And of course, how else would we close this week of tribute to Gary Moore than with the last studio album he ever recorded, the last one he left us to remember him by. No more big speeches: I've written my closing comments on Gary Moore Week already, but just once more thank you all for reading, thank you to those who ensured all my posts got, well, posted, and thank you Gary for leaving us such a wonderful legacy of fine music. May you rest in peace, and rock in Paradise.
Bad for you baby --- 2008 (Eagle)
Sadly, the last album Gary recorded prior to his tragic death at the age of only fifty-eight, “Bad for you baby” doesn't
sound like a last album, but then, I'm sure it wasn't meant to be. All those Moore songs we'll now never hear. Life is cruel. Still, at least we have almost twenty studio albums to remember him by, and cliché or not, his music will never die.
The title track starts us off on this final journey, a big striding boogie rocker, wherein it becomes clear the title is not “I'm bad for you baby”, as I thought, but “I got it bad for you baby”, though in fairness either could work. Gary hooks back up with keysman Vic Martin, who added so much to his previous album, “Close as you get”, and bassist Pete Reese, but there's a new guy on the drumstool, in the shape of Sam Kelly. He rocks out goodstyle on “Down the line”, which has an almost hoe-down feel about it, though a very heavy one. It certainly kicks up the tempo, which was not exactly slow to begin with!
Apart from the four covers on the album, Gary writes all the songs himself, and the first four are all his creations, with the blues cruncher “Umbrella man” next up, with a real Hendrix vibe and a slice of Clapton in there too. Things slow down for the first time with the easygoing, Smokey Robinson-like “Holding on”, with a nice relaxed melody, some good organ from Martin. Muddy Waters' “Walkin' through the park” gets a nice outing before the longest track on the album by quite a way hits in.
At ten and a half minutes, “I love you more than you'll ever know” is another cover, this time by Al Kooper. It forms something of the centrepiece of the album, a long, lazy, beautiful blues ballad that gives Gary the space to shine in what would sadly be his final performance, at least on CD, and he certainly wrings every last ounce of emotion and pathos out of the song. Back to short and fast blues rockers then for “Mojo boogie”, with another Muddy Waters standard covered in “Someday baby”, after which we're fittingly left to close on three Moore originals.
The first, “Did you ever feel lonely”, is a big blues ballad, the kind Gary became famous for and identified with, and which sounds like it could have come straight out of Memphis or Chicago or New Orleans. Great backing again on the organ by Vic Martin, and frenetic fretwork from Gary, then “Preacher man blues” is a blues shuffle with some pretty fine harmonica from Gary. I've spoken before of the unintentional prophetic nature of the closer, the lazy blues “Trouble ain't far behind”, and of course it's just a coincidence, but it's tragically interesting to note that this was, if not the last song Gary wrote, certainly the last he released. Three years later he would be taken from us. So sad, so painful.
As a closer you couldn't really ask for any better. It has drama, power, melancholia and slightly bitter anger all rolled up inside it, and a wonderful guitar solo from Gary alongside some very effective and emotional organ work from Vic Martin. As a swansong, a farewell and a final legacy, “Trouble ain't far behind” is as good as you could want, or hope for. While the album is far from perfect, and didn't even get into my top ten, it has some great tracks on it, and is a fitting end to a stellar career that spanned almost forty years and left us with some of the most amazing music, and certainly in my case anyway, a new appreciation for the blues.
TRACKLISTING
1. Bad for you baby
2. Down the line
3. Umbrella man
4. Holding on
5. Walkin' through the park
6. I love you more than you'll ever know
7. Mojo boogie
8. Someday baby
9. Did you ever feel lonely?
10. Preacher man blues
11. Trouble ain't far behind
Postscript: if it's not deemed disrespectful (which is of course not my intention) I'd just like to finish with two very witty and appropriate comments I saw online concerning Gary:
Justin Bieber: "God told me to bring music to the world".
Gary Moore: "I said no such thing!"
and
"I wish everyone would stop comparing Gary to God. I mean, come on! He's good and all, but he's no Gary Moore!"
Adios amigos...
