Rory Gallagher " Notes From San Francisco" 1977-1978(rec) 2011(release)****

First of all, this is the single vinyl version of the album - probably how the LP would appear if Gallagher hadn't changed his mind and decided to shelf these recordings. I'm stating this because usually reviews concern the 2CD format in which it was first released in 2011, coupling the studio sessions with a live show recorded the following year in the same city. Of course extra material is always welcome but there's no shortage of live Gallagher CD's in my collection, so in this case I went with the vinyl. This way one can compare this album to the one that did get released later that year, Photo Finish. 5 songs feature in both collections, albeit with a different producer and band - only Rory and bassist Gerry McAvoy remain the same. Not that there was anything wrong with the other musicians, who had accompanied Rory through career highlights like Tattoo, Irish Tour and Calling Card. As for producer Elliot Mazer, Gallagher had heard his work for Neil Young (many albums including Harvest) and Janis Joplin (Cheap Thrills) and was so eager to work with him that he flew from Japan to San Francisco immediately after wrapping up his tour (on December '77) to record with him. As it happened, he wasn't happy with the direction Mazer took. Rory wanted a rawer sound, so he ditched keyboardist Lou Martin, drummer Rod De'Ath and the session extras to form a power trio in the style of his first band, Taste. The result was Photo Finish, his hardest rocking LP thus far. So how does it compare to Notes...? First of all, the track listing is different. The anthemic "Shadowplay" isn't here, and neither is live favorite "Shin Kicker" and a couple of other tunes. But we do get the beautiful blues/country ballad "Wheels Within Wheels", later the title track of an excellent acoustic compilation of outtakes and collaborations, also curated by Rory's brother/manager Dónal. Some songs are also familiar to fans from being added to other Rory CD reissues as bonus tracks. A cursory listen doesn't clarify whether these are different mixes of the same performance, or alternate performances. E.g: opener "Rue The Day" is a Lynyrd Skynyrd-like rock and roller with rolling piano and saxophone, while the version appended to Calling Card has less prominent piano and harmonica instead of sax. "B Girl" is one of his specialties: a noir crime story in song form. This version has the organ more upfront than the one included as bonus track in Calling Card, while the song would also resurface in more hard rock form on Top Priority (1979) under the title "Public Enemy No.1". A starker version of "Persuasion" has been added as a bonus track to the Deuce CD. Once again I can't make out if it's a different mix of the same performance. Here the guitar's fiery but bit less loud in the mix, there's more piano and some backing vocals. Of the songs that did make it to Photo Finish, the country-ish "Overnight Bag" is a more nuanced but overall weaker performance, and the frantic rockabilly "Cruise On Out" seems to prioritize Martin's Jerry Lee-like piano over Rory's guitar. Heavy blues "Mississippi Sheiks" references the same-named 30's black guitar/fiddle duo, so it's nice to hear it spiced up with the addition of a violin solo. "Brute Force & Ignorance" has already been among my favorite Gallagher numbers with its classic riff and chorus. This version is longer, and the horns give it a mariachi tint which suits it much better than you'd think. The story is about a bunch of visiting rockers causing a commotion in town, partly inspired by the Sex Pistols' infamous last concert in San Francisco, which he witnessed during the recording of this album. Both albums close with the emotive slow blues "Fuel To The Fire". Generally, while the guitar solos on the San Francisco recordings are as stupendous as ever, the addition of other elements (piano, organ, sax, violin etc) seems to make Rory's guitar appear less forceful - or so he must have thought at the time. Reportedly he found the arrangements too busy and the mixing process "too complicated", so he abandoned them to go for a more aggressive sound that metal fans must surely appreciate. One might say that Photo Finish turned out to be more in-your-face while Notes San Francisco is more nuanced. If the latter was released at the time, it'd be rated as a solid album like 1975's Against The Grain, rather than a classic one like next year's Calling Card. It's nevertheless great they made it available even decades later, as it's much much better than the average posthumous LP. Kudos to Rory's brother Dónal and nephew/album remixer Daniel for serving his legacy well by only releasing top notch stuff on his name, rather than scraping the bottom of the barrel to make a quick buck. 

***** for Brute Force & Ignorance
**** for Rue The Day, Persuasion, B Girl, Wheels Within Wheels, Fuel To The Fire

*** for Mississippi Sheiks, Overnight Bag, Cruise On Out

Rory Gallagher "Against The Grain" 1975***

If this album is often overlooked it's probably because it was recorded between my (and, I suspect, everyone's) favourite Gallagher albums, "Tattoo" and "Calling Card". A bit like the shortest guy in a basketball team who doesn't look all that short when you meet him on the street, "Against the Grain" is actually a very good, well produced, blues rock album. The band's playing is impressive, there's a nice variation in tempos and styles and there aren't any weak songs - but neither are there any real classics. "Let Me In" opens the album with some hard rock riffing, while "Cross Me Off Your List" is more jazzy with playful guitar solos. Rory displays his softer side in the, relatively more commercial, ballad "Ain't Too Good" before embarking on a slide guitar extravaganza on "Souped-Up Ford". Lou Martin provides some nimble accompaniment - his piano is generally very upfront and his interaction with Rory's guitar provides some of the album's highlights. "I Take What I Want" is a lively soul cover (from Sam and Dave) that evolved into a live favourite, while "Lost at Sea" strays from the blues into almost prog territory. It's followed by the most typical blues here "All Around Man" and another cover, Leadbelly's "Out On The Western Plain".  The latter is, surprisingly as it's a stark country-tinged number, the record's highlight with Gallagher playing acoustic with aplomb and sounding delighted to delve into the Wild West mythology. The original LP used to close with "At The Bottom", a very well-written and played Southern rocker but this reissue adds two nice bonus tracks: short blues instrumental "Cluney Blues" and jaunty boogie "My Baby, Sure". Confusingly, each CD version has a different cover, all featuring a photo of Rory's beat-up old Sratocaster (this one is from the 2011 U.S. edition). Definitely an enjoyable album, so just crank it up and get your air guitar ready...

