Essential Montreux
Written by Greg Johnson Wednesday, 16 September 2009 20:20
Gary Moore
Eagle Records
Okay all of you blues-rock guitar fanatics. This may be a boxed collection you are going to want to pick up and enjoy right away. When it comes to the European masters of this genre, perhaps many will agree that Gary Moore is amongst the absolute best. Having proven himself as a jazz-fusion artist with Colosseum II and then a spell turning heads with his rockin’ prowess with Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore found his calling toward the blues as the 1990s approached. And it was in ’90 that he made his first of several appearances at the renowned Montreux Jazz Festival.This boxed set collects all five of Moore’s sets at Montreux, beginning in 1990 and running through the years until 2001. It also is a fine display of his growth in the sound and presentation of his blues.
The first set in 1990 found Moore running through a number of blues standards and offerings from his outstanding Still Got The Blues album. But it’s perhaps the appearance of guest Albert Collins that really makes this first show indispensable, as the pair trade licks with the latter providing vocals on “Cold, Cold Feeling.” The second show took place in 1995, which saw samplings from one of Moore’s premier releases, his tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, Blues For Greeny. Of these, the highlights are definitely his takes on “Long Grey Mare” and “The Stumble.” His set in 1997 was more a rock-based performance, but still offered nice takes on numbers such as Jimmy Rogers’ “Walking By Myself” and his own classic guitar workout “Parisienne Walkways.”
To my ears, the peak performance of this collection comes with disc number four. It is a barn-burning set of blues from the get go. It includes all of the blues pieces he is best known for and they are right on target in this live setting. Covers of Elmore James, Willie Cobbs, Freddie King and Jimi Hendrix sound right at home alongside his own originals. This disc is worth the purchase price alone. The final disc is from 2001, opening with BB King’s “You Upset Me” and running through songs from his then current Back To The Blues CD. Gary Moore often strays between his love for the blues and straight-ahead rock, but his guitar playing is always phenomenal and if that is something you crave, you cannot go wrong with picking up this amazing live collection.
5 discs ~ 60 tracks