Gary Moore – Live: From Baloise Session
(Mascot-Provogue – 2025)
(Genre: Blues)
Straight to the point you can’t beat a bit of Gary Moore, though personally I prefer the Rock albums that he built his name on, ‘Corridors Of Power’ Victims Of The Future’ etc. His reinvention as a Blues man gained him huge accolades; in doing so it gave him the opportunity to distance himself from his past, it became time to ‘Run For Cover’!
I can’t help but think Moore was destructive to his own legacy, I appreciate that following the release of the brilliant ‘Still Got The Blues’ in 1990 our guitarist wanted to be regarded as a serious musician, to me he was exactly that from his days in Thin Lizzy to G. Force and beyond, ignoring his previous work alienated many of his long term fans. By the turn of the millennium, he should have acknowledged and embraced more of his own history and discography.
This session is just what you would expect it to be. However, at just eight songs long it is far from essential. Moore generates the power via his Gibson. Each song has pizzaz and passion, with Moore encouraging the crowd to get up. The between song banter often falls flat, gaining little reaction. None of that can take away from fretboard wizardry that flows from the stage.
‘Oh Pretty Woman’ launches the gig then ‘Since I Met You Babe’ sees our axeman come close to God like status, his vocals are a bit raw and edgy but that helps create the atmosphere.
When this Baloise Session was recorded most of us were unaware of his health issues and his own demons as he searched for perfection, Moore was a tortured soul as he ripped every ounce of emotion from each single note or chord progression.
The inclusion of ‘Thirty Days’ seems something of a miss-step, though the playing is fluid, what comes next is ‘I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know’ it is the type of Blues ballad that only the legends can dream of writing. But our Gary was an emotional man, this is one of his most impassioned.
We get a slowed down ‘Don’t Believe A Word’ followed by ‘Still In Love With You’. The call and response is painful on ‘’Walking By Myself’ the song itself injects a bit of pace and segues perfectly into closing track ‘The Blues Is Alright’ which does get some crowd participation.
Gary Moore was a legendary guitar genius, there are plenty of live albums in his collection. I would not start with this but if you are a mega fan you will need to add it to your collection.
By Paul Mace