Rory Gallagher - best introduction

Pabcrane

I've heard bits and pieces from Rory but I've never bought an album. I'm going to go to the record store and was wondering if there was any suggestions or even consensus on what the best first album to get of his stuff was.

If you can't pick just one, I'll open it up to two albums

EricTheWeary

Rory didn’t like compilations but the posthumous Big Guns, there are one or two CD versions. 

Or Live in Europe for early stuff. 

mudslide73

Irish Tour. 

cruxiform

mudslide73 said:

Irish Tour. 

What he said.

EricTheWeary

cruxiform said:

mudslide73 said:

Irish Tour. 

What he said.

I wouldn’t disagree with that either. 

Philly_Q

Yeah, Irish Tour.  I also like Against the Grain, probably because it was the first of his albums I owned, a long time ago.  I don't think most of the studio albums are very strong, to be honest, but I'm sure devoted fans will disagree!

scrumhalf

On The Boards by Taste, it has everything you'd need. 

Cols

Rory was absolutely in his element on stage; head straight for the live stuff like Irish Tour and BBC Sessions.  The studio stuff is good, but the live albums are magic.

Fortunately there’s an absolute treasure trove of live footage on t’internet as well; here’s one from Rockpalast.

https://youtu.be/gQzOuvWApeA 

Redlester

Live- Irish Tour

Studio- Calling Card. 

I'd say the latter gives a good overview of what he was about, because he was a really varied and wide-ranging musician. 

guitars4you

Calling Card and Against the Grain were my introduction to Rory - Think I have all/most albums and I probably still put these two down as my go to albums - Edge in blue is well worth listening to 

scrumhalf

Watch the Beat Club Sessions on YouTube, prime Rory. 

Pabcrane

Thanks everyone!

Funkfingers

Most of my Rory collection is live performance DVDs. The Rockpalast box set spans a fair range of his career.

Pabcrane

I got the Irish Tour - very enjoyable!

I also ordered a live DVD.

Thanks for your input.  

relic245

Left field but I love top priority as a studio album. Probably not that representational of his stuff as a whole. Also blueprint is a favourite.

When all is said and done, to get a flavour of the man and his music you probably won't do better than Irish tour. 

LPManic

Irish Tour, Live in Europe. 

Fantastic concerts on YouTube as well.