The place has been oversold and people are squeezed in with a shoe horn. No place to sit, so we make our way to stage front center, bottom level and get into the rum (smuggled in in my work boot) and beer. I spot Paul and Michael Fenton, who opened for Rory two nights earlier in Montreal. Brother John of "Shock" is at the next table. The boys anticipate an ass-kicker of a show and I begin to get primed. After numerous delays and over half an hour of the mob screaming Rory's name in unison, we sense the beginning is near.
Rory and band members run downstairs and onstage. Five minute standing ovation. Breaks into Shin Kicker and the place blows its top. Double Vision, off the new lp, "A song we stole from the Human League." Heh heh. "Tongue-tied feelin'/Can't see the ceilin'/You turned out the moon." Prophetic words. Wicked slide tribute to Muddy. "Tell me mama, what you tryin' to do?/You got me jumpin' like a man with the voodoo." By the fourth number the audience is deafening in its appreciation. Cleverly, Rory slips into a beautiful version of Willie Dixon's "What in the World You Gonna Do?" and I realize at that exact moment in the space-time continuum that Rory has always deserved to be considered as a great, commanding the same respect as Hendrix, Allman and Clapton.
Dec. 19, 1982: I get Jinx for my birthday. It is true! Rory has completely mastered the studio. Self-produced and perhaps the best so since Electric Ladyland. "Signal" opens the disc: "My ears hear sounds I've never heard before/Tell me what you've come here for/ I feel your signal." Eerie space station noises. E.T. call Jimi. "Easy Come, Easy Go", electric ballad: beautiful sumptuous, orchestral sound. "Big Guns": successor to the likes of 50's "Johnny B. Goode", 60's "Get Back", 70's "Brown Sugar". Dangerous adrenal rush. An instant classic. A Dillinger-esque tale of a man caught between the police and rival gangsters: "It's a long way from the pool halls/ Through the rackets and the petty crimes/You thought you were the tough one/But you've bit off too much this time/Stepped on the wrong toes/Now look who you've upset/Well you walked on the wrong turf/You've got your picture on the Police Gazette." Spikey flash lead, razor slide hypnotize like a cobra's eyes.
The title track is bossa-nova jungle rhythm time with "fat" slide and harp, too. The tune is both uncharacteristic and perfect. "Bourbon" is biographical, a story of life on the road and love lost, a surprisingly personal song: "He had the D.T.'s for breakfast/The shakes 'til noon/He packed his guitar and left his hotel room/His head is held high but his heart is at his knees." Gerry McAvoy lays down his best work ever on bass and newcomer Brendan O'Neill, the Don Knotts of Rock (apologies to Billy Gibbons) is an ace on drums.
What we have here a a red-hot master who plays traditional blues/rock without being predictable or resorting to cliche`s. No retreads here, folks. Only prime new rock'n'roll. This music is timeless. Come chase the wind with Rory Gallagher.
