Gary Moore - Power Of The Blues
Sanctuary
Blues / Hard Rock
10 songs (41'27)
Release year: 2004
Gary Moore, Sanctuary
Reviewed by Marty
After a brief revisit back to his hard rock roots with the Scars album, Gary Moore is back doing what he seems to enjoy the best; playing electrified blues with a harder edge that's just bursting with lead guitar. The Scars album had a couple of blues-like songs but with Power Of The Blues, it's blues, blues and nothing but the blues. Gary has opted to continue with the power trio format of the Scars project and he's joined by fellow Scars member, Darrin Mooney on drums and veteran bass player Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Ozzy). As I've stated many times, I'm a huge fan of Gary Moore ever since his Thin Lizzy days in the late 70's. Turning his back on hard rock music after his After The War album, Gary found a new audience for his music; releasing blues based albums for the past decade and a half. Still Got The Blues, Gary's first blues album is a pretty solid album but as far as I'm concerned, Power Of The Blues just smokes that one and all others that came after. With a harder edged blues sound and lots of Zeppelin-influenced heavy blues arrangements, Gary Moore has released one of his better albums in many, many years.

Both Bob Daisley and Darrin Mooney help out with the songwriting on a couple of tracks but the rest are self-penned by Gary save from a couple of Willie Dixon numbers and one by Percy Mayfield. The title track, Power Of The Blues (co-written by Gary, Bob Daisley and Darrin Mooney) gets things cooking with a fast-paced tune with some heavy guitar riffs and a catchy Zeppelin feel especially with the bridge section that sounds a lot like How Many More Times from Led Zeppelin I. Awesome ripping and expressive leads are also a staple of this track and all others on this album. There's A Hole is a more laid back track with a slower blues shuffle and Gary delivers a solid "soulful" vocal on this one. The expressive string-bending lead guitar is stunning and reminds me a lot of Michael Schenker's lead guitar playing style. Gary's cover of Willie Dixon's I Can't Quit You Baby is actually a cover of the Led Zeppelin version found on their first album. With basically the same structure and arrangement as the Zeppelin version, Gary adds a few of his own trademarks especially with the lead guitar and ends up giving Zeppelin a run for their money as to which version is better. Getaway Blues (co-written by Gary, Bob Daisley and Darrin Mooney) is a slower paced track but has a booming heavy guitar sound and the Zeppelin feel once again with the guitar sound and the ripping lead guitar sandwiched between sudden stops much like in Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Evil, another Willie Dixon track sees Gary exploring the raunchier and meaner side of the blues while tracks like Tell Me Woman, That's Why I Play The Blues and Memory Pain (written by Percy Mayfield) use a more quieter and laid back blues shuffle all the while filling in as much lead guitar and wah lead guitar as he can whenever possible! Can't Find My Baby has a more up-tempo blues shuffle to the rhythm and the album ends off with Torn Inside; a slow and very laid back track that contains some David Gilmour style (Pink Floyd) leads with lots of bends and great expression in sound.

This album's a bit short by today's standards (under 42 minutes) but there's not a dull moment on it, especially if your a blues fan or a fan of Gary Moore. This album would be a great introduction to the blues or blues-based hard rock music for most people who have never really given this type of music much attention in the past. The soulful emotion and several minutes of lead guitar on every track have captured the classic blues sound and Gary even manages a nod to the late 60's and 70's when such bands as Led Zeppelin and Creem were playing heavy blues-based rock. Gary's lead guitar playing on Power Of The Blues is as good as any performance he has given in the past and even though some of the purists may argue he's not really a "true" blues artist, think again.....Gary Moore has the "power of the blues" running through his veins now and for a long time to come yet. His original compositions capture the true blues sound of the classic artists from decades ago. Countless guitarists can get up and play the blues by covering other artists material but to write your own compositions that can stand up to the classics, that is the mark of a true blues artist.

Killing Songs :
Power Of The Blues, There's A Hole, I Can't Quit You Baby and Getaway Blues
Marty quoted 84 / 100
Other albums by Gary Moore that we have reviewed:
Gary Moore - Blues for Jimi reviewed by Stefan and quoted No Quote
Gary Moore - The Definitive Montreux Collection (DVD) reviewed by Marty and quoted no quote
Gary Moore - Scars (featuring Gary Moore) reviewed by Marty and quoted 80 / 100
Gary Moore - Wild Frontier reviewed by Chris and quoted 98 / 100
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