In a career dating back to the 1960s he has played with bands including Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II, Greg Lake and Skid Row as well as having a successful solo career.
Moore started performing from a young age and got his first good guitar at the age of 14. In a career lasting over 30 years he has demonstrated that he is a fine musician, and his unique style of playing has adapted to very different music genres, including jazz rock jazz, blues, electric blues, hard rock, celtic rock and heavy metal.
One of his most famous non-blues records is Wild Frontier, his first studio album after a trip back to his native Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1985, this album has several songs about Ireland and even the music itself is steeped in Celtic roots. The title track was intended to be sung by Phil Lynott, however Lynott's death in January 1986 prevented that. The album is dedicated to Lynott's memory, with the words "For Philip" on the rear cover.
Wild Frontier contains the hit "Over the Hills and Far Away", which reached #20 in the UK as well as a cover of the Australian band The Easybeats' hit of the middle of the 1960s, "Friday on My Mind". The Max Middleton-penned "The Loner" was originally recorded by Cozy Powell for his Over the Top album in 1979 (which Moore did perform on, albeit not on Powell's recording of "The Loner"), but was substantially altered by Moore for his own recording, thus he was credited as a co-writer.
For blues fans, Moore's best recorded, live performance on video is "LIVE BLUES" recorded in a small night club in London and was released in 1992 on VHS. It is now available on DVD as well. "LIVE BLUES" also features two songs with B.B. King appearing on stage with Moore. "The Thrill Is Gone" on this recording is probably the best version of this, complete with More's Midnight Horns, female backup singers and dueling guitars. Many of Moore's standard songs are on this 90 minute show and were mixed better than most of the studio versions of the same tunes for a very rich and full sound. Even Moore's voice sounds better than it usually does in the studio. Moore did not seem interested in touring the United States.
Connection with Peter Green
According to numerous interviews he has given to guitar magazines, he was the protege of British Blues pioneer Peter Green, whom he had always admired ever since the Bluesbreakers days. When Green quit Fleetwood Mac and the entire music scene, he sold his famous nasal-sounding 1959 Gibson Les Paul to Moore for the same price that Moore had managed to sell his then guitar (a Gibson SG) for. The nasal sound of the neck pickup on Green's guitar was not, as used to be believed, the result of the pickup having been turned backwards, but instead its two coils had been - perhaps accidentally - reconnected in parallel and out of phase, as per the "in between" positions of a Fender Stratocaster. Moore has used this guitar in the recordings of some songs of his albums Still Got The Blues, After Hours and Blues For Greeny. Green and Moore also reportedly had a disagreement regarding what guitar the former was playing in the song "Albatross". Moore insists it was the Les Paul, because the guitar tone was particularly warm and rich in the bass, while Peter Green maintains he was using a Strat, as the vibrato in that song was not finger vibrato, but subtle tremolo arm vibrato. Up to the day of his death, Green and Moore remained good friends.
Guitars used
Over the years Gary has used numerous guitars. These include: Peter Green's 1959 Gibson Les Paul, Peter Green's 1961 Fender Stratocaster and 1950s Gibson Les Paul Junior. He has also used guitars from Charvel, Ibanez, Hamer, Jackson and Heritage. Amplification has generally come from Marshall, though Soldanos and Fender have also been used, as well as transistor-driven Dean Markley units (especially in the studio). He also has used numerous effects over the years. these include; Delay units such as the Echoplex, Overdrive/Booster units such as the Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tubescreamer variants, Marshall Bluesbreaker and Guv'nor pedals as well as Wah-Wah pedals such as the Vox Wah. He appears nowadays to favour Gibson and Fender Guitars through Marshall amps with any of the above Overdrive pedals and Wah pedals to make his sound.
Solo career
In 1973 he released his first solo album as the Gary Moore Band. In 1979 his solo career started again with help from Phil Lynott, the combination of Gary's blues based guitar and Phil's voice produced "Parisenne Walkways" which reached the UK Top Ten in April 1979 and the no.2 album 'Black Rose'. After a series of powerful rock records Gary returned to blues music with Still Got the Blues, with contributions from B. B. King, Albert King and Albert Collins the album was well received by fans and a huge success. Gary stayed with the blues format until 1997 when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats in Dark Days In Paradise; this left many fans as well as the music press confused. Back to the Blues saw Gary return to the tried and tested blues format.
Albums
* Grinding Stone, 1973
* Parisienne Walkways, 1977
* Back on the Streets, 1978
* Corridors of Power, 1982
* Live at the Marquee, 1983
* Rockin' Every Night - Live in Japan, 1983
* Victims of the Future, 1983
* Dirty Fingers, 1984
* We Want Moore, 1984
* Run for Cover, 1985
* Wild Frontier, 1987
* After the War, 1989
* Still Got the Blues, 1990
* After Hours, 1992
* Blues Alive, 1993
* Ballads & Blues 1982-1994, 1994
* Blues For Greeny, 1995
* Dark Days in Paradise, 1997
* Out in the Fields - The Very Best of Part 1, 1998
* Blood of Emeralds - The Very Best of Part 2, 1999
* A Different Beat, 1999
* Back to the Blues, 2001
* Power Of The Blues, 2004
* Old New Ballads Blues, 2006
* Close As You Get, 2007
* Bad For You Baby, 2008
Singles
* Parisienne Walkways
* Out in the Fields
* Empty Rooms
* Wild Frontier
* Still Got the Blues
The Future (2005-present)
Later on in 2006, Gary will support BB King on his 'Farewell UK Tour'. It unfortunately did not lead to a tour of the United States with BB King.
