Fans of blues-rock guitar should get ready to rob their piggy banks, hock the family dog, or sell their odds-and-ends on eBay, 'cause you're going to want to have enough cash to pony up for guitarist Gary Moore's Essential Montreux box set when released next Tuesday, July 28, 2009 by Eagle Rock Entertainment.
The five-disc special edition collector's set features some 60 songs total, representing five Gary Moore live performances from the annual jazz, blues, and rock music festival held in Montreux, Switzerland. Moore first appeared at Montreux in July 1990, a 12-song set represented by the first disc here, performing material from his recently-released Still Got The Blues album, as well as covers of classic tunes from Willie Dixon, Otis Rush, and Moore's idol, Peter Green. This set also includes a guest appearance from blues great Albert Collins on songs like "Cold, Cold Feeling" and "The Blues Is Alright."
Other Moore performances included on Essential Montreux date from 1995 (with a couple of choice Green covers from Moore's 1995 tribute LP Blues For Greeny); 1997 (a more rock-oriented set of songs); 1999 (including a haunting new version of Moore's 1977 collaboration with Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott, "Parisienne Walkways"); and 2001 (weighed heavily with great songs from that year's Back To The Blues, including covers of songs by B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, and Jimi Hendrix).
The Essential Montreux 5-CD box set works well as a sort of career retrospective for the underrated guitarist, spanning more than a decade of performances at the Montreux Festival and a lifetime of music from Gary Moore. With a MSRP of $49.98, and an effective street price of around 40 smackeroos, this is a blues-rock guitarfest that you can't afford to pass by!
