Rory Gallagher A Guitar Hero Revisited

One of my prized possessions is a copy of Rory Gallagher’s first solo album, which he kindly autographed when it came out in 1972. Although he was already a serious contender, following an impressive stint as leader of Taste, none of us had predicted that Rory would burn like a comet across the music scene of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Or that he would attract legions of fans all over the world, inspiring a new generation of guitarists – including The Edge and Johnny Marr among dozens more – and winning the respect of other legends, from Jimi Hendrix through Bob Dylan to Jerry Lee Lewis.

Nor could we have guessed in those innocent times that 40 years after that momentous first solo release, and 15 after his tragic passing, his currency would be so enduring it would prompt Sony Music to remaster his first six solo albums for CD and vinyl, under the direction of his nephew Daniel Gallagher. Daniel, of course, had previous form in this territory. Last year he piloted the release of Rory’s long-lost 1979 collection, the superb and brilliantly received Notes From San Francisco.
When did he first become aware he had an uncle who was an internationally-revered musician?
“Probably around 1987, when I about five years of age,” Daniel recalls. “My dad Donal took myself and my brother in the tour van to see Rory play at Hammersmith Odeon. Or maybe it was the Apollo. Up to then, when I’d ask Rory what he did, he’d say he was a musician: I thought he meant magician. Which I suppose he was in a way! At that first gig we got to look from beside the stage wearing our Rory T-shirts, delighted as we watched him duck-walk towards us.”
While Daniel was growing up in London, Rory was a regular visitor to the family home for Sunday lunch.
“He did all the things nice uncles do. He kicked ball with us and bought me my first guitar. When my brother was getting all the attention on the day he made his Holy Communion I got very jealous, so Rory went off and bought a small pool table for me. My fondest memory of him was that first show, because I began to learn what Rory and my dad did when they disappeared for half the year! He also showed me how to play some things on my guitar. I remember getting very frustrated trying to play something like ‘Frere Jacques’ and he told me to calm down and showed me how to do it. Of course I could never have imagined that, years later, I’d be working on his music as I am now.”
With music in his genes, Daniel was himself busy playing guitar with a band until Donal, who has done such an exceptional job curating Rory’s musical legacy, asked him to work on the Live In Montreux DVD.
“It was a real joy going back through all the footage and putting that together. Afterwards, people seemed to like what I’d done. Donal asked me to help him with other releases, including last year’s Notes From San Francisco double CD.”
Given the close family connection, I presume this must have been an emotional experience.
“I think that’s more likely to be the case if you were dealing with material you’d never seen or heard before. By now I reckon I’ve heard everything that’s there. I’ve been as close to it as you can get for a long while now. I was very nervous working on the Notes From San Francisco recordings because I was aware that Rory had trashed the album, and I didn’t want to hear him doing anything that wasn’t great. Listening to it I could understand the problems he had with it. And I realised that there was really great stuff there. It made me very proud.”
For the remastering of the six CDs – Rory Gallagher, Deuce, Blueprint, Tattoo, Irish Tour ’74 and Live In Europe – Daniel went back to the quarter-inch master tape mixes.
“It’s really terrific of Sony, who respect Rory’s catalogue to the extent that they wanted to do this. And that they let us get as close as possible to what Rory wanted, as well as using the original artwork from the original releases,” he explains.
Some Gallagher CDs were released containing digital remasters and remixes by Tony Arnold in 1998. However, Rory aficionados have spotted flaws in those releases, with claims of inaccurate track-ordering. It also seems likely that Arnold did not have access to the full range of Rory’s mixes. These were available for Daniel to draw on for the new remasters. To that extent, Daniel was surprised to discover Rory’s preferences when it came to his original mixes and how they might have differed from the later versions on the CDs.
“Rory’s mixes tend to be a lot rawer than people who are used to modern CD mixes might expect. He took a more lo-fi approach. His mixes give a grittier edge to the tracks, and I think newer fans will find that very refreshing. I believe these new releases get much closer to the original vinyl versions than anything so far released on CD. We’ve borne his wishes in mind in remastering the six albums.”
Having worked so closely on the albums, Daniel must have a favourite.
“The one I like best is Deuce. It’s so gritty and lo-fi. When somebody knows they’re doing something great it tends to come through, and it really does on Deuce. Tracks like ‘In Your Town’ and ‘Used To Be’ show Rory riding the crest of a creative wave. Irish Tour is another favourite. In my opinion it’s one of the best live albums out there. The versions of ‘A Million Miles Away’ and ‘Walk On Hot Coals’ on that LP are truly unique.”
And Tattoo?
“It’s probably the most famous of the albums because so many of the tracks are so well-known, like ‘Tattoo’d Lady’ and the studio version of ‘A Million Miles Away’ but my personal favourite from that album is ‘They Don’t Make Them Like You Anymore’.”
And there’s even more good news for Rory fans for the coming year, as Daniel will be busy over the next few months preparing further remasters from the Gallagher back catalogue.
“The plan is to have another batch of albums remastered for re-release around September,” he reveals. The Rory Gallagher year starts here.

Rory Gallagher’s first six solo albums Rory Gallagher, Deuce, Blueprint, Tattoo, Irish Tour ’74 and Live In Europe are available now on Sony Music on vinyl and CD as well as from iTunes.