Taste: What's Going On - Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 - Release Date: 18 September 2015 (DVD, Blu-ray, Vinyl & CD), I'll Remember (Taste: Four CD Box Set) & The Final Split

Rory Gallagher's comprehensive story is finally being brought up to date. I'm pleased that Taste's performance at the The 1970 Isle Of Wight Music Festival is being released on DVD, Blu-ray, double-disc vinyl & CD formats on 18 September 2015. Any review of Rory's life, music and unique guitar playing would remain imbalanced and incomplete without footage of the seminal and inspirational music Rory created and performed at the outset of his career with Taste. I was fortunate at sixteen years old to be at the festival with my older brother and witness Taste's performance. From the opening riff of "What's Going On" Rory and Taste (Richard McCracken on bass and John Wilson on drums) had the crowd enthralled.

The extraordinary power, dynamism and breathtaking improvisation created by Taste, and Rory's magnificent and emotional guitar playing, was a shot in the arm - mid-afternoon - after some uninspiring performances from preceding artists. Taste were buoyant and their stellar performance generated a spirited and sincere rapport with the large crowd. Each song of their set was followed by a storm of applause. I'm disappointed that no footage of Taste performing 'I Feel So Good' is available. Rory's innovative and singing guitar sound reached a 'peak' on this song during their performance. Moreover, the bass and drum solos by Richard McCracken and John Wilson are sadly absent from the film. The fact that the tracks asterisked below contain incomplete, duplicated, or mostly crowd footage during the performance is also a disappointment.   

 Tracklisting DVD / Blu-Ray
What’s Going On

Sugar Mama
Morning Sun*
Gambling Blues
Sinner Boy
Same Old Story*
Catfish Blues

Tracklisting CD / Vinyl
What’s Going On
Sugar Mama
Morning Sun
Gambling Blues
Sinner Boy
I’ll Remember
I Feel So Good
Catfish Blues
Same Old Story
Blister On The Moon 

Fans of Taste and Rory Gallagher will welcome the bonus features which include a film on the history of Taste and three tracks from the German TV series Beat Club: 'Morning Sun', 'It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again' and 'If The Day Was Any Longer.' I believe, however, that the P3 music promo videos for 'I’ll Remember', 'What’s Going On' and 'Born On The Wrong Side Of Time' are artistically banal in visual & narrative style, and, instead of enhancing the music, get in the way of it.

The successful performance of Taste at the Isle of Wight in 1970 established Rory Gallagher as a prodigious talent and a charismatic and passionate guitar player. Just as the popularity and fame of Taste was increasing with audiences, record buyers and critics, only an "inner circle" knew that the atmosphere within the blues/rock trio and its management was beset with dissatisfaction and sustained tensions. Given that Taste were still producing memorable live performances, receiving rave reviews in the music press, most of their fans had no knowledge, or reason, to think that disharmony was tearing the group apart. 

Rory was just twenty two years old in 1970. Taste had achieved considerable success in Europe and were attracting a growing audience with each passing gig and day. I remember reading the cover of Melody Maker in September 1970 and trying to take in the shock announcement: "TASTE SPLIT". What had caused the early disintegration of a supreme rock and blues trio led by Rory Gallagher, a rare talent and musical genius?

 

The vast majority of Rory's fans were not privy to the anxieties and problems that beset Taste, their management, agents, record company, or the mindset of group members on the cusp of success. What I do know is that the unpredictable demise of Taste ended with a short lap of honour which included concerts in Belfast and Dublin. The music and magic were still present. Fans watched and listened to "three" gifted musicians playing to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion.

The burden of leading a band brings great physical and psychological demands and can be exhausting to a passionate, sensitive artist whose own life places great value on integrity, honesty and commitment. I'm just glad that Taste existed and, in Rory Gallagher, produced a genuine musical legend who played in his own unique style with grace and passion, and enriched the lives of so many people worldwide. Moreover, Rory remains an inspiration for successive generations of guitar players. Daniel A. Muise's book: 'Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer and Trower: Their Lives and Music' provides, through interviews, a kaleidoscope of memories of Rory's life, music, and premature death which, at times, is difficult to read without experiencing profound sadness.

A four CD Box Set titled I'll Remember containing 'remastered' versions of Taste's studio albums Taste and On The Boards (as well as bonus tracks) will be released on 28 August 2015. The box set contains previously unreleased 'live' recordings from Stockholm’s Live at Konserthuset (1970), "Off-Air" recording at the Paris Theatre, London (1970) which includes blistering and dynamic renditions of 'I'll Remember' and 'Railway and Gun', and the Woburn Abbey Festival (1968); also, demos recorded in Belfast (1967) and sleeve notes with rare and previously unseen photographs. I'm thankful to have the 'original' vinyl albums of Taste I purchased in Belfast in the late '60s and early '70s and which still take 'pride of place' in my record collection. 
I believe that Rory Gallagher's musical career, at times, lost impetus and direction (similar to all established musicians), and his singing voice periodically wavered in its emotional resonance (due in part, to relentless tour schedules, long set lists, and the impassioned and organic nature of each performance). Sadly there was never to be the likelihood of Rory performing, during his solo career, any of the classic, timeless songs he composed and recorded with Taste which still touch the emotions in profound and unexpected ways.    

Re-issuing and re-packaging Rory's music is to be welcomed and will undoubtedly attract new listeners to his music and guitar playing. Words cannot do justice to Rory's looser live performances where the magic and the music really happened.

Rory Gallagher Official Site