Gallagher Beat

Rory Gallagher's most successful albums are his live ones. He was an artist that came alive when onstage and this album covers a previously undocumented live period. This barnstorming 20-song, previously unreleased set is culled from four shows (London, Brighton, Sheffield and Newcastle) which were part of a 1977 tour across the UK in support of Rory’s then latest album 'Calling Card'. Featuring fantastic live versions of tracks from that album as well as from 1975’s 'Against The Grain' and other live favourites, has been mixed from the original multitrack tapes from the official Rory Gallagher archive and mastered for this release at Abbey Road Studios. Cover art by Irish graffiti artist Vincent Zara.

The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivaled the best old-school DJs on their own terms – keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number of groove-oriented styles featuring unmissable samples, from familiar guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects. And when the duo (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) decided to supplement their DJ careers by turning their bedrooms into recording studios, they pioneered a style of music (later termed big beat) remarkable for its lack of energy loss from the dancefloor to the radio. Chemical Brothers albums were less collections of songs and more hour-long journeys, chock-full of deep bomb-studded beats, percussive breakdowns, and effects borrowed from a host of sources. All in all, the duo proved one of the few exceptions to the rule that intelligent dance music could never be bombastic or truly satisfying to the seasoned rock fan; it's hardly surprising that they were one of the few dance acts to enjoy simultaneous success in the British/American mainstream and in critical quarters.