Rory Gallagher discography

Rory Gallagher discography

Rory Gallagher and his famous Stratocaster
Studio albums 12
Live albums 6
Compilation albums 11
Video albums 11
Singles 9
Box sets 2

The discography of Rory Gallagher, an Irish guitarist and singer-songwriter, consists of 12 studio albums, 6 live albums, 11 compilations, and 9 singles. Gallagher was a solo-artist and collaborated with artists such as Muddy Waters and Jerry Lee Lewis. Before his career as a solo-artist, Gallagher was the guitarist, vocalist, and saxophonist for the Irish rock trio Taste.

Taste

Having completed a musical apprenticeship in the Irish showbands, and influenced by the increasing popularity of beat groups during the early 1960s, Gallagher formed Taste, a blues rock and R&B power trio, in 1966.[1] Initially, the band was composed of Gallagher and two Cork musicians, Norman Damery and Eric Kitteringham, however, by 1968, they were replaced with two musicians from Belfast, featuring Gallagher on guitar and vocals, drummer John Wilson, and bassist Richard McCracken.[1] Performing extensively in the United Kingdom, the group played regularly at the Marquee Club, supporting both Cream at their Royal Albert Hall farewell concert, and the blues supergroup Blind Faith on a tour of North America. Managed by Eddie Kennedy, the trio released the albums Taste and On The Boards, and two live recordings, Live Taste and Live at the Isle of Wight.[1] The latter appeared long after the band's break-up, which occurred shortly after their appearance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.[2]

Solo career

After the break-up of Taste, Gallagher toured under his own name, hiring former Deep Joy bass player Gerry McAvoy to play on his eponymous debut album, Rory Gallagher.[3] It was the beginning of a twenty-year musical relationship between Gallagher and McAvoy; the other band member was drummer Wilgar Campbell.[1] The 1970s were Gallagher's most prolific period. He produced ten albums in that decade, including two live albums, Live in Europe and Irish Tour '74. November 1971 saw the release of his album, Deuce.[3] In the same year he was voted Melody Maker's International Top Musician of the Year, ahead of Eric Clapton.[4] However, despite a number of his albums from this period reaching the UK Albums Chart, Gallagher did not attain major star status.[1]

Gallagher is documented in the 1974 film Irish Tour '74, directed by Tony Palmer. During the heightened periods of political unrest in Ireland, as other artists were warned not to tour, Gallagher was resolute about touring Ireland at least once a year during his career, winning him the dedication of thousands of fans, and in the process, becoming a role model for other aspiring young Irish musicians. The line-up for the Irish Tour which included Rod de'Ath on drums and Lou Martin on keyboards, performed together between 1973 and 1976. Releases from that period include Blueprint, Tattoo, Irish Tour '74, Against the Grain and Calling Card.[3] This Gallagher band performed several TV and radio shows across Europe, including Beat-Club in Bremen, Germany and the Old Grey Whistle Test.[5] Gallagher recorded two Peel Sessions, both in February 1973 and containing the same tracks, but only the first was broadcast.[6] Along with Little Feat and Roger McGuinn, Gallagher performed the first Rockpalast live concert at the Grugahalle, Essen, Germany in 1977.[7]

In 1978 Gallagher trimmed his band down to just bass, guitar and drums, and the act became a power trio as Taste had been. This line-up produced Photo-Finish, Top Priority, Jinx, Defender, and Fresh Evidence. During this period Gallagher was often obsessive over details and plagued by self-doubt yet he retained a loyal fan base.[1]

Collaborations and posthumous releases

Gallagher collaborated with Jerry Lee Lewis[8] and Muddy Waters[9] on their respective London Sessions in the mid-1970s. He played on Lonnie Donegan's final album.[3] He was David Coverdale's second choice (after Jeff Beck) to replace Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple although Gallagher chose to remain a solo artist. When former members of the Yardbirds (Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith, and Jim McCarty) reunited to create the band Box of Frogs Gallagher was invited to record with them on their first album.

