Gary Moore


Gary has always been one of my favorite guitar players, even before he focused his recording efforts almost exclusively on blues. I only acquired an even bigger admiration for him as a blues guitarist. I think he's one of the most underrated and under appreciated guitarist by the American music critics and audience as evidenced by the fact that he was criminally omitted from the RS list of 100 greatest guitarist of all time (even though admittedly being on it is perhaps as irrelevant).

I was incredibly sad when I heard in 2011 that he died of a heart attack at 58. I recently learned he did a tribute to Jimmi Hendrix in 2007 and the performance was also released on vinyl. I checked most of the songs on youtube, and I'm blown away by Gary's playing Jimmi's songs. What a tremendous loss to us all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjUZ0amX4EI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUHNpBQQCoE
actusreus
Yeah, I saw Gary back when he released "Still Got The Blues" and it was a whale of a show. He is sorely missed...

-RW-
Wow, one response to such an amazing musical performance by one of the best guitarists ever. A guy playing bassoon gets more reaction. It's a shame.
The music forum doesn't see a lot of action. Gary was an amazing guitarist but no better than Ulrich Roth.
Thanks for posting, Donjr. I didn't get into Scorpions when I was a teenager until after Roth left so I don't know much about his work at all. However, an episode of This Metal Show with Roth as a guest I saw recently did make me want to explore his career a bit more.

I'm not a musician so I can't comment on the technical prowess either one of them had, but as a music lover, very few in my opinion have had the ability to play guitar like Gary did. Surely, preferences are just that, but watching his tribute to Jimi just blew me away. For example, Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of "Voodoo Chile/Child" (which is it?!) doesn't even compare to Gary's cover, in my humble option.
There's a You Tube video of Uli giving what he calls a "guitar lesson" to the Scorpions song 'Sails of Charon'. Check it out. I wasn't a big fan of his after he left the Scorpions. He did a lot of orchestral guitar stuff. His playing drops jaws regardless. After he left Scorpions he formed his own band called Electric Sun. He didn't get any traction with this band in the US but did okay in Europe and Japan. I have a couple of his albums on vinyl that I bought in Munich back in 1982 when I was vacationing there with my parents. I was just a kid but crankin' tunes was what I was into so after a full month in Europe the only thing I brought home with me was two Electric Sun albums and Rush Through Time. My friends and I knew about Electric Sun but couldn't get it here. They flipped when I came home with those albums so of course I made tapes for everyone. I hated making tapes for people because you had to sit there to pause the deck to flip the record. I mostly use CDs now and I'm trying to get myself motivated to rip my CDs so I can use a dedicated laptop as my source. I love vinyl but I'm totally done with it.
Some of my favorite Gary Moore is on the second Skid Row lp "34 Hours" released in 1971.
I would also recommend checking out the short-lived but incredible BBM (Baker Bruce Moore). Yes, Baker and Bruce from Cream! I think they only released one album, but it's great stuff.