Eagle Rock Entertainment is doing their damnest to make sure that the legacy of the late Irish guitar legend Rory Gallagher is not forgotten, with a string of CD, DVD, and Blu-ray archival releases over the last five or so years being offered to a loyal fanbase. Irish Tour '74 is the movie documentary of the landmark live album of the same name, and you really have to give credit to filmmaker Tony Palmer for even attempting such a project back in 1974 on an artist who really was quite far from being a household name at the time. Of course, here in 2011, most folks with any knowledge of the 70's rock scene appreciate just how much of a legend & talent Rory Gallagher really was, despite never attaining the superstar status of many of his contemporaries.
Irish Tour '74 is a great look at the tour that took place that year, and not only do you get blistering live versions of tracks such as "Tatoo'd Lady", "A Million Miles Away", "Walk on Hot Coals", and "Cradle Rock", all tremendous blues rock excursions, but there's plenty of fascinating backstage footage as well. Here, you get to meet the guitarist and hear him talk about his main passion in life, the guitar. It's also quite sad to see such a talented band, minutes after coming off the stage to screaming hordes of fans, basically having to 'slum' it out in tiny, bare bones dressing rooms, in one instance the four musicians having to share a sink to wash themselves off after a sweaty performance, then sitting around sipping Guinness and talking about the show.
Bonus material includes a great documentary of the 1972 Irish tour, done by Bill Keating. Performances include "Laundromat", "Toredown", and a few others. As with the 1974 footage, the band is on fire here, with Gallagher really ripping it up with some smokin' blues, rock, and slide licks. There's also some rough Japan home footage that's worth a quick watch but nothing special, and audio commentary from Rory's brother Donal and Gerry McAvoy.
Despite the age of the source material, Eagle Rock has done a wonderful job of delivering this in high definition Blu-ray, and the sound is just superb. Another great archival release of the late, great Rory Gallagher from the fine folks at Eagle Rock.
Track Listing
- Walk in Hot Coals
- Tattoo'd Lady
- Who's That Coming
- A Million Miles Away
- Going to My Home Town
- Cradle Rock
- As The Crow Flies
- Hands Off
- Bullfrog Blues
Bonus Material:
Music Maker Documentary
1974 Japanese Tour home footage
Audio commentary by Donal Gallagher & Gerry McAvoy
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