Send "Rory Gallagher " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Crest of a Wave: The Best of Rory Gallagher is a two-disc retrospective of Ireland’s own, largely unsung, guitar hero. The set comes from Eagle Rock Entertainment, the company that brought us last spring’s excellent DVD of Gallagher’s triumphant 1987 homecoming concert, Rory Gallagher Live in Cork, and it is a superb collection of 24 classic tracks.Of course, Rory Gallagher deserves far more than a two-disc set, even one as comprehensive as this. He also deserves to be mentioned alongside all the other guitar gods of the ‘60s and ‘70s, like Hendrix, Clapton, Townshend, Page, and Beck, but puzzlingly, he isn’t. Listening to these songs, one has to wonder why. After all, this is a guy who turned down an offer to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones! He won the 1972 Melody Maker poll for best guitarist, beating out all those other guys by far. He recorded albums with Jerry Lee Lewis and Albert King, sat in on London Sessions with Muddy Waters, and blew headliners like Aerosmith and the Faces off of the stage. His Irish Tour 1974 became a hit documentary film and a best-selling record, he played blistering live shows all over the world and he toured the United States an astounding 25 times. In the liner notes, for Crest of a Wave , Billboard magazine’s Ed Christman talks about how Gallagher put Ireland of the rock ‘n’ roll map years before the likes of U2, and how there are still week-long “Rory-fests” a couple times a year around Europe. Surely, all these things make up the very definition of a “guitar god”....full text |
| Allaboutjazz |
| Even a died-in-the-wool Rory Gallagher aficionado may wonder if there is really a need for another anthology of the man's work. But the late Irish blues-rocker never did get the attention he deserved and remains an unsung hero of the blues-rock genre even to this day. Certain previous anthologies, even the sumptuously-packaged, 5.1 SuperAudio formatted Big Guns (Sony/BMG, 2005) found some disfavor with consumers due to sound quality concerns and this one suffers somewhat in that respect too. Granted, the overly-trebly texture might suit the somewhat antique nature of the music, but it doesn't fully allow the display of dynamics within Gallagher's musicianship, in particular the gritty sound of his guitar. Those minor reservations aside, largely because the sound deepens thorough the course of the two discs, Crest of a Wave: The Best of Rory Gallagher has its own raison d'etre. Even the dilettante who might be comparing the various Gallagher collections already in existence will find all two-dozen tracks eminently familiar. As nephew Daniel Gallagher emphasizes in his liner notes in the colorfully designed cd booklet, this set focuses on the guitarist/singer/songwriter's composing skills. And it's true that while Gallagher was a searing instrumentalist ("Shadow Play"), capable of real delicacy ("Calling Card") even when he wasn't playing acoustically, as on "Wheels Within Wheels," his playing generally found its context in well-constructed pieces of music not just riffs to be hammered out with a rhythm section (thought he could do that with his accompanists as on "Bad Penny"). Nevertheless, the man generally elevated himself and his comrades far above that level as on "Walk on Hot Coals" or "Shinkicker."...full text |
| Blogcritics |
| Devoted followers of Sixties guitar gods always have a place in their prayer book for players like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and The Who’s Pete Townshend. It would be a sin if they forgot to turn the page to Rory Gallagher. Like Hendrix, Gallagher left this world way too early, but his legacy doesn’t seem to be as fully appreciated. While Hendrix’s catalog continues to be explored (or exploited), Gallagher’s deep well of blues, folk, and rock material has yet to find its way into a box set. Until it does, the recently released Crest of a Wave: The Best of Rory Gallagher (Eagle Rock Entertainment) answers some of his fans’ prayers. Years before U2’s explosion, as Billboard magazine’s Ed Christman points out in the album’s three-page career retrospective, it was Gallagher who put Ireland of the rock map. There was a bona fide, electrified style and grace as traditional Irish instruments like bagpipes and fiddles went temporarily back in the attic. Gallagher eventually played with blues legends such as Muddy Waters and Albert King, and was invited by the Rolling Stones to replace Mick Taylor. Talk about standing on holy ground....full text |
Rory Gallagher lyrics
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