(Gibson) When Rory Gallagher left us in 1995, he also left behind a rich body of work. From hard-hitting blues to tender acoustic music to R&B to Celtic influences, Gallagher was an engaging performer and an astonishingly gifted guitarist. His discography includes well over a dozen albums, between power trio Taste (beginning in 1969) and his solo works (from 1971's self-titled album to 1990's Fresh Evidence), but hardcore fans have long known about a mysterious lost record, an album which was recorded in the late '70s but never released. That album has now seen the light of day as Notes from San Francisco via Eagle Rock Entertainment.Gallagher said in 1992 that he would be happy to release the material some day, provided it was remixed, but it took until this year for Rory's brother (and tour manager) Donal Gallagher to let the recording out into the world.
"Rory had always harbored the ambition to make an album in the States," Donal says. "Through the early part of the '70s with Polydor that dream hadn't come to fruition, so when he switched labels in '75 to Chrysalis, he had two albums that were a strong success but weren't what you'd call chart breakthroughs."
Rory had worked with a producer for the first time on Calling Card – Roger Glover of Deep Purple, in fact – but wasn't entirely happy with the mix of that record, so the idea of tracking the follow-up in America was flown up the pole. Chrysalis had been working with producer Elliot Mazer (Neil Young, Janis Joplin, Frank Sinatra) on a few other acts, and it just so happened that Mazer and Rory had hit it off during the final Taste tour a few years earlier. more on this story
