Gary Moore - Back On The Streets

1978, MCA Records, MCL 1622

A1: Back On The Streets
A2: Don't Believe A Word
A3: Fanatical Fascists
A4: Flight Of The Snow Moose
B1: Hurricane
B2: Song For Donna
B3: What Would You Rather Bee Or A Wasp
B4: Parisienne Walkways

Released in 1978 Back On The Streets was the second solo album from Irish guitarist Gary Moore. Now, despite being a guitar player myself I am always somewhat wary of solo albums from guitarists. I'm not very fond of records full of technical guitar playing, often performed at the expense of actual songs. The likes of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani leave me absolutely cold. Widdle widdle widdle widdle widdle... you get the picture?

However, I've always been a fan of Thin Lizzy, and as this album contained considerable input from Moore's Thin Lizzy band mates, bassist/vocalist Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey, I had to track down a copy and give it a whirl. Thankfully, this is NOT an instrumental guitar album although it does contain some tasteful and quite listenable instrumental pieces. Moore himself lends his own vocal chords to most of the songs, but Thin Lizzy frontman and bassist, the legendary Phil Lynott, almost steals Moore's thunder with his vocal performance on "Parisienne Walkways" and "Don't Believe A Word", the latter song upon which Moore and Lynott alternate lead vocal parts. "Don't Believe A Word", of course, was previously recorded by Thin Lizzy but the version here on Back On The Streets is a slower bluesier interpretation. Lynott later revealed that this was how the song was originally conceived, and indeed Thin Lizzy played the slower version on their final "Thunder and Lightning" tour. (I'm talking the originally Thin Lizzy, not the re-formed band of recent years). 

Gary Moore sings lead on another Lynott-penned track, "Fanatical Fascists", a punchy rocky number that could have been a Lizzy song. However, to my own surprise I found that standout tracks for me were the instrumentals, both with bad puns in the titles, "Flight Of The Snow Moose" and "What Would You Rather Bee Or A Wasp" upon which Moore is able to demonstrate his guitar virtuosity. I needn't have worried about listening to a lot of widdling, both these pieces are quite tastefully musical and well constructed, with "Snow Moose" having a beautiful acoustic intro.

I can imagine this album is quite an interesting one for the collector because there are a fair number of different versions of it. Soon after this record was released Gary Moore and Phil Lynott had a spectacular falling out which resulted in Lynott's vocals being removed from the songs he sang on the album and being replaced with Moore's own. So there is one release of the album containing Phil Lynott singing and another with Gary Moore as the sole vocalist. To confuse things further, certain editions had an additional song, "Spanish Guitar", whilst certain CD editions contained the tracks in a completely different order. And then there was the Gary Moore compilation album of the same title. Talk about confusing! The record I have, however, appears to be the original vinyl release complete with Phil Lynott on vocals and bass where it matters.

Following this album Gary Moore made some heavier rock albums, then with the release in 1990 of "Still Got The Blues" he turned his back on his rock career and devoted himself exclusively to the blues. Sadly, he passed away following a heart attack in early 2011. Phil Lynott had much earlier passed away on Christmas Day 1985. This album is an interesting and thoroughly entertaining snapshot into both of their careers.

The cover artwork, by the way, shows Gary Moore supposedly being released from notorious London prison Wormwood Scrubs. We can overlook his dubious fashion sense (that white jacket and those white shoes) as it was the 1970s, after all!

The Old Grey Whistle Test sessions in the videos below show "Gary Moore & Friends" playing songs from Back On The Streets and also feature Scott Gorham on guitar and Cozy Powell on drums.