The studio album entitled 'Old New Ballads Blues' was a follow up of 2004's 'Power of the Blues' and it featured new material as well as new versions of fan favourites 'Midnight Blues' and 'All your Love'
Gary Moore has also sold his Les Paul that was given to him by Peter Green to a private owner.
On February 6th 2011, he died from a heart attack in his sleep while on holiday in Spain.
External links
* The Official Gary Moore World Wide Website: http://www.gary-moore.com/
* The Lord Of The Strings - World Wide Gary Moore Fansite: http://www.garymoore.hu/eng.htm Thanks for the music.
Angel
Gary Moore Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She stayed with me just long enough to rescue me
And she told me a story yesterday,
About the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea
And then she spread her wings high over me
She said she's gonna come back tomorrow
And I said, "Fly on my sweet angel,
Fly on my sweet angel,
Tomorrow I'm gonna be by your side"
Sure enough this morning came unto me
Silver wings silhouetted against the child's sunrise
And my angel she said unto me,
"Today is the day for you to rise
Take my hand, you're gonna be my man,
You're gonna rise"
And then she took high over yonder
And I said, "Fly on my sweet angel,
Fly on through the sky,
Fly on my sweet angel,
Forever I will be by your side".
The opening lines of the song "Angel" by Gary Moore alludes to a divine intervention. The song describes a scene where an angel descends from heaven to rescue the singer, and in the short time the angel stayed with him, she told him a story about the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea. The singer was aware that the angel would come back for him tomorrow, and he encourages her to 'fly on' the next day. When morning came, the angel returned to take the singer by the hand, and with her silver wings, she led him to rise from his current situation to be her man - to be elevated and transformed.
The lyrics can be interpreted in a few ways, but one of them could be seen as a metaphorical tale of salvation, where the singer was saved from a difficult circumstance by a higher power (the angel). The singer is promised a brighter future, and although that future is not yet within reach, he trusts that the angel would lead him there.
Line by Line Meaning
Angel came down from heaven yesterday
Yesterday, an angel descended from heaven.
She stayed with me just long enough to rescue me
She stayed with me only to save me from danger.
And she told me a story yesterday,
Yesterday, she shared with me a tale
About the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea
It was about the beautiful love shared by the moon and the sea
And then she spread her wings high over me
She raised her wings above me
She said she's gonna come back tomorrow
She promised to return tomorrow
And I said, "Fly on my sweet angel,
I said, go on and fly, my dear angel,
Fly on through the sky,
Fly through the sky,
Fly on my sweet angel,
Fly on, my sweet angel,
Tomorrow I'm gonna be by your side"
I'll be with you tomorrow
Sure enough this morning came unto me
This morning indeed arrived.
Silver wings silhouetted against the child's sunrise
Her wings were silver as the sun began to rise.
And my angel she said unto me,
The angel then spoke to me,
"Today is the day for you to rise
Today is your day to rise
Take my hand, you're gonna be my man,
Take my hand, you'll become my protector
You're gonna rise"
You're going to ascend.
And then she took high over yonder
She flew high away.
And I said, "Fly on my sweet angel,
And then, I repeated, 'Fly on, my sweet angel.'
Fly on through the sky,
Fly through the sky,
Fly on my sweet angel,
Fly on, my sweet angel,
Forever I will be by your side".
I will always be with you.
Contributed by Kayla G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Brian Rick
Showing all the respect to jimi without wrecking it. Excellent
rpfordsr
I miss Gary ! One of the greatest to EVER strap on 6 strings or ever will. Thank you Gary for sharing with us your super talent and heart for you gave all.
Istók Nemetz
Say
Imasoulinseoul
All respect goes to two legendary guitarists.
Jimi Barnes
I'm sitting here crying. My beautiful cat, Angel, after 15 spectacular years through some of the worst times of my life was forever by my side. I had to make the hardest choice to put him asleep 2 weeks ago today. It's still raw, my heart breaks. I miss you so much. I love this cover. I miss you Jimi, I miss you, Gary, I miss you, Angel. I imagine you all together. RIP.
Space Monkey
It shows the difference between someone who plays guitar and lives guitar. Your never die you Legands as long as we remember..............rest in peace in the great gig in the sky.
Joe DeForge
He was phenomenal ,miss him. One of my biggest regrets was I never got to see him live....
Rajesh Deb
The sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea🖤
Such heavy words🙏
Elmore van dodewaard
I`m not a Gary Moore fan at all. But this is fantastic...!! His playing is untouchable. rip GM
rpfordsr
You should be a Gary Moore fan are you not a fan of the guitar or maybe you like the tuba.