests developed. Continue reading “Crest Of A Wave: The Best Of Rory Gallagher” by Rory Gallagher→
Artist: Rory Gallagher Title: “Live At Rockpalast” (Boxed Set) Label: Eagle Vision Release Date: 8/7/2007 Genre: Blues Rock Rating: 4/5
Holy Smoke! This 3 DVD set is great! An awesome chronicling of Blues/Rock legend, Rory Gallagher’s live performances from 1976 through 1990 on Rockpalast (Rock Palace) a German television show with kick ass production values. So as a result this DVD has fantastic production values as well. Great sound and camera work. Raw and rocking performances. This is a must have collection for any Gallagher fan. This should also be of interest to any guitarists who appreciate great guitar playing, packed with killer blues jams. Continue reading “Live At Rockpalast” (Boxed Set) by Rory Gallagher→
Artist: Rory Gallagher Title: “Live At Montreux: The Definitive Collection” Label: Eagle Vision Release Date: 5/30/2006 Genre: Blues/Rock Rating: 5/5
Rory Gallagher (March 2, 1948 – June 14, 1995) was an Irish Blues/Rock guitarist who has been credited as being one of the most influential Irish Rock and Blues musicians of all time. Selling over 30 Million albums worldwide, Rory has received the accolades of his peers and fans and remains very popular in Ireland, the UK, and throughout most of Europe even though major commercial success seemed to elude him in the United States. “Live At Montreux: The Definitive Collection” DVD is an excellent retrospective of Rory Gallagher’s live performances at the Montreux Jazz festival over the course of 3 decades. The DVD demonstrates Rory’s talent and versatility as a musician and dynamic performer from various points in his career. It’s a great example of a top notch career-retrospective DVD that is all meat and no filler. We give kudos to Eagle Rock Entertainment for assembling such a package with this level of quality to it. Continue reading “Live At Montreux: The Definitive Collection” by Rory Gallagher→
