Album Reviews by EDF
Time has not been kind to Gary Moore. While seemingly out of the public eye, his sold out shows at least proves he has a solid fan base. He will always be regarded as one of the best UK hard rock / metal / blues guitarist around and for those who have been raised up on pop metal and for those who have not been, here is a brief history of the Belfast child’s career and a look at the mid priced, remastered reissues from Virgin.
Influenced by Eric Clapton when he was still performing with the Bluesbreaker, Gary joined Skid Row (no, not the 1980’s US metal band) at the young age of 16. While there, he met Phil Lynott who later went off to form Thin Lizzy. In 1973, Gary put together his own three-piece band and released GRINDING STONE, which failed to spark off anybody’s imagination. He disbanded the band and joined Thin Lizzy.
Even though he featured on Lizzy’s 1974 NIGHTLIFE album, he left a short while later due to personality differences. He then joined the jazz-rock group Colosseum II but the lure of heavy metal was too strong and jumped on the chance to rejoin Thin Lizzy when Brian Robertson first injured his hand and then left Lizzy to form his own group.
As well as playing on Thin Lizzy’s excellent 1979 album BLACK ROSE, Moore asked Lynott to sing on PARISIENNE WALKWAYS as he was not confident about his own vocals. The next few years saw Moore drift in and out of personal projects and support roles until he recorded 1982’s CORRIDORS OF POWER, the first of the reissued albums. This reached No. 30 in the album charts and while tracks like END OF THE WORLD proved to doubters to how fast Moore could play, FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU showed his skill with the power ballad and the blues on I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW.
Even though CORRIDORS OF POWER was well received, Moore’s voice had sounded a little too whiney. Just as well on the 1984 follow-up, VICTIMS OF THE FUTURE Moore’s vocals improved and added another notch to his abilities. The album reached No. 12 and saw two singles, HOLD ON TO LOVE, No. 65 and most notably EMPTY ROOMS, No. 51 enter the UK chart, his first in the five years since PARISIENNE WALKWAYS reached No. 8. He ended the year with a live album, WE WANT MOORE, which was recorded in Detroit.
1985 saw the release of an even more rounded Moore with the No. 12 album RUN FOR COVER. This album is noted for featuring the outstanding duet with Phil Lynott on OUT IN THE FIELDS, which gave Moore his highest singles chart placing yet at No. 5. Moore also went back and reworked EMPTY ROOMS from his previous studio album where this time round the song reached No. 23. The following year saw the release of another live album, ROCKIN’ EVERY NIGHT recorded in Japan for which Moore does not quite sound like himself.
Then in 1987, Moore released WILD FRONTIER, which included a nod to his Thin Lizzy days on OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. This was one of 4 tracks, which hit the singles chart, and was the highest placed at No. 20. The album reached the Top Ten album chart and was also his most successful album to date. Capitalising on his success, the follow-up album, 1989’s AFTER THE WAR sounds like Moore on autopilot and was lacking any real inspiration. Finding himself in a rut and being eclipsed by many pretenders to his throne from the emergence of metal hair bands, Moore would have to do something soon and it would have to sound spectacular.
CORRIDORS OF POWER 
VICTIMS OF THE FUTURE 
WE WANT MOORE
RUN FOR COVER
ROCKIN’ EVERY NIGHT 
WILD FRONTIER 
AFTER THE WAR
