Track 1 – Shin Kicker – Kind of thought of as a “biker’s anthem” but it applies to anyone who either drives some machine with an engine or someone in the music profession who is driving their instruments to the limits of their capabilities. Live for energy is off any scale, Rory in full flow and giving every ounce of energy he possesses, Gerry and Ted matching him for intensity. This comes at you like heat seeking missile, locked on target and POW!

Track 2 – Wayward Child – Another in the stable of “must play” songs in live gigs, never disappoints, always 110% of energy from Rory, Gerry and Ted, they are all complimenting each other perfectly, tight as a straight jacket, I am so sad I never saw Rory and his band live, I’d have been exhausted watching them perform.

Track 3 – Brute Force & Ignorance – Another powerhouse song, blasting at you like an explosion from a landmine, the pace never lets up – to quote a line from the song “And I could hear that music, still strolling through my mind – mind – mind – mind”, listening to the crowd roar their appreciation says it all.

Track 4 – Moonchild – A not so million miles an hour smack you between the eyes song but impressive non the less. Still a tiny bit dreamy but live gives Rory the opportunity to “go with the crowd” to dazzle them backed up by Gerry on Bass and Ted on drums holding the back door.

Track 5 – Bad Penny – the background to this is Gerry McAvoy’s seriously impressive bass, its evident to me through the entire song. Bass to me is the framework, the skeleton that everything else clings to, in a three piece band everyone has to work as one unit and Rory, Ted and Gerry were so tight musically that a breeze couldn’t have got between them. It’s a brilliant song, I’ve heard Band of Friends play this and it’s still awesome and Gerry still plays a mean bass.

Track 6 – Keychain – Rory “bent” the strings further than he had ever done before and changed the tuning on the guitar, I had never seen this done before till I watched some videos on You Tube of Rory actually pulling the strings away from the neck – the sounds he could get by doing this are totally cosmic. These sounds play havoc with my brain cells, it’s brilliant, I love the feelings I get from these sounds.

Track 7 – Follow Me – Another completely awesome song from the “must play” stable. No two show were ever the same, Rory never played from a set list he mixed it up as he felt would better suit the audience. His band may have a very rough idea of what might be played but never the order and often he didn’t say but would just start off the next song and they had 2 or 3 seconds to follow him, had to be on the ball all the time but as they were on a 9 month world tour during the making of this album, they would have been very “in tune” with each other. Its evident that everyone gave everything they had during the entire shows.

Track 8 – Bought & Sold – A tremendous song, the boys are tight, tight, tight making this an absolutely awesome live track. The audience loved it judging by the cheering and whistling that went on.

Track 9 – The Last Of The Independents – This is another blaster, comes at you like a bullet from a gun, the pace never lets up, brilliant powerhouse drumming from Ted McKenna, 2 drum solos in this, this gets the blood pumping and the heart beating like a jackhammer, excellent excellent track.

Track 10 – Shadow Play – Absolutely stonking powerhouse drumming from Ted McKenna. Phenomenal. An excellent song to finish this album on. Shadow play is inspired lyrically, I love it, Rory could keep it as short or as long as he wanted, he read each audience perfectly and knew instinctively what they wanted and for how long, plus he was having such a blast playing that he would probably have played all night, I have read of him “over running” his time, going out into the street on at least one occasion and giving an impromptu performance there, the band would have given as much of themselves as Rory did, the adrenaline pumping and giving them what the needed to keep going.

The entire album is composed of “songs from the stable”, the powerful, blindingly brilliant get the blood pumping, the heart racing, the feet moving songs, there would have been a lot of acoustic songs during this 9 month world tour but they do not appear on this album. This is a kick ass album. Has to be played LOUD for maximum enjoyment, its not an album for the faint hearted, its like I was there.

 

Leave Your Review!

 

Submit your review
1
2
3
4
5
Submit
     
Cancel

Create your own review

Stage Struck Live Album
Average rating:  
 0 reviews