From 1965 to 1972 a German music program titled Beat Club hosted visits from bands such as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and The Who. The bands would come on and talk a little before playing a live set. Rory Gallagher was the most frequent visitor to Beat Club having appeared four times over the course of two years, once with his band Taste and three times after playing his solo works. This CD covers three of those appearances from Rory Gallagher.

What can be said about Rory Gallagher’s music? Once you listen to it you start to see every guitar lick, every note sung, as seeds that have helped shape blues rock into what it is today. You can’t listen to this music and not hear The White Stripes or the influences of Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin. Gallagher has the one two punch of being a fantastic and innovative guitar player as well as having a voice that is powerful, emotional, and well delivered. The Beat Club Sessions captures all of that and you can’t help but admire how the entire band managed to capture such a perfect epic sound on not one but three different occasions separated by such long periods of time. There is no point on the CD that you think, “Oh okay this must have been later on in his career because it sounds so much more mature or learned.” The entire CD simply shows that Gallagher was a master of his craft.

I drove around with this CD in my car for a couple of days just listening to it over and over and then brought it in the house today and listened to it two more times on my surround sound and it’s a fantastic sounding mix. The instruments are laid out on an even plain, Rory’s vocals are sound but they don’t overpower the music, even dropping out into the background on occasion putting mood behind his words and excelling that guitar sound of his. With 12 tracks the album feels whole, possibly even longer then the run time suggests, but after you listen to it a few times you’ll start to feel the length of the album shorten and you’ll want more and more. In any case fans of Rory Gallagher will want to get their hands on this album as it is far superior to some of the older Gallagher live affairs.

Track Listing:
1. Laundromat
2. Hands Up
3. Sinnerboy
4. Just The Smile
5. I Don’t Know Where I’m Going
6. Could’ve Had Religion
7. Used To Be
8. In Your Town
9. Should’ve Learned My Lesson
10. Crest of A Wave
11. Toredown
12. Messin’ With The Kid