Gallagher's career was cut short due to his untimely death on 14 June 1995. He died from complications after a liver transplant. Several posthumous albums have emerged since his death. Two of the most notable are Wheels Within Wheels, a compilation of acoustic folk and blues music released in 2003 and Notes From San Francisco, an album of unreleased studio tracks and a San Francisco 1979 concert released in 2011.

Albums

Taste albums

Year Album Chart
position
UK[10]
1969 London Invasion
  • Label: Pontiac Records
1969 Taste
1970 On the Boards
  • Label: Polydor
18
1971 Live Taste (live album)
  • Label: Polydor
14
1972 Live at the Isle of Wight (live album)
  • Label: Polydor
41
Taste First
(recorded in 1967; released in 1974 as In the Beginning
and again in 1976 as Take It Easy Baby)
  • Label: BASF
1994 The Best of Taste (compilation album)
  • Label: Polydor

Solo albums

Year Album Peak chart positions BPI Certification[11]
UK
[12]
US
[13]
1971 Rory Gallagher 32 Gold
Deuce
  • Released: 28 November 1971
  • Label: Atlantic
39 Gold
1972 Live In Europe (live)
  • Released: 14 May 1972
  • Label: Buddah
9 Gold
1973 Blueprint
  • Released: 18 February 1973
  • Label: Polydor
12 147 Gold
Tattoo
  • Released: 11 November 1973
  • Label: Polydor
32 186 Gold
1974 Irish Tour '74 (live)
  • Released: 21 July 1974
  • Label: Polydor
36 Gold
1975 Against the Grain - 121 Gold
1976 Calling Card
  • Released: 24 October 1976
  • Label: Chrysalis
32 163 Silver
1978 Photo-Finish
  • Released: 1 October 1978
  • Label: Chrysalis
- 116 Silver
1979 Top Priority
  • Released: 16 September 1979
  • Label: Chrysalis
56 140 Silver
1980 Stage Struck (live)
  • Released: 2 November 1980
  • Label: Buddah
40 Silver
1982 Jinx
  • Released: 2 May 1982
  • Label: Chrysalis
68 Silver
1987 Defender
  • Released: 1 July 1987
  • Label: Demon
- Silver
1990 Fresh Evidence
  • Released: 1 May 1990
  • Label: Capo
- Silver
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Posthumous albums

Year Album Chart
position
UK[12]
2003 Meeting with the G-Man
  • Released: 22 November 2003
  • Label: RCA
2006 Live at Montreux
  • Released: 31 July 2006
  • Label: Eagle
2011 Notes From San Francisco
  • Released: 17 May 2011
  • Label: Eagle
44

Compilation albums

Year Album Chart
position
UK[12]
1974 The Story So Far
1975 Sinner... And Saint
(compilation of Rory Gallagher and Deuce)
1976 Take It Easy Baby
(Taste demo sessions)
1992 Etched In Blue
(BPI: 60,000)
1995 A Blue Day For The Blues
Last of the Independents
1999 BBC Sessions
(one live disc and one studio disc)
2003 Wheels Within Wheels (acoustic)
  • Released: 8 March 2003
  • Label: Sony Music
2005 Big Guns: The Very Best of Rory Gallagher
  • Released: 13 June 2005
  • Label: Capo/RCA
31
2008 The Essential
2009 Crest of a Wave: The Best of Rory Gallagher
  • Released: 25 August 2009
  • Label: Eagle
2010 The Beat Club Sessions
  • Recorded: 1971/72
  • Released: 13 September 2010
  • Label: Eagle
2012 The Rory Gallagher Collection
(re-release of The Essential Rory Gallagher)
  • Released: 18 June 2012
  • Label: Sony Music CMG

Box sets

Year Album
1992 The G-Man Bootleg Series Vol.1
  • Label: Strange Music
2001 Let's Go To Work
(4 disc set, featuring Live In Europe, Irish Tour '74,
Stage Struck and Meeting With The G-Man)
  • Released: 15 October 2001
  • Label: Capo/RCA
2008 Original Album Classics
(5 disc set, featuring Deuce, Calling Card,
Top Priority, Jinx and Fresh Evidence)
  • Released: 31 October 2008
  • Label: Capo/Sony BMG

Singles

Gallagher in Dublin, 1979

Gallagher refused to edit his songs into a format for singles and hence released very few of them.

