More Rory Gallagher RSD Gold

[review by Rev. Keith A. Gordon]

RORY GALLAGHER: Cleveland Calling, Part 2 (Chess Records/Universal Music)

VENUE: Live WNCR-FM radio broadcast from the Agora Ballroom, Cleveland Ohio, sometime in September 1972.

SOUND QUALITY: Meh…you really need to turn it up to hear it, the recording hollow, brittle, and empty-sounding. Just a step above full-blown bootleg status, really, but Gallagher’s vox are easily discernable and his guitar cuts through the muck like a surgeon’s scalpel, but his otherwise talented rhythm section is blurred and slurred into sonic roadkill on most tracks.

COVER: It’s a major label release, so the packaging isn’t too shabby – nice B&W “action” shot of Rory strangling his Stratocaster on the front, a B&W full band photo on the rear cover along with the track listing. The inner sleeve is in color with track listing and credits, and photos of the current in-print Rory Gallagher album catalog (so fire up those credit cards, kids!).

TRACKLIST: (Side A) 1. Messin’ With the Kid • 2. Used To Be • 3. Should’ve Learnt My Lesson (Side B) 4. Laundromat • 5. Pistol Slapper Blues • 6. Banker’s Blues • 7. In Your Town

COMMENTS: Let’s clear up any potential misconceptions about this “Record Store Day” album from the beginning…released on July 17th as part of the second RSD “drop” for 2021, Rory Gallagher’s Cleveland Calling, Part 2 isn’t a two-album set (like it says on the RSD website), it’s a single, seven-song 12” record pressed on a thick slab of 180g wax. There’s no “download card,” as some sources claim (or else my still-sealed copy didn’t come with one…as last year’s predecessor didn’t have a download, I’m pretty sure that Universal went cheap-o again and didn’t include one here, either…). Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features a previously-unreleased radio broadcast of a promotional concert done exclusively for Cleveland’s WNCR-FM.

Gallagher and his band performed seven songs in the otherwise empty Agora Ballroom on some day in September 1972 (no date listed, but Gallagher opened for Fleetwood Mac in Cleveland on September 8th). The album is a “sequel,” of sorts, to last year’s RSD release Cleveland Calling, a previously-unreleased in-studio acoustic performance for WNCR-FM from August ’72. That album was a resounding success upon its RSD release, peaking at #2 on the Billboard magazine “Blues” chart, a feat matched by this new archival release. Gallagher’s band at the time included bassist Gerry McAvoy (who would remain with Rory until his death in 1995), keyboardist Lou Martin, and drummer Rod de’Ath, the same talented group that would later record Gallagher’s critically-acclaimed 1973 albums Blueprint and Tattoo.

For those of you unfamiliar with the greatness that was Rory Gallagher, he was an Irish blues-rock guitarist who, after finding inspiration in the music of U.K. hitmaker Lonnie Donegan, picked up the instrument at the age of nine and subsequently fell in love with the blues and rock ‘n’ roll music he heard listening to Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network (AFN) on his radio late at night. Influenced by artists as diverse as Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly, and Woody Guthrie, Gallagher taught himself slide guitar, harmonica, saxophone, mandolin, and banjo. His first band that anybody remembers was Taste, a blues-rock power trio formed in 1966 that would release a pair of critically-acclaimed studio albums before breaking up. Gallagher released his self-titled solo debut in early 1971 and followed it up a few months later with his sophomore effort, Deuce, both albums breaking the Top 40 in the U.K.

Cleveland Calling, Part 2 features one song from Rory’s debut and three from Deuce, alongside a trio of previously-unrecorded tunes that were part of Gallagher’s concert setlist that would appear on his breakthrough1972 album Live In Europe. The Agora Ballroom was a great venue for Gallagher’s “meat and potatoes” approach to rock and blues music, the historic stage hosting notable concerts by talents like Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, Boston, Todd Rundgren, Ian Hunter, and many others. Oddly enough, the club’s proximity to popular FM radio station WMMS meant that the station frequently broadcast live shows from the location. Cross-town rival WNCR seems to have pulled a fast one here, broadcasting an exclusive Gallagher performance from the venue.

As for the performance itself, Gallagher and crew bring fire and brimstone to the stage. Opening with Junior Wells’ signature song “Messin’ With the Kid,” Rory does a little noodling guitar intro until the band explodes into a revved-up, amphetamine-fueled Chicago blues jam that hits your ears like a drive-by mugging. Martin’s honky-tonk piano-pounding livens up the performance by offering a counterpoint to the Gallagher’s raging guitarplay. (Note: “Messin’ With the Kid” is incorrectly attributed to Wells but it was actually written by Chief Records founder and producer Mel London, who also wrote hits for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Elmore James). Gallagher’s original “Used To Be” is a bit of a letdown by comparison with the album-opener, but it features some tasty fatback six-string bending by the Irish maestro against a strident, if somewhat smudged rhythmic backdrop.

The scorching, Chicago-styled blues of “Should Have Learnt My Lesson” closes out the album’s first side, the song’s languid tempo disguising a fiery heartbeat and truckloads of emotion channeled through Gallagher’s strings and Martin’s subtle keyboard flourishes. It’s a captivating performance made all the better by Gallagher blue-eyed soul vocals. “Laundromat,” the lone song here from his debut album, roars out of the grooves to open side two, the song’s mix of raucous British blues and jazzy undertones providing a clever bit of songwriting alchemy. Gerry McAvoy’s bass and drummer Rod de’Ath are more discernable here, providing a rhythmic backbone for Gallagher rowdy performance and soaring solos.

A cover of legendary bluesman Blind Boy Fuller’s “Pistol Slapper Blues” never made it onto a proper Gallagher studio recording, its only contemporary appearance coming on the guitarist’s Live In Europe (it would later appear as a bonus track on the CD reissue of Irish Tour ’74). Gallagher seems to have treated live albums like studio work anyway, his setlists peppered with new originals and cover songs that he’d seldom revisit. Fuller’s Piedmont blues classic is provided a spry acoustic setting here, with Gallagher’s inspired vocals rising above his elegant fretwork. The Big Bill Broonzy song “Banker’s Blues” is cut from similar cloth, Gallagher’s half-spoken vocals accompanied by melodic harmonica, subtle piano, and filigree acoustic guitar. Deuce’s “In Your Town” closes the set with a booger-rock frenzy driven by Martin’s rollicking keyboards and Gallagher’s stinging, energetic guitar solos.

While he never built more than a cult following stateside during his lifetime, Gallagher nevertheless forged an influential and modestly-successful career, releasing eleven studio and three live albums over roughly 20 years as a solo performer. Gallagher died of complications from a liver transplant in June 1995, but his unassailable catalog of music influenced artists as diverse as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, and Joe Bonamassa, among many others. In the wake of his death, Rory’s brother Dónal has kept the guitarist’s legacy alive with a steady stream of high-quality live and archival releases. He may have dug deep into the vaults to find the performance featured on Cleveland Calling, Part 2 but it’s a worthy addition to the artist’s canon and a necessary addition to the collections of Rory’s avid fans. Grade: A

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