I haven’t seen this mentioned here yet – a recent documentary from the Gallagher family broadcast on RTÉ and BBC NI (but presumably not BBC nationally). It’s extremely well made – a human interest doc, not one for guitar bores alone.
I’ll put the iPlayer link in the comments.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00206t5/the-rory-gallagher-story
I had already downloaded this but not watched it yet – sounds great, thanks for the reminder!
There was apparently a very good doc about Rory on RTE a few weeks back. Not sure if this is the same one or not
It will be, yes. Made by the family company Strange Music & Dearg Films, shown on RTÉ and BBC NI (whether ‘acquired’ or ‘commissioned’ I don’t know).
Just watched it and found it very enjoyable. Thanks for the head’s up. Still think Taste was the bee’s knees but I must explore some more of Rory’s later stuff. Of which there is no shortage.
Yes. Taste at the IOW festival in 1970 was definitely a highlight.
Saw Rory a couple of times post-Taste in the early ’70s and he was excellent both times.
Good doco.
Another voice advocating “do watch it, it’s very good”
I’ll look forward to that!
A guitar bore writes. Just watched this. Very nicely done and such a sad ending. I wonder what caused his depression?
I don’t know of a definitive Rory biography. Anyone? Could anyone suggest a writer to do one? Say someone who knows music and especially the Irish scene?
The same thing that he used to kill himself with, alcohol.
He died of MRSA apparently.
His liver was near dead, accelerating the infection.
I considered it once in the 90s but the moment passed. I think this documentary manages to tell the essentials of the story very well. The Irish music scene from which he came was basically Belfast and Dublin – the rest of the country was the dominion of showbands. Even in those two cities, and odd outposts around them (like Bangor, ten miles from Belfast) it was a small world for beat groups / R&B merchants / blues-boomers. As interesting as I, for one, would find a truly comprehensive book on that world, it would be commercial madness and very hard to do well at this stage. It’s glimpsed in several books – my own ‘Irish Folk, Trad & Blues’, Harry Shapiro’s book on Gary Moore, a handful of other books on ‘Irish rock’ from the 80s to early 2000s.
Drat – posted while in the middle of adding to it. In short, the doc is all we’re likely to get on his private life – so that leaves (a) his music (which you might as well listen to / watch on film as read about) and (b) the scene he came from, which was very compact – and Taste had moved to London by May 1968 anyway. Their Belfast/Bangor based career (they lived in Bangor for a year in 67-68, ten miles from Belfast) was brief – Donal Gallagher wrote a foreword on it in my small book ‘Seaside Rock’ (2001) on North Down in the 60s. There is a book called ‘How Belfast Got the Blues’ (2020), about which I’ve heard mixed reports – take a punt on it on Amazon if you wish!
This is a good book. Not just on Rory but I like the others too so I bought it. All first person anocdotes from people who knew them first hand.
Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer & Trower: Their Lives and Music (Rock Chronicles) https://amzn.eu/d/01pR3f0h
Not a specific Rory biography per se, but Gerry Mc Avoy’s “Riding Shotgun” necessarily covers quite a lot of the back story. It’s clearly ghost-written, but presented in the first person. There are a good number of reflections on Rory’s character from someone who was, at least, in the room.
Must try to catch this. We used to see Taste around the clubs and pubs in London and they were terrific. I mentioned this to a guy at a record fair once and he nearly fainted.
By the way… expect an announcement later this month about a very substantial Rory release. If you’re a committed fan, start saving, is my advice. 🙂
Will more of my previous savings go on this “very substantial Rory release” or the forthcoming Martin Carthy at the BBC 20CD set? In an ideal world, it would be nice to have both…
Tough call!
More than that Horslips box I’m still saving for?
Keep saving for the Horslips set – it’s gold standard! Though it may pain you to know that a 5CD+DVD ‘Lips set based around their BBC recordings will appear before the year’s out…
Oh, £&@k. I think I’m going to have to go on the game…
With THOSE legs?
Oh my goodness … here is that “very substantial Rory release” that Colin H tipped us off about: an 18CD + 2DVD BBC recordings set. Slated for release on 11 October. My mind is blown!
https://www.rorygallagher.com/rory-gallagher-the-bbc-collection/
I was pleased to be asked to write the booklet – 5,000-odd words featuring interviews with BBC producer Jeff Griffin, Gerry McAvoy (long-time RG bassist) and Rory peers/fans Andy Roberts, Barry Devlin, Jake Burns and Dave McLarnon.