Metropoulos Forum

I've been seeing a lot of things about Rory Gallagher lately, so I bought 'Irish Tour', and can honestly say I've been missing out. That dude completely ripped. Awesome tone, chops, slide playing, sang pretty well too. It's a shame he's gone now. I can't believe I didn't hear about him till recently. Definitely an under appreciated talent that was out there.

I know Chief is a Gallagher fan. So Chief, what kind gear did Rory use besides the Strat? His tone was great.

Any CD recommendations?

Jeff

i saw gallagher on a tv show showing 70's hits and if i remember correctly he was playin a telly through marshalls

i got a live rory gallagher album and he is really good

Uh-Oh. HOT button!!!

One of the best!!

His Strat was a testament to dedication. I saw him live 3 times and everytime he played his heart out like it was his first and last gig. He used the Strat most of the time, the Tele for slide (excellent slide player BTW),
a mandolin (true to his Irish roots) and I think a Martin (also excellent acoustic player). He was using little Fender amps all the times I saw him, not sure which models but definitely Blackface. I saw a post (plexi palace, I think) which reportedly had pics of Rory's AC30. I even saw him on TV when his Fender head erupted in flames! I know for sure he used some sort of treble booster (common practice then).

Just read a great book written by his long time Bass player, Gerry McAvoy. Brian May is qouted "The first time I heard Rory play I knew that's the setup I needed. I had to have THAT tone." Sounds to me like he found it! So the AC30 thing could be true. Rory was even bigger than I remember. Won Best Guitarist in GP one year. He was so big that his funeral packed the church and streets outside. Supposedly The Edge and Adam Clayton had to observe from the street. They couldn't even get in.

I have that vid. As good as it is it doesn't do him justice. You have to get
Rory Gallagher Live In Europe CD. It's by far my favorite. He opens with a version of Messin With The Kid that drips of outrageous tone. For years I swore that could NOT be a Strat and an AC30. He puts in some nice bitchin acoustic finger picking and rabble rousing, beer drinking Irish mandolin as well.

Most of his early studio cuts are great. My favorite is Calling Card. Can't go wrong there!

BTW (Dan) the first thing I thought of when I plugged my Rory Strat into my new TMB boost and cranked my AC30 I thought "Holy SHIT!!! A strat CAN sound like that through an AC30. It was pure "Meesin" tone.

PS - Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Ron Wood were the (only) 3 guitar players considered by the Stones to replace Mick Taylor.

Rory rocked. I'm sorry I haven't had enough money to track down a crapload of his stuff.

Thanks for the link sub.


Jeff

NY Chief wrote:a mandolin (true to his Irish roots)

LOL. There's nothing uniquely Irish about Mandolins I'm afraid.

Eoin wrote:

NY Chief wrote:a mandolin (true to his Irish roots)

LOL. There's nothing uniquely Irish about Mandolins I'm afraid.

Well, that's my Irish granny blood speaking!

Listen to Rory's playing a mandolin. That's VERY deifnitley an Irish take!

yahey i'm irish and from cork ( where he grew up ) ALl the albums are pretty much class but the live ones are better than the rest. Check out walk on hot coals from live in europe it's sickening how good it is. Also a million miles away on the irish tour... for mandolin check out coming to my home town or leaving blues

NY Chief wrote:PS - Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Ron Wood were the (only) 3 guitar players considered by the Stones to replace Mick Taylor.

Roy Buchanan was also considered...

NY Chief wrote:PS - Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Ron Wood were the (only) 3 guitar players considered by the Stones to replace Mick Taylor.

Roy Buchanan was also considered...

asheman_51 wrote:

NY Chief wrote:PS - Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Ron Wood were the (only) 3 guitar players considered by the Stones to replace Mick Taylor.

Roy Buchanan was also considered...

That's cool, too. He was a helluva guitar player when he was onas well. Had a drink with him one night after a show at My Father's Place in NY (who didn't he drink with? )


Worked the GMS Drum booth for my bud at winter NAMM a few years back. We had a booth next to a nice old lady. We got to talking and she turned out to be Mrs. Buchanan! I told her I loved Roy’s playing. She pointed to an old Tele and asked “Would you like to play Roy’s Guitar?” SHIT HOWDY I DID!! I diddled on that thing for a good while. Then I asked “So how is Roy?” She answered “DEAD” oops
I still didn’t wash my hand for a week. Playing Roy’s own Tele…TOO cool.

I saw Rory warm up for Rush on the Signals tour at Joe Louis arena. After he was done, I went to the mechandise booth and bought his tour shirt. I was done with Rush.

A little off topic but Harvey Mandel also was up for joining the Stones he even cut the solo on one of their hits.

"One of Mandel's most significant session credits was his participation on Black and Blue, the 1976 LP from The Rolling Stones. His unique style is evident on the song "Hot Stuff." When Mick Taylor left the Stones at the end of 1974, Jagger & Co. auditioned for a replacement by cutting tracks with various guitarists, among them Mandel and the man who eventually got the job, Ronnie Wood. Harvey Mandel became an immortal legend because of his role as a "heavy friend" in rock's stratosphere! "