Album #15 : Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues

Gary Moore

Still Got The Blues (1990)

Gary Moore was one of those men who would have been referred to as a 'guitarist's guitarist'. Throughout his career he hasn't had the profile of more famous axe-wielding luminaries, despite compiling an impressive body of work, both as solo artist and as a member of Irish bands Thin Lizzy and Skid Row. Yet upon his tragic death from a heart attack in 2011, the outpouring of tributes and eulogies to his talent, especially from people who would be regarded as having a far greater profile than him (cough Slash cough), was proof positive that Moore was, and should be recognised as, one of the great guitarists.

Still Got The Blues was released in 1990. It was, unbelievably, Moore's first blues release in some sixteen years; his career consisting mostly of hard rock and jazz-fusion work. This album would, however, cement Moore's standing as a hell of a bluesman, something he would (mostly) stick with for the rest of his career. The title track was released as a single, and I do vividly remember hearing it several times on Rage back in the day, marvelling at those wailing guitar solos and wondering, "Who is this guitar genius?"

Keen to find out what the rest of the album is like, I decided it would be great review fodder for The LOAD Project.....

The Album

We kick off with the fairly straight-ahead up-tempo blues rocker Moving On, which does enough to grab your attention and whet the appetite without revealing too many of the album's secrets. There's some nifty slide guitar work from Moore but it's just a minor puff compared to the maelstrom of guitar magnificence that is to follow from Moore's Les Paul. Oh Pretty Woman is not a Roy Orbison cover; it's another typical blues track with vocal and guitar lick tradeoffs aplenty, but it contains the first facestompingly classy solo. Moore's playing is smooth, his fingers lightning, and his guitar positively sings. The third song also had some radio airplay. Walking By Myself. A cover of a 1950s blues track by Jimmy Rogers, it's a repetitive, simple song with yet another quality blues solo. 

Still Got The Blues is next; the first of several slower blues tracks. All the slower tracks sound and feel smoky, like you're sitting in a dingy blues bar listening to the bluesman do his thing. There's lots of space in the music for Moore to vocalise, trade guitar licks with his own vocals, and, of course, to solo. The space is created by using keyboards to provide the soundscape, but the keyboards are the perfect volume - not so quiet as not to be heard, not loud enough so that you go FUCK ME THERE ARE KEYBOARDS. Moore's long, long solo at the end - worth the price of admission. 

Texas Strut was a real surprise package. It's Moore's shameless tribute to Texas blues and a few of its legends (Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top are explicitly referenced in the lyrics, there's the "ah how how how how" and the riff from La Grange in the song, and there's also lyrical references to the great Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble). It's also a rocking song; that trademark Texan blues swing beat all the way through, and capped off with (you guessed it) a sweet, sweet solo.

(By now you will have noticed that just about every song has a solo that is, to put it bluntly, FUCKING BRILLIANT.)

Too Tired contains the first of three guest appearances on the album, as blues legend Albert Collins joins Moore. It's a more traditional blues song, owing to it being another cover. It's not too bad a song, there's of course more great guitar work, but it's not as balltearingly listenable as other songs. Another master of the blues guitar, Albert King, joins Moore on a song written about.....Albert King. King of the Blues tells the story of King, one of blues' greatest players. Both players show some incredible chops on this song, and it manages to pay tribute to King without being too much of a suckup. It's another cool blues track.

As The Years Go Passing By is next. Another cover, and another smoky blues track with very subtle instrumentation; this time the keyboards are augmented by some undertones of a horn section. There's a nice little piano solo in there, but once again the star is Moore; his smooth vocal proving he was born to sing the blues, and two guitar solos that are remarkably different in style. The first is steady, careful, deliberate; a solo that shows real feel and emotion in the playing. The second is virtuoso stuff, yet still retains so much emotion. It's superb stuff. Midnight Blues gives us our final slower blues song of the album, and while it's not bad it's also not memorable, but there is (are you ready for it?) more classy guitar work.

The final three tracks on the CD release were not on the original album release. That Kind of Woman is a George Harrison song, and Harrison appears on the track; it's a pretty well crafted slice of blues-rock, but there are a few distinctly non-blues chord changes that mark this out as a song not written by a bluesman. It's a pleasant enough tune. All Your Love covers an Otis Rush song and isn't anything special until the midsection solo, which is absolutely incredible. Finally, there's Stop Messin' Around. Originally written by Peter Green and recorded by Fleetwood Mac when they were a British blues band (i.e. ACTUALLY GOOD), it contains several hallmarks of the British blues sound at the time (very structured 12-bar-esque verses, lyrics referring to being "squeezed" until you "fall right out of bed" etc.) It's a cool finish, but I can understand why it was left off the original release. It doesn't add anything extra exciting to the first nine songs. 

The Verdict

HOLY SHIT Gary Moore is one incredible guitarist. If you didn't know he hadn't recorded many blues albums before this, you'd think he'd been doing it forever. He manages to play with incredible virtuosity yet with an amazing sense of feel and emotion. His vocals are smooth and deep; in fact, he's got a perfect voice for singing blues. Whether singing the slower tracks or the uptempo ones, the vocals are first class.

As for the album itself, Still Got The Blues is a crackingly good example of 'modern' electric blues. It manages to pay homage and reference to the past while embracing the time it was written and recorded in. There's hardly a poor song on it, and Moore....well, he's amazing. That he may not have received the same kudos as people like SRV is certainly not down to talent, because Moore has the chops to compete.

If you like blues, and you haven't heard this album, I urge you to listen to it. If you don't like blues, but you like hearing great guitarists do their thing, I urge you to listen to it. Marvel at a master craftsman showing his wares.

My rating: ****

Standout Tracks

As The Years Go Passing By

Texas Strut

Still Got The Blues

Tomorrow, I go post-rock, and ponder the following: what exactly is 'post'-rock? How precisely does something be after rock? If this is 'post-rock', what is 'pre-rock'? Classical? Early Delta blues? Django Reinhardt-style jazz guitar of the 30s? Do we overuse genre labels, or does post-rock really need to be a label of its own? Is it a genre of its own, and if so, what does it sound like?

(Or, alternatively, I'll just listen to a post-rock album and tell you about it.)

See you then!