Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM
The blues was never very far from Gary Moore’s life, no matter what he played his love for Peter Green and Eric Clapton was a constant.
From the early days of Skid Row, through to his time with Colosseum II, Thin Lizzy and onto his solo career his talent to make a guitar sing was almost supernatural. After years being a heavy metal hero, his return to the blues caused some to scratch their heads, thinking he’d turned his back on his fanbase but the success and heart behind ‘Still Got the Blues’ was validation that he’d made the right choice.
Free of having to be something that his heart was no longer in, the album was a rebirth for the Belfast boy, his authenticity shone and this change of horses proved to be the right thing to do. Never someone to be restrained by expectation, his sudden moves into the experimental with ‘Dark Days in Paradise’ and ‘A Different Beat’ and back into rock with Scars saw him stretch his creative wing but his first love was always calling for him.
2001’s ‘Back to the Blues’ does just what it says on the tin, Moore digging deep and pouring his soul into the project as his playing is reinvigorated after the break into other spheres. This wish to go back to his roots is no better illustrated than by the stripped back into to opener ‘Enough of the Blues’, its purposely tinny sound bringing to mind the early rough recordings by Robert Johnson before it springs into life. A ballsy and upbeat blues rocker, it’s a fervent and stinging declaration of intent.
As the album progresses the guitarist encompasses blues in all it’s forms, from the brassy BB King swagger and swing of ‘You Upset Me Baby’, the urgent skittering R&B of ‘Cold Black Night’ and the languid charms of ‘Pictures of the Moon’, a track that sounds like the close cousin of ‘Parisienne Walkways’. Two covers are thrown into the mix also with Johnny Watson’s vibrant ‘Looking Back’ and a respectful and loving take on the Billie Holiday classic ‘Stormy Monday’ that’s one of the album’s highest peaks.
Always a master on his six-string, Moore really shows his chops to great effect here and the album contains arguably two of the finest things he’s ever recorded in the shape of ‘The Prophet’ and ‘Drowning in Tears’.
The former is a majestic instrumental, slow and thoughtful in the mould of Clapton’s ‘Edge of Darkness’, the latter an epic nine minute atmospherically loaded workout that brings the best of Slowhand and Mark Knopfler into one staggering whole that stamps Moore’s very individual authority all over it.
With a single edit of ‘Pictures of the Moon’ and scintillating live versions of ‘Cold Black Night’ and ‘Stormy Monday’ as bonus tracks, it all adds up to his greatest work since ‘Still Got the Blues’. A worthy and necessary purchase to the collection of any aficionado of either the blues or Moore, this is a welcome reminder of just what a huge and natural talent he was.
Double vinyl / CD / Digital
