Run for Cover (1985)
Certainly one of Gary's most commercial and successful albums,
Run for Cover occupies quite a high spot in my Gary Moore collection, although some of the tracks are a lot weaker than the others. It's notable of course for the hit single “Out in the Fields”, on which Phil Lynott sang with him, and the participation of other high-profile guest musicians, like Don Airey, Bob Daisley, Glenn Hughes and Paul Thompson.
It gets going with a real Floydesque keyboard run by Andy Richards, like a swarm of deadly bees getting closer and closer before Gary's familiar guitar chords snap in and he shouts
”Run!” as the song gets going. It's a great rocker, finding Gary as ever in fine voice, with great backup melody from the keys giving this opener and title track a very commercial feel, more in fact than any of his previous work. You could hear this on the radio and not be surprised. And yet it's still heavy as hell, showing that Gary knew the way to straddle the divide between commercial, radio-friendly tunes and uncompromising rock withtout falling over on either side. Great solo from him just makes this the perfect opener, and you're somewhat out of breath by the time it slams to a halt.
And there's no time to catch your breath either, as we plough right into “Reach for the Sky”, a heavier, harder rocker, with blues tones, much more down to Gary's usual style, but with a nice soft keyboard line and some almost soul moments, before the chorus explodes with the admittedly rather banal and a little cringeworthy
”Reach for the sky! / Come out with your hands up!” Good basswork and indeed backing vocals on this from Glenn Hughes, then we're into one of the standouts (already?), which actually appeared as the B-side of the single “Out in the Fields”, and is in some ways as good as the A-side. “Military Man” is a searing indictment of recruitment into the army, with vocals and bass taken by the late Phil Lynott, the song itself being one of his old Grand Slam tunes.
Played with, not surprisingly, a military drum and guitar rhythm, it's a powerful and insightful song, as Lynott sings
”Mamma take a look at your boy/ He's a military man/ Mamma take a look at your boy/ He's crying./ Mamma take a look at your boy/ He's a soldier/ Mamma take a look in his eyes/ They're colder.” The guitar from Moore, allied with Lynott's bass, goes on an all-out angry attack as the song progresses, then there's a lovely little blues intermission during which the military man in question contemplates his life and dreams of being out of the army, out of war.
”I am writing from this war/ Oh mamma, I don't know what I'm fightin' for...” It ramps back up again and ends strongly, with the inescapable conclusion that he never realises this dream. Great song, just great, and Lynott's vocals paired with Gary's squealing, protesting guitar just make it perfect.
I personally could have lived without the inclusion of another version of Gary's timeless ballad, but to be fair it's quite a different version of “Empty Rooms” we get here, and it does breathe new life into the song. Still, I already have
Victims of the Future, and this takes up valuable room that could have allowed another, original track to fill. Glossing over that then, we move on to “Out of My System”, a mid-paced rocker on which Neil Carter joins Andy Richards on the keyboards, filling out the sound, then it's another standout, and another appearance by Phil Lynott on that hit single, the bombastic “Out in the Fields”, on which both Gary and Phil sing. Opening with a synthy intro it soon kicks into life and Gary's guitar goes into overdrive, as the two legends swap vocals throughout the song. Guesting on keyboards, Don Airey paints a dramatic backdrop, with growling keys and sweeping synth passages, panic and urgency in his fingers as they dart across the keyboard.
Truly one of Gary's most intense solos features in the track, and then Lynott intones the lyric darkly, a warning, a prophecy as he growls
”They are falling/ One by one/ No flag has ever stopped/ A bullet from a gun!” The song thunders to its conclusion then on shimmering keys and a powerful guitar ending. No wonder it was such a hit. “Nothing to Lose” then is a slower, punchy, rock cruncher with lots of guitar mayhem, Carter this time solo on the keyboards. It's probably one of the few weak tracks on the album, very simple and straightforward, but not a bad track. It's followed by a real classic though, another standout.
“Once in a Lifetime” should have been a huge hit single. It has the catchy melody, tons of hooks, it's possible to dance to even, and it just bounces around inside your head like a tennis ball. It's mostly carried, it has to be said, on the powerful, anthemic keyboard line laid down by Carter, here rejoined by Richards, but of course Gary's everpresent guitar solo is there to add its own marker to the song. This could be the closest I've heard Gary's music approach AOR territory, but I have no problems with that if he could write material of this quality, as he could.
With a guitar riff surely robbed from Rainbow's “All Night Long” when Ritchie wasn't looking, and a hook half-inched from Duane Eddie's “Summertime Blues”, “All Messed Up” is another good hard rocker, with Gary at his gravelly, bluesy best vocally, but I find it a little derivative (see above) and therefore a little hard to take that seriously as a proper Gary Moore song. No such problems with the closer, the surprisingly laidback and cool ballad “Listen to Your Heartbeat”. Where Gary's ballads often tend to be big, lazy blues numbers, this bucks the trend, being again almost AOR, certainly radio-friendly, understated and sung with quiet reflective passion. It finishes the album really nicely, and again would have made a great single.
TRACK LISTING
1. Run for Cover
2. Reach for the Sky
3. Military Man
4. Empty Rooms
5. Out of my system
6. Out in the Fields
7. Nothing to Lose
8. Once in a Lifetime
9. All Messed Up
10. Listen to Your Heartbeat
Rating: 9.5/10