Gary Moore
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| Gary Moore | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 4, 1952 (age 55) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Alias(es) | Robert William Gary Moore |
| Genre(s) | Hard rock Rock Blues-rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Thin Lizzy |
| Notable guitars | Gary Moore Signature Les Paul |
| Years active | 1970 – present |
| Official site | Official website |
Gary Moore (born Robert William Gary Moore, 4 April 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a guitarist. In a career dating back to the 1960s he has played with bands/artists including Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II, Greg Lake and blues-rock band Skid Row as well as having a successful solo career. Among many cameo apperances over the years, he performed the lead guitar solo on "She's My Baby" from the album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3.
Moore started performing at a young age, having picked up a battered acoustic guitar at the age of eight, and got his first quality guitar at the age of fourteen, learning to play the right-handed instrument in the standard way despite being left handed. His career has lasted over thirty years.
Gary Moore now appears as a regular radio host every Sunday and Monday on 'Planet Rock' radio. His show is entitled 'Blues Power' and plays many classic blues tracks, as well as some of Moore's own tracks.
Contents |
[edit] Connection with Peter Green
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According to numerous interviews he has given to guitar magazines, he was the protege of British blues pioneer Peter Green, whom he had always admired ever since the Bluesbreakers days. When Green quit Fleetwood Mac and the entire music scene, he sold his famous nasal-sounding 1959 Gibson Les Paul to Moore, for the same price that Moore had managed to sell his then guitar (a Gibson SG).
The nasal sound of the neck pick-up on Green's guitar was not, as used to be believed, the result of the pickup having been turned backwards, but instead its two coils had been — perhaps accidentally — reconnected in parallel and out of phase, as per the "in between" positions of a Fender Stratocaster. [Others, such as the late British guitar maker Sid Poole & Hamer Guitars, believe the pick-up's permanent magnet was reversed*]. Moore has used this guitar in the recordings of some songs of his albums Still Got the Blues, After Hours and Blues For Greeny.
Peter Green and Moore also reportedly had a disagreement regarding what guitar the former was playing in the song "Albatross". Moore insists it was the Les Paul, because the guitar tone was particularly warm and rich in the bass, while Peter Green maintains he was using a Strat, as the vibrato in that song was not finger vibrato, but subtle tremolo arm vibrato.
"JD: You'd put it in the middle-position and there it was! So, I said to Gary, "Let's take this apart and let's see what the deal is." What I actually found was that the neck pickup magnet had been reversed, and sure enough, that's what it was! It was wired out-of-phase by the magnet being turned around, not by the leads at the pot reversed-wired. I can't say whether it was done by a repairman or done at the factory originally, who knows?"* — actually Peter Green is on record as having done it accidentally himself.
- http://www.hamerfanclub.com/jolspeaks.html
- http://www.users.qwest.net/~fhudson/Gibsons.htm
- http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=19;t=014259;p=1
- http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Lollar-Imperial-Humbucker-Set-Nickel-Peter-Green-P1340C116.aspx
[edit] Guitars used
Over the years Gary has used numerous guitars. These include: Peter Green's 1959 Gibson Les Paul, Peter Green's 1961 Fender Stratocaster, and the 1950s Gibson Les Paul Junior. He has also used guitars from Charvel, Ibanez, Hamer, Jackson, Heritage and Paul Reed Smith. Amplification has generally come from Marshall, although Soldanos and Fender have also been used, as well as transistor-driven Dean Markley units (especially in the studio). He also has used numerous effects over the years. These include; Delay units such as the Roland Space Echo, 555, Overdrive/Booster units such as the BOSS DS-1, Ibanez Tubescreamer variants, Marshall [[Marshall, Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor pedals as well as wah-wah pedals such as the Vox Wah, Dunlop JH1. He appears nowadays to favour Gibson and Fender guitars, through Marshall amplifiers. His choices in effects have remained constant, using an Ibanez TS10 Classic Tubescreamer on many recordings/live shows.
Gary Moore's contribution to music and blues in particular have been recognised in recent years by prestigious commercial endorsements. In 2004-2006 Gary featured in full page advertisements for Marshall's range of reissued classic handwired amplifiers, including classic amplifiers from the 1960s and 1970s, such as the popularly named, "Bluesbreaker combo" — originally made famous by Eric Clapton. Gary was also one of the first artists recognised by Gibson Guitars with a signature model. The Gary Moore Les Paul is not a reproduction of an existing model but a new model, with distinctive lemon sunbust maple cap, the neck is unbound (unusual for a Les Paul but easier to refret & play) as is the body, a "Gary Moore" name plate on the truss rod cover and some early model Gibson Burstbucker pick-ups, one with zebra-coils (one black & one white bobbin).
[edit] Skid Row
In 1969 he joined the group Skid Row with Noel Bridgeman and Brendan "Brush" Shiels. The music was eclectic, covering a wide range including jazz, rock and blues. It was with this group that he earned himself a reputation in the music business, and his association with Philip Lynott began.
Albums
[edit] Solo career
In 1973 he released his first solo album Grinding Stone billed as the Gary Moore Band. In 1979 his solo career started again with help from Phil Lynott. The combination of Moore's blues based guitar, and Lynott's voice, produced "Parisienne Walkways", which reached the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart in April 1979; and the Thin Lizzy number 2 hit album, Black Rose: A Rock Legend.
After a series of powerful rock records, Moore returned to blues music with Still Got the Blues, with contributions from B. B. King, Albert King and Albert Collins. The album was well received by fans and a huge success. Moore stayed with the blues format until 1997, when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats on Dark Days in Paradise; this left many fans, as well as the music press confused. Back to the Blues, unsurprisingly, saw Gary return to his tried and tested blues format.
