Unheard Rory Gallagher BBC Live Sets To See Release
The new 18-disc collection features a great deal of previously unreleased material.
A new 18-disc Rory Gallagher compilation is on the way. Rory Gallagher: The BBC Collection gathers radio sessions and concerts the Irish guitar legend performed for the network between 1971 and 1986. Roughly 75% of the material included in the massive compilation has not seen an official release before. The material was sourced from BBC archives, as well as Gallagher’s own transcription discs and off-air cassette recordings.
Highlights from the new collection include Gallagher’s 1997 Sight & Sound concert, a 1980 headlining set at Reading Festival, and a 1984 live performance from Belfast’s Ulster Hall. Some of these moments feature in a more streamlined version of the collection, The Best of Rory Gallagher at the BBC, which will be available in 2CD and 3LP formats. Also featured in the new box set are two Blu-Ray discs featuring BBC TV concerts and studio performances by Gallagher. All of the video is being released for the first time.
“Possibly the more recorded musician of the 1970s by the BBC” according to a statement from the network, Rory Gallagher’s virtuosic style has influenced artists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Queen’s Brian May, and Rush’s Alex Lifeson. Gallagher, who led the trio Taste before his solo success, died in 1995 following complications from a liver transplant. He was 47. Other significant posthumous albums of Gallagher’s work include the 2003 acoustic collaboration record Wheels Within Wheels and 2011’s Notes From San Francisco.
