Gary Moore-After The War (1989)

"After The War" was the seventh album by the late Irish guitarist Gary Moore. While it contains a number of hard rock-oriented tracks, it also features moments closer to mainstream rock. Accompanied by a dozen top-tier collaborators, including Ozzy Osbourne, Don Airey, Simon Phillips, Brian Downey, Chris Thompson, Bob Daisley, and Cozy Powell, Moore embraces melodic rock while maintaining the foundations of energetic rock. Songs like "Running From The Storm", "This Thing Called Love", "After The War", and "Speak For Yourself" showcase his hard rock side, while AOR-influenced sounds are prominent in the addictive "Livin' On Dreams" and "Ready For Love". We mustn't forget his Irish folk influences in "Blood Of Emeralds" and his blues influences in "The Messiah Will Come Again". From this point on, with the exception of some more experimental works, in the following years Gary Moore would immerse himself in the blues, publishing the excellent "Still Got The Blues", "After Hours" and "Blues For Greeny".

Gary Moore-Victims Of The Future (1983)

Today, no one doubts the enormous talent of the late Irish guitarist Gary Moore, a fundamental figure in the history of rock. However, he was often criticized by some media outlets and fans for his inconsistency and opportunism in taking advantage of the musical trends he experienced. It's true that Moore explored different musical styles, from jazz-rock with the band Colosseum II, to pure blues with albums like "Still Got the Blues" (1990), passing through musical detours close to pop-rock with "Run For Cover" (1985), forays into Celtic folk with "Wild Frontier" (1987), heavy rock with "Corridors of Power" (1982), and electronica with "Dark Days in Paradise" (1997), not forgetting his time with Thin Lizzy and their original style of hard rock. Even so, Gary Moore's soul was always influenced by blues and hard rock, as demonstrated on his first album with his band "Grinding Stone" (1973), or even earlier with the Skid Row project (not to be confused with the band led by Sebastian Bach in the 1980s). At the beginning of the 1980s, Gary Moore steered his style towards the prevailing sound of the time, heavy metal, with several highly acclaimed albums within the genre. One of these works was "Victims of the Future", released in 1983, which for many is his best solo work. Recorded entirely at Townhouse Studios in London, Moore enlisted the help of bassists Bob Daisley, Mo Foster, and Neil Murray, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Neil Carter, and Slade member Noddy Holder. This album contains some of the guitarist's best compositions, such as the beautiful mid-tempo "Empty Rooms" or the heavy rock tracks "Victims of the Future", "Murder in the Skies", "All I Want" or "The Law Of The Jungle", not forgetting an exciting version of The Yardbirds' classic, "Shape Of Things to Come".

Gary Moore-How Blue Can You Get (2021)

Ten years after Gary Moore's death, this album, composed primarily of tracks from his bluesy period, was released. All the material on this album had never before appeared on any of his official albums, and most of it was recorded in different sessions with a band consisting of Gary Moore on vocals and guitar, Darrin Mooney on drums, Vic Martin on keyboards, and bassist Pete Rees. "How Blue Can You Get" contains four covers of songs by Sonny Thompson, Leonard Feather, Elmore James, and Peter Chatman, and four original compositions by Moore himself. That Gary Moore mastered the blues is beyond question, but his assimilation of the language of this distinctly Black genre is evident in tracks like the powerful "I'm Tore Down," the instrumental "Steppin' Out," and the magnificent covers of "How Blue Can You Get" and "Done Somebody Wrong." On the other hand, the intense "In My Dreams" and "Love Can Make A Fool Of You" close a fantastic posthumous album from one of the legends of the guitar, the Irishman Gary Moore.

