Artist: Gallagher, Rory
Label: Sony BMG
Released: 1976
Rating: 4/5
Calling Card is Gallagher’s eighth studio album, on which Rory keeps drifting away from traditional blues rock frameworks. Though blues remains the main ingredient of the guitarist’s message, influences of folk, country and, in the case of Calling Card, above all jazz elements are poking out of the background ever more boldly. Like plenty of his six-string colleagues, Rory, hungry to move his sound forward, turns this time for help to a seasoned old cat who harbors no illusions about making quality music. With Roger Glover at the helm of production, Gallagher finally gets the perfect partner for developing his trademark guitar monologues even further, spiced with the tireless and always entertaining chatter of Irish dialectics.
It would be unfair, amid all this praise for the cohesion of Rory’s band, not to mention the two gents who carry a big share of the responsibility for the quality work of Gallagher’s troops. Gerry McAvoy and Lou Martin have tuned in to each other beautifully over three years of playing together. With their obvious devotion they form a solid foundation that lets Gallagher stretch to the very limit of his abilities. With the help of the ever-reliable Rod de’Ath, the trio turns Calling Card into a thrilling musical primer that is also the final chapter in the story of Gallagher’s classic lineup.
Calling Card kicks off with the choppy rhythm of Do You Read Me, hinting at a new direction in Rory’s musical explorations. A quickly noticeable, more radical shift toward harder melodic patterns turns this exciting opener into yet another classic Gallagher masterpiece. Its total opposite is Country Mile, a lively, easygoing boogie woogie where Rory tests his clowning chops by impersonating some Texas farmhand. None of these “showman” elements would come through at all, though, without the guitarist’s instantly infectious slide, which once again stirs up instincts of a rather more perverse sort in us. Next comes Moonchild, a perfect example of the new sound Rory was aiming for when he brought Glover on board. A heavy hard rock frame where jazz elements graze brings a heaping helping of intricate melodic phrases, spiced with brilliant guitar passages that Gallagher once again shakes out of his sleeve without breaking a sweat.
Gallagher hands the title track over to his jazz fantasies, marked by a stunning interplay of guitar and piano, over which he once again addresses us with fun lyrics. An atypical Rory Gallagher creation, it remains one of the album’s best songs. A shame, since this unique track will probably never reach the status of Rory’s greatest classics. One of those is undoubtedly the melancholy of Edged In Blue. One of Rory’s most emotional pieces, it offers some of the most intimate glimpses into the guitarist’s inner world. The gorgeous melody, in its soft delivery, recalls the loneliness of Million Miles Away. Unforgettable! Now back to the seductive grime of blues rock. Secret Agent, with its true hard rock swagger, brims with distorted riffs and hot-blooded slide solos that, together with de’Ath’s aggressive rhythm, build to an emotional eruption. Just as determined, but this time with a slower funky groove, Jack – knife Beat showcases all of Gallagher’s musical qualities. This lively track builds its framework around Martin’s piano, letting Gallagher hop carefree from one exciting motif to the next. After all this looseness, even the acoustic Barley And Grape Rag, which Rory recorded right in the studio’s dining room, doesn’t surprise us. The intimate atmosphere the song creates, with all its warmth, once again speaks of the boundless love Gallagher had for music.
Calling Card proves that Rory Gallagher has long since stopped being just a blues guitarist killing boredom by replaying dusty guitar licks. With a thrilling genre mix he showed he’s not afraid to experiment. Quite the opposite: Calling Card today shows Gallagher at the peak of his powers.
Lineup
Rory Gallagher: vocals/guitar
Gerry McAvoy: bass
Lou Martin: keyboards
Rod de’Ath: drums
Production
Rory Gallagher & Roger Glover
Track list
1.Do You Read Me
2.Country Mile
3.Moonchild
4.Calling Card
5.I’ll Admit You’re Gone
6.Secret Agent
7.Jack – knife Beat
8.Edged In Blue
9.Barley & Grape Rag
Running time: 54:02
