Skid Row - Skid (1970)

Where’s Sebastian Bach I hear some of you ask? No, no Seb Bach here – this is the original Skid Row from Ireland, featuring a very young Gary Moore, from whom Mr Bach’s band bought the rights to the name back in the 1980s! Anyway, enough of that . . . Skid is the 1970 debut album from Dublin-based blues-rock band Skid Row and features an interesting mix of quirky, heavy blues numbers largely penned by vocalist/bassist Brush Shiels with an 18 year-old Gary Moore providing some outstanding guitar work throughout on what was his debut release too with his first professional band.

Mad Dog Woman opens the album and is a powerful mid-tempo blues number much akin to Cream and Colosseum with Gary Moore providing a solid guitar track and Brush Shiels slightly obtuse lyrics and a very involved bass to fill-out the sound of the three piece. The mid section also features some nice drum flourishes from Bridgemen and is followed by some great runs from Moore. From the outset, what makes Skid Row a step away from the run of the mill late 60s blues movement is in their ability – largely through the writing of Shiels – to provide multi dimensional blues rock numbers, with each track having distinct sections with differing riffs and, in many cases, tempos.

Virgo’s Daughter is s semi-native American Indian riff and melody which runs into a fast-paced bongo-accompanied track with Shiels and Bridgeman in the driving seat and Moore’s guitar reverbed into almost obscurity until the track drops for some syncopations and a new riff emerges and the track is off in another direction with an urgent shuffle mid-way through featuring Moore’s solo which is then followed by a brief passage around a Yes/Crimson type run and then back into the ‘Indian’ riff as at the opening until fade: this is some track and reflects the fact that the album as a whole is full of surprises and flies in the face of convention.

Heading Home Again drops the mood completely with a Blue Grass/country guitar intro and melody which, based on the preceding two tracks, you keep waiting to burst into something completely different but here the surprise is that it sticks to the same melody and structure throughout! The track features a couple of nice solo spots from Moore, the latter of which explores more of a jazz structure but fits very well.

An Awful Lot of Woman is a real standout and has a frantic riff (see video below) and amusing lyrics from Shiels and just when you’re thinking it’s odd syncopated time signature is going to be the mainstay of the track it shifts to a standard 12-bar boogie with Moore providing some great runs before the track returns to the opening riff: sadly this track is ony 2 minutes long which is a real pity!

Unco-Up Showband Blues moves into a more mainstream slow power-blues category with Shiels bemoaning the rigours of having a job with an Irish showband . . . not quite the outright despair as frequently experienced by Muddy Waters etc but enough to make him get the blues! This is a heavy plodder of a track with an extended guitar solo and is definitely a nod in the Cream direction but with the guitar work a lot less one-dimensional . . . did I just say that? Oops, I do like Clapton too! Then, four minutes in Moore and Shiels trade solos with only a hi-hat for accompaniment: once again not really expected but great all the same.

For Those Who Do opens with a furious run from Shiels and Moore and then slides into a mid-tempo track featuring periodic bass/guitar crescendos and frantic instrumentation – especially from Bridgemen who provides a drum solo towards the end of the piece.

For the Man Who Never Was Skid Row return to a rather circuitous and somewhat dissonant bass and guitar riff over which Shiels provides a rather conventional vocal line and there a plenty of instrumental breaks as the track progresses with some good harmony guitar work from Moore.

Felicity takes-on a Moon Dance type of rhythm and approach (interestingly, drummer Noel Bridgeman went on to play with Van Morrison post-Skid Row) with Moore providing some fast, running solo lines in this 10 minute opus and Shiels filling in the gaps with some strong bass chord work and a great rhythmic bass solo that’s very much in-keeping with the piece . . . no shredding here! Then a picked bass melody introduces a mellow vibe to the track with Moore providing some heavily reverbed solo flourishes before the track appears to fizzle out with some disconnected chords and off-key noodling. Cue a blast of really high-tempo with frantic soloing and the track is off in a completely different direction with Gary Moore providing a question and answer style guitar solo with a double tracked lead (one reverebed, one dry) for an extended period of sheer quality musicianship. Then it all drops to nothing once more with some short unaccompanied soloing from Shiels and then Moore before the finale where the full band thrashes it out.

Well, what an album! Skid works on so many levels it’s difficult to know where to begin. Firstly, the musicianship of the three members of Skid Row is first class and secondly the writing of Shiels is very strong and has an imaginative streak that adds a real left of field element to the majority of the tracks. Furthermore, bar one track, each number features multiple segments that, in some instances, bear next to no resemblance to their preceding parts but somehow blend together to make each track work excellently as a discrete piece. Whether you’re a Gary Moore fan, a blues fan, a Thin Lizzy fan or just a fan of strong musicianship (of guitar, bass or drums) you could do a lot worse than check out this album from a band for whom the term ‘underrated’ was invented and one of the rare albums that is, in my opinion, flawless.

• Brush Shiels – Bass/Vocals
• Gary Moore – Guitar
• Noel Bridgeman – Drums