Books of Rory Gallagher

[Jay Jay]

Not a clue RoryfanBrisbane and silly comments, on the contrary ..
Would I be working here as a moderator for Donal and Daniel Gallagher and write silly comments and untruths??

Donal Gallagher this year 2011 Interview again .. about writing his own book and his disgust at Gerry's Riding Shotgun book ..

Donal Gallagher: Yeah, I’ve got a lot of it written down, very much in story form. There’s just so much to write. If you get interrupted, it is so difficult to come back. This album took over my life, and I just haven’t gone back to writing any more of it.
It’s one of those things. I’m totally better as a storyteller sitting up at a bar than I would be writing it down. I know I could work with somebody to do it. It’s something I must get done. We’ve even been talking about a film about Rory, to try to get a look of him as a younger person or whatever.

With the books that are out there, Jean-Noel Coghe is a French writer, so what you’re reading is a translation into English. In some parts it isn’t quite a true translation. and then "RORY'S BASS PLAYER wrote a book, but it was an ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL book to be honest"..

THE LESS SAID ABOUT THE BOOK THE BETTER!

So a good biography has to come.
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PS. If I write anything that is not correct and needs correcting, Donal or Daniel will contact me and tell me .. to put the record straight ok

[Micky]

I remember thinking when Rory died back in June 1995 that someone who was close to him should get there memories down in print while it was all still relatively fresh in there minds, i was actually thinking of Gerry McAvoy has it happens?.

Years later Gerry publishes RIDING SHOTGUN WITH RORY GALLAGHER and by and large it's a good read, it fills in several gaps in my knowledge on Rory which is a good reason to read it.

The years before Rory died were pretty lean years on information about Rory (the Internet hadn't really got going then) there was a book published in 1987 about the Irish music scene of the 1960s & 70s that features Rory & Taste but other then that not much else even his albums were hard to track down for along time!.

[Micky]

Recently i read about that 'incident' back stage with Rory, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Lennon & Tom O' Driscoll at a Jerry Lewis concert in the mid 1970s, i first read about it when Rory was relating in an interview years ago but recently i read the same story and Rory has been AIR BRUSHED OUT theres NO mention anymore of Rory in the story just JERRY LEE LEWIS & JOHN LENNON!.

The story now reads like John Lennon walks into Jerry Lee Lewis dressing room and goes straight down on one knee and tells Jerry Lee that he's the ''KING of ROCK & ROLL'' end of story!. NO mention of the MAN??.

I think i may have read it on something about Jerry Lee Lewis cos i'm a fan of Jerry's.

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKING GOING ON!.

[Doug]

I've read all three prominent books mentioned in this thread. Here is my take:

The biography by Jean-Noel Coghe in my opinion was written by a fan trying to pump up his own ego by recounting his experience of supposedly being somewhat close to Rory. Basically a joke.

Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer, and Trower by Dan Muise was good; like someone said not exclusively about Rory but a lot of it devoted to him. Worth the time.

Riding Shotgun by Gerry McAvoy in my opinion was a very entertaining read filled with a lot of good stories about the years on the road with Rory. I think to say otherwise would not be telling truth. However, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, it is filled with many historical inaccuracies as Jay Jay pointed out, some of which apparently offended the Gallagher family. This is no trivial thing. I myself know personally of a few historical mistakes in that book based on first-hand knowledge and I'm not even that close to things. So yeah, the book has some serious problems but the fact that I remember it best of the three tells me that it was a worthwhile and entertaining read.

Just my opinion, and as they say about auto fuel economy claims in America, "your mileage may vary."

[Micky]

An intersesting book if you can find it is a book called BLUES-ROCK EXPLOSION Vol.1. Although not dealing solely with Rory it features a fairly LARGE chapter on TASTE and the first couple of studio albums RORY GALLAGHER & DEUCE.

Another book that features TASTE & RORY amongst a whole host of British bluesmen is a book called BLUES-THE BRITISH CONNECTION first published around 1986 by a guy called BOB BRUNNING the ORIGINAL bass player in PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC before he made way for JOHN Mc VIE.

A third book that features RORY & TASTE is a book about the Irish music scene during the 1960s & 1970s that was published back around 1987 but i can't recall the authors name but there is a fair amount written on people like RORY, PHILL LYNOTT, GARY MOORE, ERIC BELL, BRUSH SHELDS and bands like TASTE the early THIN LIZZY with ERIC BELL/PHILL LYNOTT & BRIAN DOWNEY, HORSESLIPS & DR. STRANGELY STRANGE and Irelands 'progressive rock' scene in general of the late 1960s & early 1970s.

[Rosemarie]

Another book with Rory content is 'Cork Rock' by Mark McAvoy (no relation, I presume). I have only glanced at it briefly, so I don't know the whole content of the article on Rory, but maybe worth a look. It's available on Play.com. Rosemarie

[Johnbox73]

Don't think anyone's mentioned this one yet...
http://homepage2.nifty.com/maybe_i_will/ultimate-e.html

if you don't have it, and you like Rory, you MUST get it!

John W

[Simone67]

Hi John W,

...it looks like a very interesting book, but 80 !!! Euro ?!? Ppphhhhh.....

[Micky]

It wasn't a book but the Irish music magazine called HOT PRESS published a massive tribute edition to Rory in June 1995, i did manage to buy a copy but can't find it amongst all my other rock music publications?.

[BIBI]

FYI, apparently Jean-Nöel Coghe has written a new book with the title “Rock in Cork”. The following info is in French:
(http://www.patfraca.com/Mai-2011.html) (http://www.patfraca.com/Rory-Gallagher- ... -Cock.html).
The book is currently not available at amazon.uk (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rory-Gallagher- ... 753&sr=1-4) neither at Amazon.fr (http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?_ ... ck+en+cork).
The editor is Pourparler éditions in France and it came out on 6th June 2011....! (same date as NTSF...)
Best regards from Brussels, Bibi.