Gary Moore – ‘The Sanctuary Years 1999-2004’ (BMG)

By Jim Rowland

Whether he was playing blues, blues rock, hard rock, metal or jazz fusion, Gary Moore was a virtuoso on the guitar in any situation. ‘The Sanctuary Years’ is a new five disc box set covering the four albums Moore released through that label from 1999 to 2004, and whilst all are rooted in the blues, there’s a huge amount of variety over these albums.

Throughout his career, Gary Moore was never afraid to try something new, and make a radical shift in direction. That’s certainly the case here with 1999’s ‘A Different Beat’. Now despite being a huge Thin Lizzy fan, I myself am only familiar with Gary Moore’s much earlier solo albums, so all these albums were new to me, and rather than read up on them, or even read the sleeve notes first, I decided to dive straight in with an open mind and blank canvas.

With ‘A Different Beat’, I must confess for the first 30 seconds of opener ‘Go On Home’ I thought the manufacturer had placed the wrong disc in the sleeve, somewhat taken aback by the electronic dance beat belting out of the speakers. Just in time, a familiar guitar tone and voice kicks in, and I realise it is Gary Moore after all! Of course then the penny finally drops as to the title of the album. It’s understandable that this album split opinion and received a backlash from the rock/blues purists at the time, given its pretty radical departure into the world of dance music beats, but with tracks like ‘Worry No More’, ‘House Full Of Blues’ and ‘Can’t Help Myself’, on top of those beats there’s a whole lot of blues, just presented in a different way. It’s a brave, ambitious and innovative move that works a lot better in reality than it would sound on paper, even if it does go a little too far on ‘Fatboy’. A clever, thoroughly enjoyable album nevertheless.

Perhaps Moore took note of the backlash from ‘A Different Beat’, as the next album saw him return to familiar territory and a more pure blues live band approach on 2001’s ‘Back To The Blues’, which harked back to the sound of the hugely successful ‘Still Got The Blues’ and ‘After Hours’ albums a decade earlier. Moore assembled a new band, holed up in a good live room and under the supervision of the legendary Chris Tsangarides cooked up this raw, rockin blues album in little over a month from start to finish, comprising a mixture of Moore originals and four old blues standards associated with John Mayall. Tracks like ‘You Upset Me Baby’, ‘Cold Black Night’ and ‘Ain’t Got You’ have a spontaneous energy to them, attributed to the faster pace of the recording process compared to previous albums, whilst ‘Picture Of the Moon’ has a softer feel harking back to the vibe of ‘Parisienne Walkways’. It’s a cracking blues album.

Next up, ‘Scars’ was the name given to a new three-piece project comprising Moore, Cass Lewis from Skunk Anansie, and Primal Scream drummer Darrin Mooney, who had played on ‘Back To The Blues’. With the aim of going back to the late 60’s power trio format, tracks like ‘When The Sun Goes Down’, ‘World Of Confusion’, ‘Ball And Chain’ and ‘World Keep Turnin Round’ ooze the influence of Hendrix in abundance, whilst ‘My Baby (She’s So Good To Me)’ and ‘Just Can’t let You Go’ take a more traditional blues approach. ‘Rectify’, ‘Wasn’t Born In Chicago’ and ‘Stand Up’ all have a heavier, twisted rock feel to them, incorporating elements of Jazz and funk, and quite different to anything else on this box set. Probably the most ‘rock’ album of the four here, it’s a quality listen, although Scars the project didn’t get past first base.

For me, the best of the bunch here is 2004’s ‘Power Of The Blues’. Retaining Darrin Mooney and bringing in the experience of old pal Bob Daisley on bass, this album amplified the quick, spontaneous, raw approach of ‘Back To The Blues’, with the whole thing recorded in a mere nine days with hardly any pre-production or rehearsal, resulting in a sharp-edged album brimming with raw energy. As the title hints, this is a blues album with a heavy, powerful sound, once again mixing original compositions with a smattering of covers, including a version of ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ that gives Zeppelin’s version a serious run for its money. Moore’s guitar work on this album in particular is phenomenal – just check out the jaw-dropping solo he belts out on the excellent ‘There’s a Hole’. It all seems to come together so well on this album.

‘The Sanctuary Years’ is finished off with the addition of a fifth disc which is a Blu-ray comprising an edited version of ‘Back To the Blues’ in 5.1 mix, plus a selection of audio interviews with Gary Moore around this time. You also get various trinkets including stickers, poster, postcard and replica concert ticket and each CD is housed in a gatefold sleeve with a booklet containing informative notes on each album.

It’s a fascinating journey through this particular era of Gary Moore’s career, and a timely reminder of why Gary Moore is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists we have ever seen.

‘The Sanctuary Years‘ is out now.