Stop messin' around (Gary Moore) (LP 2042)

Gary Moore   Still Got The Blues  (CD, Virgin Records, 1990) ***

Genre: Blues rock

Places I remember: From Shona Walding's collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Midnight Blues

Gear costume: That Kind Of Woman (George Harrison guests on slide and rhythm guitar and backing vocals) 

Active compensatory factors: Gary Moore is more widely known for his links to hard rock (Thin Lizzy, Skid Row) but he came out with this more bluesy album in 1990 and was immediately successful.

I prefer the blues of Midnight Blues and Still Got The Blues to the more rock guitar on other tracks (I must be getting old) but this album sums up all of his guitar gifts well. He was pretty versatile.

I included That Kind Of Woman as a highlight but I'm struggling to actually hear George on it.

Where do they all belong? Slots right into the blues rock guitar pantheon. 

Reach for the night (Jack Bruce) (LP 888 - 889)

Jack Bruce  Shadows In The Air (CD, Sanctuary Records, 2001) ****  

Jack Bruce  Silver Rails (CD, Cherry Red Records, 2014) ***

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Slow Boat Records, HMV Oxford St.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Keep It Down (Silver Rails)

Gear costume: Out Into The Fields (Shadows In The Air).

A remake of the West Bruce and Laing song.

Active compensatory factors: These are late period solo studio albums. Silver Rails was his final album - he died seven months after it was released.

Shadows In The Air has a formidable cast, with Eric Clapton, Dr John, Gary Moore, Vernon Reid all making appearances during the album.

Clapton appears on the remakes of White Room and Sunshine Of Your Love. Of course musicians have every right to redo their songs in different settings but both of these revisits are nice to haves, not essentials. 

Silver Rails has a decidedly frail Jack on vocals which lends a weight and poignancy to the songs. 

Last ever sequenced final album track is No Surrender. That about sums up the attitude of this mighty bass playing G.O.A.T.

Where do they all belong? A slew of live albums to come yet. Plus I still have a few late period studio albums to collect: Monkjack; More Jack Than God and a 'lost' album that was finally released - Jet Set Jewel. There's also an excellent live album with Robin Trower that I need to find a physical copy of (it's on Spotify). Plus if I feel like a completist after all those - the synth album Automatic. He was prolific!