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

Gary Moore - Back On The Streets (1979)

Back On The Streets was Gary Moore’s first bona fide solo album released in 1979 and featuring two of Moores’ previous (and to be future) band-mates in Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott and Brian Downey – along with various other musicians including the omnipresent Don Airey on keyboards, top session drummer Simon Phillips (Judas Priest, Jeff Beck etc) and ex-Colosseum II bassist Jon Mole.

Whilst the musical pedigree of the album is impeccable both in terms of composition and execution, it’s not the most flowing/consistent of albums veering from Colosseum II style jazz rock/fusion numbers to what are, basically, Thin Lizzy numbers. However, this is not a criticism as both styles have great merit but it’s just interesting to marry the two on one album.

The album kicks-off with the title track – a ballsy, straight-forward Thin Lizzy style rocker – even featuring wah-wah soloing, twin-harmony guitars and Phil Lynnot on backing vocals – followed by a down-tempo and bluesy interpretation of Thin Lizzy’s Don’t Believe A Word which works well – with Moore providing some Peter Greenesque solo flourishes – until the final few bars when the tempo increases to an upbeat shuffle.

Fanatical Fascists follows which is a very simplistic riff-driven number (and B-side to Parisienne Walkways: quite a contrast). Then, it’s almost like you’ve switched albums as Flight Of The Snow Goose begins with dissonant strings backing some McLaughlin style acoustic work from Moore before Simon Phillips fades-in and suddenly there’s Airey/Moore rekindling their Colosseum II jazz fusion partnership with Airey in particular going into Jan Hammer/Mahavishnu Orchestra mode before Moore let’s rip with a lengthy inspirational solo.

Next we’re in a track that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, or indeed Colosseum II’s Electric Savage, a real uptempo jazz fusion belter with Simon Phillips turning in a polished performance and Moore really wringing out some screeching guitar soloing ably accompanied by Airey.

Next we are presented with the rather bland Song For Donna before Simon Phillips kicks in with a nicely syncopated beat ushering in What Would You Rather Bee Or A Wasp – a funky fusion number that builds nicely and again would have fitted in nicely on one of Colosseum II’s albums. Then suddenly, we’re back in Lizzy territory with the joint Lynnot/Moore-penned and sang Parisienne Walkways (a number 8 hit in the UK) that is probably Gary Moore’s most well-known track – and who’s central melody has proved fodder for generations of budding guitarists!

The re-release also features a bonus track – Spanish Guitar – which, inspite of the image conjured up by the title, is in fact a mellow rock blues ballad with the odd castanet thrown in here and there for good measure.

If you think of the largely the three facets of Gary Moore – fusion, blues and rock – all are ably demonstrated here and the variety really gives something for everyone. Above all, the sheer versatility and ability of Moore really shines through which I guess is the whole point.

• Gary Moore – Guitar/Vocals
• Phil Lynott – Bass/Vocals
• John Mole – Bass
• Don Airey – Keyboards
• Brian Downey – Drums
• Simon Phillips – Drums

Colosseum II - War Dance (1977)

Another hidden gem in rock’s back catalogue is this 1977 release from Colosseum II featuring an all-star lineup of ex-Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman, ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore and ex-just about everyone keyboardist Don Airey. Whilst the album, their third, was to prove their swansong (bar a one album reformation at the request of Andrew Lloyd Webber) due to lack of commercial success, the quality of the music contained therein isn’t diminished.

The highly-polished jazz rock/fusion style created by Colosseum II was based around the musical abilities of Moore, Airey and Hiseman and their intricate interplay coupled with a melodic ear. The title track kicks off the album in style leading to the funky Major Keys which, unsurprisingly centres around a Don Airey keyboard melody: a good start.

Things really shift up a gear on Put It That Way featuring good harmony interplay between Airey and Moore with Jon Hiseman pulling out all the stops. Moore’s guitar solo on the track also stands out, as does Airey’s Hammond solo.

The only low-point for me is Castles, the sole vocal track on the album, a painfully slow track sung by Gary Moore in a warbling semi-falsetto! Fortunately, the uptempo shuffle of Fighting Talk soon erases the memory of such a faux pas with its grinding central riff and overall crashing chords and squealing guitar/keyboard melody.

The album keeps the pace then and rips through The Inquisition and Star Maiden to finish on the impressive Last Exit (somewhat a prophetic title) which begins gently enough before erupting part way through into a medium tempo piece with a screeching wah-wah solo from Gary Moore before moving uptempo for the finale.

The album really hits the spot in terms of jazz rock/fusion and if you’ve only heard Gary Moore during his later hard rock or blues phases, and Don Airey as backing for the likes of Rainbow, this album will be a real eye-opener.

• Don Airey – Keyboards
• Jon Hiseman – Drums
• Gary Moore – Guitar/Vocals
• John Mole – Bass