Albums
- Grinding Stone, (1973)
- Back on the Streets, (1978)
- G-Force, (1979)
- Corridors of Power, (1982)
- Live at the Marquee, (1983)
- Victims of the Future, (1983)
- Dirty Fingers, (1984)
- We Want Moore!, (1984)
- Run for Cover, (1985)
- Rockin' Every Night - Live in Japan, (1986)
- Wild Frontier, (1987)
- After the War, (1989)
- Still Got the Blues, (1990)
- After Hours, (1992)
- Spanish Guitar - Best, (1992)
- Blues Alive, (1993)
- Ballads & Blues 1982-1994, (1994)
- Blues for Greeny, (1995)
- Around The Next Dream, (1996)
- Dark Days in Paradise, (1997)
- Out in the Fields - The Very Best of Part 1, (1998)
- Blood of Emeralds - The Very Best of Part 2, (1999)
- A Different Beat, (1999)
- Back to the Blues, (2001)
- Have Some Moore - The Best Of, (2002)
- Live At Monsters Of Rock, (2003)
- Power of the Blues, (2004)
- Old New Ballads Blues, (2006)
- The Platinum Collection - Rock, Blues and Live 3 disc set, (2006)
- Close As You Get - 21. May 2007
Selected singles (UK Singles Chart Top 40 hits)
- "Parisienne Walkways" - 1979 - No. 8
- "Out in the Fields" - 1985 - No. 5 α
- "Empty Rooms" - 1985 re-issue - No. 23
- "Over the Hills and Far Away" - 1986 - No. 20
- "Wild Frontier" - 1987 - No. 35
- "Friday on My Mind" - 1987 - No. 26 β
- "After the War" - 1989 - No. 37
- "Still Got the Blues (For You)" - 1990 - No. 31
- "Cold Day in Hell" - 1992 - No. 24
- "Story of the Blues" - 1992 - No. 40
- "Parisienne Walkways" - 1993 re-recording - No. 32
α Credited to Gary Moore and Phil Lynott.
β Cover version of The Easybeats 1966, No. 6 UK hit.
[edit] Thin Lizzy
Gary played in Thin Lizzy for several periods and worked with Phil Lynott subsequently in his solo career.
Albums
- Night Life (1974) (note that he only appears on the song "Still In Love With You")
- Remembering (1976)
- Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979)
- Continuing Saga of Ageing Orphans (1979)
- The Adventures of Thin Lizzy (1981)
- Life (1983)
- Dedication: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy (1991)
[edit] Colosseum II
Colosseum II is a band that came from the ashes of Colosseum and featured Don Airey, John Mole, Jon Hiseman and Gary Moore.
Albums
[edit] Greg Lake
He participated in the recording of Greg Lake's two solo albums, Greg Lake (1981) and Manoeuvres (1983). He also played live in Greg Lake's line-up. Some notable performances of his touring stint with Lake, were the live covers of King Crimson songs "21st Century Schizoid Man", "In The Court Of The Crimson King", as well as "Parisienne Walkways".
Moore's 1984 album Dirty Fingers (which also featured ex-Ted Nugent vocalist Charlie Huhn, former Rainbow/Wild Horses and later Dio bassist Jimmy Bain, and ex-Black Oak Arkansas/Pat Travers and later Ozzy Osbourne/Whitesnake/Ted Nugent drummer Tommy Aldridge) had a song called "Nuclear Attack", which he also performed on the Greg Lake album.
[edit] BBM
Formed in 1994 the group comprised Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker (both formerly performers with Cream) and Gary Moore. The band made one album that received initial praise and then soon vanished into obscurity, but is now regarded as a 'forgotten classic.'
[edit] Album
[edit] (Gary Moore's) Scars
Formed in 2002 the band issued an eponymous album Scars which was released on September 10, 2002. The band featured Gary Moore (Vocals/Guitar), Cass Lewis (Bass guitar/Backing vocals) and Darrin Mooney of Primal Scream (Drums).
Note: This group is not to be confused with the Scottish punk/post-punk band called Scars, which existed from 1977 - 1982.
[edit] Album
[edit] DVDs
- Thin Lizzy Live at Sydney Harbour '78, (1978)
- The Old Grey Whistle Test 2, (2003)
- Live at Monsters of Rock, (2003)
- Gary Moore & The Midnight Blues - Live at Montreux 1990, (2004)
- Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott, (2006)
[edit] References
- Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
- Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7
- Guinness Rockopedia - ISBN 0-85112-072-5
- The Great Rock Discography - 5th Edition - ISBN 1-84195-017-3
[edit] Notes
[edit] External link
| Thin Lizzy |
| John Sykes | Scott Gorham | Marco Mendoza | Michael Lee |
| Phil Lynott | Brian Downey | Eric Bell | Gary Moore | Brian Robertson | Snowy White | Darren Wharton | Tommy Aldridge | Randy Gregg | Midge Ure | Mark Nauseef |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Thin Lizzy | Shades of a Blue Orphanage | Vagabonds of the Western World | Nightlife | Fighting | Jailbreak | Johnny the Fox | Bad Reputation | Black Rose: A Rock Legend | Chinatown | Renegade | Thunder and Lightning |
| Live albums: Live and Dangerous | Life | BBC Radio One Live in Concert | The Peel Sessions | Boys Are Back in Town: Live in Australia | One Night Only |
