Gary Moore?! Isn't he the heavy metal guitar shedder who used to play with Thin Lizzy?
Well, yes, but Irishman Gary Moore also occationally calls back when he hears the blues calling (or gets a message that is has called). He put out his almost-classic almost-pure-blues album "Still Got The Blues" in 1990, and had a pretty big hit with the title track, and Moore, who hails from Van Morrison's hometown of Belfast, is a very talented, versatile guitarist, a good composer, and an even better interpreter of songs.
This 2-disc set is a collection of Moore's high-octane early-90s blues material...it opens with his excellent, fiery cover of Jimmy Rogers' "Walking By Myself", and other highlights include the driving "Moving On", the funky boogie of "Stop Messin' Around", a fine rendition of West side blues king Otis Rush's "All Your Love (I Need Loving)", and of course the well-crafted original "Still Got The Blues For You", which includes an immediately recognizable main single-string riff as well as a fine melody. And the classic "Parisienne Walkways" is here as well, although it is more rock ballad than blues...Moore's bell-clear Gibson Les Paul doesn't need the backing of a string orchestra, but the song itself is too good for little things like that to spoil the mood.
The second disc is actually a 77-minute live album, and a really good one at that.
Opening with a thumping "Caldonia" which features both Albert Collins and Albert King, it duplicates many of the songs on disc one, but it is actually a little bit stronger, providing a more cohesive listen and a little bit more grit as well.
An energetic "You Don't Love Me" is really good, as is "Walking By Myself", a muscular "Still Got The Blues", and a ten-minute "Stormy Monday", again featuring Albert "King" Nelson.
The annotation is very poor, but the music is generally good, although 31 tracks are six or eight too many. Diehards will want this set for the live disc, though, and more casual listeners can pick up "Best Of The Blues" instead of buying all of Moore's Virgin albums. There's plenty of good stuff here.