Gary Moore
– Legacy (Music Club)
Never having identified myself as
a particular admirer of the late Gary Moore I still found myself shocked and
saddened by his premature demise, and this budget two-disc retrospective on the
EMI Music Club imprint provides a timely opportunity to reassess his
contribution. That it slants as heavily towards eighties-style MOR rock as much
as it does the blues is probably an indication as to why he attracted a certain
amount of ambivalence, and in truth many of the glossier, hi-tempo selections
sounded insubstantial and dated. To add to the charge sheet much of his
celebrated blues work stops well short of the earthy integrity of other white
singer guitarists such as compatriot Rory Gallagher.
Nonetheless, as the marketing men
once persuaded us of a Beautiful South collection we didn’t really want to buy,
‘you’ll be surprised how many you know’; and to be sure, a fair old clutch of ‘hits’
are included among the thirty-two tracks, including ‘Out in the Fields’, ‘Cold
Day in Hell’, ‘Nuclear Attack’, ‘Parisienne Walkways’ and more. There’s also a
clutch of tasty covers including ‘Need Your Love So Bad’ and ‘Shapes of Things
to Come’ and a surprisingly sensitive and engaging rare single edit of ‘Beast
of Burden’ from the BBM supergroup days. Not necessarily
an out and out artistic triumph perhaps, but a decent fiver’s worth all the
same.
Neil B.
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