Search - Taste :: On the Boards

Rory Gallgher the best Irish Blues Rock!!

Joxim G.P. | Morelia, Michoacán, México | 06/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's unbeliavable this great musician is relatively unknown. The great creativity and fusion with four generes (Blues,Jazz,Folk,Rock) make him only one with his own style, If you like the blues rock and jazz tunes, this album it's a milestone from Ireland. Songs like "What's going on" we heard riffs blues to hard rock , "Railway and gun" a Folk and blues song with a strong solo,"It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again" with fusion jazz & blues, the beauty folk song "If The Day Was Any Longer", the blues trademark of Rory "Morning sun", and my favorite supersong "Eat my words", all songs in this album are greatest, it's the kind of album where each one of the songs it's a real pleasure to listen.



Rory Gallagher fronted the blues-rock trio Taste, which experienced reasonable success in the U.K. in the late '60s and early '70s. Taste was molded very much on the model of Cream, adding some folk, pop, and jazz elements to a blues-rock base, and featuring a virtuosic guitarist. They weren't in the same league as Cream, particularly in the songwriting department, and were (like Cream) prone to occasional blues-rock bombast. But they weren't a bad band in their own right, exhibiting a lighter touch than most British blues boom outfits.



The focus of Taste was always upon Gallagher. In addition to playing accomplished and versatile lead guitar, he sang in a gentle but convincing fashion, and wrote the band's original material. Much of Taste's repertoire was more restrained and balanced than the territory Gallagher would explore on his '70s outings, which placed more emphasis upon him as guitar hero. Gallagher also played occasional saxophone and harmonica with the group.



Gallagher formed the first version of Taste in his native Ireland in 1966, with bassist Eric Kittringham and drummer Norman Damery. In May of 1968, he relocated to London and, still months shy of his 20th birthday, formed a new version of Taste with bassist Charlie McCracken (who had played bass with Spencer Davis, though not at the peak of Davis' hit-making days) and drummer John Wilson (who had been a drummer with Them, likewise not during one of their well-known incarnations). Two studio albums followed in 1969 and 1970, the second of which made the British Top 20. Taste was still virtually unknown in the States when they broke up shortly afterwards, although a couple of live albums were released in the early '70s to keep some product on the shelves.

"

Great album

Sean K | Fresno, CA | 12/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great album. I recently discovered this gem by accident while searching for something else. It sounded like it was worth checking out. Boy was I surprised. This is rory gallagher's band before he went solo and it is a great classic/blues rock album. THe guitar playing is awswome and there are plenty of moods to get into from blues to rock to jazzy stuff to rockabilly- ish. It's all great."

A pleasant shock to hear this again

monkeyspank | 03/12/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is another one I had on vinyl in 1970. I had the great privilege to see my hero Mr. Gallagher three times. This was always my favourite Taste album although I hadn't heard it for literally, over 35 years. And the mind can play strange tricks because the only tracks I could remember, were the bluesy "rockers" ( Morning sun, Eat my words etc). So it came as something of a shock to hear this again because I had forgotten that this is primarily a jazz album, and there is some REALLY impressive 1970's -style jazz playing on this- Not just by Rory but by Wilson and McCracken too.



There are some really strong and innovative jazz numbers on this album, most notably "it's happened before, it'll happen again". Gallagher's playing is all about tone and I must say, even after all these years I can listen to Rory and he'll make the hair on my head stand on end. I think the tone of that strat is has never been equalled. The only guy I can think of who ever came close was SRV.



Rory's live performances never featured any of the saxophone tunes and as spotty youths we waited in vain for Rory to ever strap on a saxophone. So who played the sax on the album? - a mystery indeed. I remember there was much discussion in the early 70's as to exactly WHO was the saxophonist on "on the boards". In fact some disloyal fans even went as far as to suggest that it was a session man.... A session man?.... tut tut!! ........I think this remains one of Rock and Roll's great unsolved mysteries, personally.



This is beautiful music; Rory is young strong and passionate here and it really comes across. The guitar really sings. Just buy it, Okay?"