***** for Out on the Western Plain

**** for Let Me In, Cross Me Off Your List, Ain't Too Good, At the Bottom

*** for Souped-Up Ford, Bought and Sold, I Take What I Want, Lost at Sea, All Around Man, Cluney Blues, My Baby Sure

Box Of Frogs "Box Of Frogs/Strange Land" (1984****/1986***)

I remember seeing the original Box Of Frogs LP in the shops and passing it by immediately because of the album cover and ridiculous band name. Apparently there's a British expression I hadn't heard before: mad as a box of frogs, which certainly sounds like a crazy idea. Why would anyone fill a box with frogs? But, by all accounts, the band seems to predate the expression. I searched and searched the language sites on the internet (you may argue that I've too much time on my hands, but once my curiosity is aroused I can't leave a question unanswered). Nobody has heard the expression before the 2000's. So probably the expression means crazy like that band was for choosing such a ridiculous name. It turned out to be a bad idea, even more so because Box Of Frogs were actually famous in the 60's with the name The Yardbirds. Yes, I'm talking about the group that nurtured Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Singer Keith Relf had regrettably died only a few years before (electrocuted by his own guitar) so the rest of the band (Chris Dreja, Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty) added the very good singer John Fiddler (former Medicine Head) and reformed the band under a new name. This CD gathers both of their albums. The eponymous debut featured guest guitarists Jeff Beck and Rory Gallagher, ensuring some top-notch playing, while all the songs are original group compositions. The style is rootsy hard rock but the synthetic 80's production neutered their sound somewhat, making it sound like any other record of the period. So I guess the question is: can you still listen to 80's mainstream rock? How cool are you with the sounds of Foreigner, Aerosmith, Status Quo and ZZ Top from that era? Well, if you can get past the dated production values, there's much to like in BoF's debut. Opener "Back Where I Started" is the perfect introduction, a rolling boogie with great bluesy vocal and harmonica, smoking guitar courtesy of Jeff Beck and backing vocals reminiscent of The Yardbirds' heyday. It was the band's biggest hit, cracking the Top Ten in the U.S. and getting exposure on MTV. "Harder" is a commercial hard rocker with Ray Majors on guitar (Fiddler's former bandmate in British Lions). "Another Wasted Day" is an excellent mid-tempo boogie with an understated vocal that reminds me of Mark Knopfler. "Love Inside You" is mid-tempo FM rock. "Two Steps Ahead" and "Poor Boy" are bluesy hard rock a la Bad Company with stellar guitar work by Jeff Beck. Rory Gallagher takes over guitar duties for the hard rock "The Edge" and ballad "Into The Dark", where he also contributes slide guitar and sitar - talk about East meets West! "Just A Boy Again" has a folkier Americana sound, like a hybrid between Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac. Different but also nice. The second BoF album has a bigger sonic variety but is generally considered to be inferior despite the impressive guest list. Too many songs are generic 80's hard rock, e.g. "Get It While You Can" (sung by guest Graham Parker) or synth-driven "You Mix Me Up" with misjudged female backing vocals. "House On Fire" seems to copy the plastic boogie of Eliminator-era ZZ Top while "Asylum" is almost metallic, with heavy guitar riffs by former Yardbirds alumnus Jimmy Page. Guest vocalist Roger Chapman (ex-Family) delivers excellent performances on the emotive ballad "Strange Land" and a throat-shredding reworking of Yardbirds' 1965 hit "Heart Full Of Soul" also featuring the song's writer Graham Gouldman and Rory Gallagher on smokin' lead guitar. Rory's electric sitar is the highlight of the strange electronic ballad "Hanging From The Wreckage". Ian Dury's punk sneer saves "Average" from mediocrity. The song is an otherwise average combination of hard rock and new wave, despite some nice solos by Genesis' guitarist Steve Hackett who also plays on the melodic FM-rock "Trouble". This compilation also adds single-only "Nine Lives", another Foreigner-style commercial rocker with Bowie associate Earl Slick on lead guitar. Far from being the sum of its parts, "Strange Land" seemed to make up for its lack of inspiration with a parade of guest musicians. BoF did not tour or even play live often, which may be the reason for their decline. They never made another record but in 2003 Dreja, Samwell-Smith and McCarty reformed The Yardbirds, under their own name, this time. They released a CD but mostly functioned as a touring band. I saw them in Greece and their performance was workmanlike and quite enjoyable. They've been on the road since then, although I believe that drummer Jim McCarty is the sole original member left.

**** for Back Where I Started, Another Wasted Day, The Edge, Two Steps Ahead, Poor Boy, Average, Heart Full Of Soul

*** for Harder, Love Inside You, Into The dark, Just A Boy Again, Get It While You Can, House On Fire, Asylum, Strange Land, Trouble

** for You Mix Me Up, Hanging From The Wreckage, Nine Lives