Gary Moore – How Blue Can You Get

Given that Gary Moore had been a productive musician and also a perfectionist who'd sometimes rework and shelve tracks that were already extremely good, it's not too surprising that some of those shelved recordings were eventually released as an album in their own right after his untimely death. Half of these songs are covers, his version of "I'm Tore Down" was already known from Gary Moore - Corridors Of Power.

As the liner notes don't tell us the recording dates (apparently for legal reasons), I've done a bit of detective work. The hypnotic/monotonous "Looking at Your Picture" features no other musicians except Roger King, who programmed much of Gary Moore - A Different Beat in 1998/1999, so the song must be an outtake from those sessions. Of all the songs on How Blue Can You Get, it's the most demo-sounding track and could have done with some additional touches.

The rest of the album is very much in the style of Gary's later blues albums. Reading the official biography by Harry Shapiro, who also wrote the liner notes for this release, you can piece together the information when the other tracks were recorded. The line-up with Gary, Vic Martin, Pete Rees and Graham Walker only existed for a short time in 2000. That means "Steppin' Out", "How Blue Can You Get", "Love Can Make a Fool of You" and "Living With The Blues" must be from that year. The other three songs were recorded with the same line-up as Gary Moore - Back To The Blues, so they either come from the album sessions or were recorded earlier in 1999 (the time that "I'm Tore Down" was played at Montreux).

The relatively short timespan covered by these recording helps to explain why "How Blue Can You Get", despite the compilation approach, works as a pretty unified sounding album and also deserves to be classified as one. "In My Dreams" is a bit too close to his big ballads "Still Got the Blues" and "Parisienne Walkways", but "Living With The Blues" is up with his best slow blues tracks, and elsewhere it's great fun to hear him tackle blues classics from the Freddie King, B.B. King and Elmore James songbooks with his typical fiery approach. The only flaw ist that it's pretty short, but the length is ideal for a vinyl LP at least.

The outer box, guitar picks, sticker, postcard and coasters aren't anything really necessary, but still nice to have for the dedicated fan and they look good in the collection, particularly if you also have the equally designed Gary Moore - Live From London set.

I would definitely welcome more vault releases. According to Shapiro's biography, there should be another recording of "How Blue Can You Get" and an early version of "You Know My Love" from the Gary Moore - Power Of The Blues sessions, and that's probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Poster, mine came with no poster...is the poster the 12x12" insert?

The 6th of February 2011 we had to cope with the loss of one of rock's greatest musicians when Robert William Gary Moore died in Málaga, Spain.

I really felt that loss.

Ever since I was first blown away by the wail of his guitar through a mixtape that my friend @antoniopedrenoguitarra recorded and gave me back in high school, I have been Gary's devoted follower, and always thought that he was one of the most versatile blues rock players out there, one of these rare cases where a perfect technique meets a wild internal fire and, together, create magic.
Also, his tone has never been matched.

I was therefore gutted by the thought that we would never again be able to get new music from the Irish genius.

So, and despite of the fair amount of live releases since his ing, to know that we were going to get a posthumous studio album from Gary Moore was great news.

As such, "How Blue Can You Get" is a collection of four cover versions and four originals that indeed helps quenching our thirst for new material.

The album's sound moves between the rougher sound of Moore's 2000s output in the great version of the title song, "I'm Tore Down" or "Done Somebody Wrong" with the more sophisticated "In My Dreams" that tries to recapture the "Still Got The Blues" and "After Hours" era feeling of songs like "Nothing's The Same" and all through them you can feel that Gary still had loads to say before his untimely death.

If not essential by any means, "How Blue Can You Get" is always a great listen, and the best way of ing Gary: through his music.

Sadly, mostly throw-away songs Gary never released when he was alive. All of these blues sets with coasters and guitar picks are a money grab by the company. There ARE great demos and unreleased studio tracks as well as some non-blues live shows that could be released, but the family is grabbing every penny they can get on these releases. How about DARK DAYS, A DIFFERENT BEAT and MONSTERS OF ROCK on vinyl?

Was a little worried after reading some of the reviews on the blue colored version about the noisy vinyl. But my orange copy is nice and quiet and sounds amazing. So great to hear some unreleased material of this blues master!

Great album, poor quality vinyl. Has a lot of surface noise.

Punchy in-your-face mastering. You can't help but play it loud. Pressing is ok, not great. Noticeable surface noise and some clicks and pops all over, but it doesn't interfere too much with the music, fortunately.

Excellent pressing of a master at work. Well worth adding to your music whether you're a fan or not.

This album kicks some serious ass. Mastering is a tad bright on track one (maybe a live studio track?), but the Dude (RIP) shreds, and sings right from the gut. This man was the real deal. Mastered from the original tapes on 180gm blue swirly vinyl. Worth it!