Gary Moore – We Want Moore

249

5 Stars

It had been a multi-coloured road for Gary Moore to take his guitar before he reached the release of this live album in 1984.

After coming to England from Dublin with mates Noel Bridgeman (drums) and Brush Shiels (bass and vocals) in the band Skid Row, they went up and down the M.I. unloading and reloading their gear in every possible location, building a solid reputation.

Gary Moore’s axe work came to the notice of fellow Irish rocker Phil Lynott (who had been in a previous Skid Row before Moore joined) on the lookout for a lead guitarist after Eric Bell had left Thin Lizzy, leaving Lynott in the lurch.

For the next six years, Gary Moore was in and out of Thin Lizzy like a Jack-in-the-box, displaying his dazzling skills and cementing a reputation as one of rock’s premier guitar slingers. In the interim, Gary was also on three albums by Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum II, honing his skills in jazz-rock fusion, then leaving Thin Lizzy for good in 1979.

He started a solo career only broken by a year’s stay in the Greg Lake Band, where he drank deeply of the blood of progressive rock. Disbanding his 1983 band to the winds, Gary put this band together to record the album “Victims Of The Future.” Then he went on a massive world tour to promote it, recording concerts in Detroit, London, Tokyo, and Glasgow to put this album together.

Going for the throat with an approach incorporating all the crash-bang-wallop of heavy metal rock and his undoubted over-the-top skills on the axe, these live recordings almost burn your speakers up.

The band Moore put together was nothing short of magnificent. Right-hand man on keyboards, second guitar, vocals, and crowd rabble-rouser was Neil Carter of U.F.O. / Wild Hoses and Gilbert ‘O’ Sullivan fame; on bass was Craig Gruber, ex Elf and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. To complete the lineup was Ian Paice, who has never played better than on these recordings, although Ian left to be replaced by Bobby Chouinard when the call went out to reform Deep Purple.

When “We Want Moore” was first released, you got the album (six songs) with a free encore e.p. (four songs). Now it’s possible to get the whole lot on one CD.

The songs from the main set don’t let up for a second, and in true eighties tradition Moore just blazes his fingers over them. All of the songs are over seven minutes long with extended solos.

The old Yardbirds classic “Shapes of Things” is smashed apart and lumped back together. “Cold Hearted” is stretched to eleven minutes as Moore taunts the audience with guitar pyrotechnics.

The encore section features one ballad, “Empty Rooms,” which is beautifully sad and, if you are interested, could be heard played superbly by our own Lam Morrison in Pattaya when he was in better health. The whole thing is wrapped up by “Rockin & Rollin” from the Hammersmith Odeon with a totally Gonzoid Jimmy Nail on guest vocals.