All Polydor releases unless otherwise indicated.
Year Title
1968 "Blister on the Moon" /
"Born on the Wrong Side of Time"
(Label: Major Minor; then Polydor for 1969 edited version)
1969 "Born on the Wrong Side of Time" /
"Same Old Story"
"What's Going On" /
"Born on the Wrong Side of Time" and "Blister on the Moon"
1972 "Wee Wee Baby" /
"You've Got to Pay"
(Germany only; Label: BASF)
"What's Going On" /
"Railway and Gun"
1982 "Blister on the Moon" / "Sugar Mama" /
"Catfish" / "On the Boards"
"Born on the Wrong Side of Time" /
"Same Old Story"
(Italy only)
"Born on the Wrong Side of Time" /
"Same Old Story"
(Japan only)
"If I Don't Sing I'll Cry" /
"I'll Remember"
(Spain only)

Videography

All titles released on the DVD format.
1995 Message to Love
Recording of "Sinner Boy" and "Gamblin' Blues"; with Taste
2000 Irish Tour '74
2003 The Old Grey Whistle Test: Vol. 1
Album track: "Hands Off"; 1973
2004 At Rockpalast
German release
2005 The Complete Rockpalast Collection
3 disc, German release
Songs & Stories: New York Remembers Rory Gallagher
Biography
2006 Live At Cork Opera House
UK release
Live In Cork
US release
Live At Montreux
2 disc set
2007 Live At Rockpalast (5 Concerts 1976 - 1990)
3 disc, US release
Shadow Play (5 Concerts 1976 - 1990)
3 disc, UK release
2010 Ghost Blues
Biography of Gallagher with concert footage and interviews with The Edge, Slash,...

Guest appearances

L to R: Gallagher, John Martyn, Jack Bruce, and Charlie Watts in an impromptu performance in 1984 (Not pictured: Ian Stewart (piano), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophone).
Year Album Artist
1972 The London Muddy Waters Sessions Muddy Waters
1973 The Session Jerry Lee Lewis
1974 Drat That Fratle Rat Chris Barber
London Revisited Muddy Waters
1977 Gaodhal's Vision Joe O'Donnell (electric fiddle player)
Live Albert King
1978 Tarot Suite Mike Batt
Puttin' On The Style Lonnie Donegan
1983 Jammin` With Albert Albert Collins & The Icebreakers
1984 Box of Frogs Box of Frogs
1989 The Scattering The Fureys and Davey Arthur
Out of the Air Davy Spillane Band
Words and Music Phil Coulter
1990 Shadow Hunter Davy Spillane
Politician (at Montreux) Jack Bruce and Rory Gallagher
1991 Flags & Emblems Stiff Little Fingers
1992 30 Years A-Greying The Dubliners
1993 The Outstanding Chris Barber and Band
2007 Kindred Spirits Eamonn McCormack

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. pp. 168–169. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
  2. Buckley, Peter (ed.) (2003). The Rough Guide To Rock, pp. 409–10. Rough Guides Ltd. ISBN 1-84353-105-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 369–370. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  4. "Defender of the blues". Innerviews.org. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  5. McAvoy, Gerry; Chrisp (3 June 2005). Riding Shotgun: 35 Years on the Road with Rory Gallagher and Nine Below Zero. Pete. Kent: SPG Triumph. p. 82. ISBN 0-9550320-1-6.
  6. The Peel Sessions BBC Radio 1 retrieved 26 February 2011
  7. "Rockpalast Night 23.-24.July 1977: Rory Gallagher 2.3.1948–14.6.1995". Rockpalast Archiv. September 1977. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
  8. Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 242. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
  9. Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 67. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  10. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 549. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  11. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards.aspx
  12. 1 2 3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 220. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  13. "Rory Gallagher". allmusic.com. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
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