But when it all comes down what I enjoy the most in music is a gutsy hard blues-rock electric guitar solo and gutsy hard blues-rock electric guitar solos don't come much better than those on the double-CD by Gary Moore. There's nothing subtle about this CD, this is in your face, balls against the wall, amp turned up to eleven, blues and blues-rock. The first CD is a collection of the best from his previous blues albums.The second is a collection of previously unreleased live performances.
On both CDs are contributions by his Blues idols, the late Albert Collins, BB King, and his absolute total favourite about whom he wrote a song King of the Blues (which I bet he never plays within the hearing of BB), ladeez an' gemmun, the late great Albert King. These total nine tracks and are among the best in the set as Moore happily gives his heroes room to strut their stuff.
Moore can play it quiet which he does from time to time and surprisingly effectively too -The Thrill Is Gone with BB King is especially good. His own song Still Got The Blues is achingly wistful (by Blues standards at any rate). It's also a measure of his songwriting in that his own , like the one just mentioned,stand up to the covers he plays. His voice is an effective blues voice and better than you might expect.
It's been a few years since I've listed to Gary Moore and I'd forgotten just how good this man is. It won't happen again, not now I've this set to listen to. Big big fun.
POST SCRIPT
I was playing the live CD while writing the above and realised I liked it so much I checked out his more recent releases on the excellent All-Music Guide (AMG) and went and ordered two of his more recent blues albums for prices around four quid.