The Gary Moore Band-Grinding Stone (1973)

Gary Moore's beginnings date back to the late sixties when he came from Belfast and at only 17 years old he joined a band called Skid Row (to be confused with the band of the same name of North American origin from the decade of the eighties).
With this band Gary Moore would record three albums and would become known by opening for leading bands such as Mountain or The Allman Brothers throughout the United States.
Already in 1973 Gary Moore decided to found his own band and under the name of The Gary Moore Band, he recorded his first album entitled "Grinding Stone", where the Irish guitarist already announced what was to come in the following years.
"Grinding Stone" is a superb album of hard rock and psychedelic blues with outstanding compositions such as the opening song "Grinding Stone", a psychedelic instrumental where Moore shows his talent with the six strings, the epic with progressive overtones "Spirit" or the Boogie Blues "Boogie My Way Back Home".
From here Gary Moore would not stop publishing records with different formations such as Colosseum, Thin Lizzy or solo and being recognized worldwide as one of the great guitars in rock history.

Gary Moore-Still Got The Blues (1990)

I want the review of this classic to serve as a tribute to one of the most talented guitarists of all time, who perhaps did not have the impact it deserved throughout his career. Gary Moore debuted professionally in the late 1960s, playing in bands such as Colosseum II or Skid Row (not the band that would make Sebastian Bach's celebrities famous). In the latter he would meet Phil Lynott, another mythical missing from our rock, with whom he would collaborate later (1974) on the Thin Lizzy project and record the album "Black Rose" in 1979. Although Gary Moore has excellent hard rock works which have marked the era, such as their debut "Corridors of Power", "Victims Of The Future", "After The War" or the excellent "Wild Frontier", we will deal here with "Still Got The Blues".

Disc distributed by Virgin Records in 1990, which meant the definitive approach to the beloved blues of the Irish virtuoso, who would not leave until the last days of his life. "Still Got The Blues" is a disc supported by the blues, but rabidly rocky and shameless, away from the sadness and melancholy that is attributed to the style of African American America. So, for sure, he would put his hands on the head of all the staunch defenders of the style in the 1990s. The essence of this work is based on how Moore is able to make his Les Paul speak in each of the cuts that compose it and how he pays tribute to the great bands and soloists that most influenced him in his professional career.

Most themes are versions of well-known authors such as A.C. Williams and his "Oh, Pretty Woman", played for the first time in 1966, by the hand of Albert King, who also collaborates on the six strings with Moore in the one included in "Still Got The Blues." It is a song that gives off sensuality on all four sides. Inevitably drag you into the world of the unconscious, present before you the icon of femininity dancing to the rhythm of this melody.

More versions in "Walking By Myself", by bluesman Jimmy Rogers, with the collaboration of Frank Mead to harmonica; "Too Tired", played by Johnny Watson in 1955; "As The Years Go Passing By", attributed to Dan Malone; "That Kind Of Woman," by Beatle George Harrison, who sings and plays the guitar with Moore; “All Your Love,” by Otis Rush and “Stop Messin’ Around, ”recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1968 and composed by Peter Green. All of them interpreted perfectly as only Master Moore could do.

As for own compositions; the initial "Moving On". Incredible way to start, at the stroke of slide and piano by Mick Weaver, giving the lace. Homegrown is also what gives the album its name. A tender song in ballad format that includes a string section by Gavin Wright, whose guitar cries have no waste, making "Still Got The Blues" a true delight ... masterpiece.

Gary Moore-Wild Frontier (1987)

In 1985, Gary Moore faced criticism from the press and his most devoted fans when he released his sixth album, "Run for Cover", which was accused of straying from his hard rock roots into a more conventional and commercial pop-rock sound. Two years later, Moore radically changed course and returned to his origins, releasing one of his most admirable works. Starting with its striking cover, the album showcases his Irish folk influences, masterfully and admirably fusing them with heavy rock. This epic tone with Celtic influences is reflected in the majestic "Over the Hills and Far Away" and the more energetic "Thunder Rising". However, it is the melodic rock tracks that dominate this new recording, such as "Johnny Boy", "Wild Frontier", and "Take a Little Time". The strange but convincing version of the Easybeats' song "Friday On My Mind" and the splendid instrumental "The Loner", along with all the previous ones, are valid and indisputable arguments for the musical excellence of this extraordinary album by the Irish guitarist.