Rory Gallagher is a rock and roll journeyman. He makes music that skims the rock circumference from tedium to excitement, while hitting all the stops such as bland, startling, trivial, dynamic and too familiar on the way. Nothing more or less than an average five gigs a week rock 'n' roller who managed to turn his reputation into a recording contract.

Largely unknown in the United States, he once...

Rory Gallagher's love affair with his guitar has been so devoted for so long that one day it will be celebrated in an epic verse. I mean, even B. B. King betrayed Lucille with some fancy strings, and old white swaggerers like Eric Clapton and Alvin Lee are settling, one by one, into comfortable productions. No such betrayals from Rory, no such laziness; the guitar is still his passion and night...