Wild Frontier is the sixth solo studio album by Irish guitarist Gary Moore, released in 1987. His first studio effort after a trip back to his native Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1985, the album contains several songs about Ireland and even the music itself is steeped in Celtic roots. The album is dedicated to the memory of Moore's close friend and former Thin Lizzy bandmate Phil Lynott, who died on 4 January 1986, with the words "For Philip" on the rear cover. Wild Frontier contains the hit single "Over the Hills and Far Away", which reached #20 in the UK, as well as a cover of the Easybeats' song "Friday on My Mind". The Max Middleton-penned "The Loner" was originally recorded by Cozy Powell for his Over the Top album in 1979 (on which Moore performed, albeit not on Powell's recording of "The Loner").
This live album, recorded circa 1980 at London's Marquee Club, is a mixed bag, featuring material from Gary Moore's 1979 solo album "Back on the Streets" and his band project G-Force. Most impressive, perhaps, is the incredible musicianship in this performance from Moore and drummer Tommy Aldridge. Besides rocking out with "Back on the Streets" and "Run to Your Mama," the band locks into a great groove on "She's Got You." But they reach an absolute peak with a beautiful rendition of Moore's first U.K. hit, the instrumental ballad "Parisienne Walkways," a melody so lovely that Moore plagiarized himself 12 years later, tweaking it only slightly to create his hit "Still Got the Blues."
Skid Row was a Dublin based blues-rock band of the late 1960s and early 1970s, fronted by Brendan "Brush" Shiels. It was guitarist Gary Moore's first professional band. Not to be confused with the platinum-selling glam metal miscreants active in the late 1980s, the original Skid Row blazed a much overlooked trail some 20 years prior, as one of Ireland's earliest contributors to the hard rock field.
After a brief return to his hard rock roots in 2002's Scars, guitarist Gary Moore comes back to the blues where his heart seems to be. But really, Moore's forte is his knack of combining the meaty licks and rugged tone from his gutsy rock to energize the electric blues music he has embraced since 1990's Still Got the Blues. To that end, Scars' drummer Darrin Mooney returns and Bob Daisley, veteran of such thundering outfits as Ozzy Osbourne's band, Uriah Heep and Rainbow, joins on bass. Hence this album's title is appropriate, since the power trio format pounds out this music with clenched-fist authority. Moore is an exceptionally tasty musician but even when the amps are turned up to eleven, as they are for most of this disc, there is feeling in his fiery licks…
Rockin' Every Night – Live in Japan is a live album recorded by Gary Moore at Tokyo Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan in 1983, during the Corridors of Power tour. Despite being released in Japan in 1983, it was not given a European release until 1986. The 2002 CD reissue included three live tracks recorded at the Marquee, London on 26 August 1982, originally from a bonus EP included with the first 25,000 vinyl copies of Moore's earlier album Corridors of Power.
Although not billed that way, this live DVD finds guitarist/band leader Moore backed by his Scars group of Cass Lewis on bass, and drummer Darrin Mooney. Recorded without overdubs or additional sweetening at a single Monsters of Rock gig in Sheffield, England on May 21, 2003, this is the video equivalent to the previously released audio CD. As such, if you have a choice, it's preferable, since the audio is mixed into startling 5.1 surround sound, which provides an even more explosive and live feel to an already intense, and very loud show. The camera work, which eschews the MTV style of quick cutting, is very good. It captures the performance from a variety of angles, focusing on Moore's guitar and generally making the watcher feel like they are on-stage with the band….
A Gary Moore box set titled Blues and Beyond has been set for release on Nov. 24. A press release for the album describes it as a “remarkable collection of his powerful and emotive blues studio recordings” and a fitting tribute to the Irish guitarist, who died in 2011.