Gary Moore first met Phil Lynott when he joined Skid Row in 1968, where Lynott was the vocalist, and the two soon became friends and shared a bedsit in Ballsbridge. After a medical leave of absence, Lynott was asked to leave Skid Row by the band's bassist Brush Shiels, who had taken over lead vocal duties, following which the band signed a recording contract with CBS, and they released their debut album 'Skid', which reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. After their follow-up album '34 Hours' came out in 1971, Moore decided to leave the band, opting to start a solo career. After leaving Skid Row, Lynott had formed the hard rock group Thin Lizzy, and when guitarist Eric Bell left the group, Moore was recruited to help finish their ongoing tour in early 1974. During his time with the group, Moore recorded three songs with them, including 'Still In Love With You', which he co-wrote and which was included on Lizzy's fourth album 'Nightlife' in 1974. Moore then left Thin Lizzy in April 1974, as he felt that it wasn't good for him healthwise, but in 1977 he rejoined them for a tour of the US after guitarist Brian Robertson injured his hand in a bar fight. After finishing the tour, Lynott asked Moore to join the band on a permanent basis, but he declined, although when Robertson left for good in 1978, Moore took his place once again. This time he was with them for long enough to record the album 'Black Rose: A Rock Legend', and this post includes a demo that Moore recorded for the album that wasn't included on the final track listing.
In the middle of a tour to promote the album, Moore abruptly left Thin Lizzy, as he'd become fed up with the band's increasing drug use, and the effects it was having on their performance. Between stints in Thin Lizzy, Moore had released his first proper solo album 'Back On The Streets' in 1978, which spawned the hit single 'Parisienne Walkways', which featured Phil Lynott on lead vocals and bass. After leaving Thin Lizzy in 1979, Moore relocated to Los Angeles where he signed a new recording contract with Jet Records, and recorded the album 'Dirty Fingers', which was shelved in favour of the more "radio-oriented" G-Force album, which came out in 1980. 'Dirty Fingers' was eventually released in Japan in 1983, followed by an international release the next year, and after moving to London and signing a new recording contract with Virgin, he released his second solo album 'Corridors Of Power' in 1982. While not a major success, it was the first album to feature Moore on lead vocals throughout, as well as his first solo release to crack the Billboard 200 chart. In 1984, he released 'Victims Of The Future', which marked another musical change, this time towards hard rock and heavy metal, and it also saw the addition of keyboardist Neil Carter, who would continue to push Moore in this new musical direction.
In 1985, Moore released his fifth solo album 'Run For Cover', which featured guest vocals by Phil Lynott and Glenn Hughes, and following Lynott's death in 1986, Moore dedicated his sixth solo album, 'Wild Frontier', to him. Despite the success of this album, and his next, 1989's 'After The War', Moore had grown tired of his own music, and so for his next record he returned to his blues roots and released 'Still Got The Blues', which saw him collaborating with the likes of Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison, and it proved to be the most successful album of his career, selling over three million copies worldwide. He followed it with 1992's 'After Hours', which went platinum in Sweden and gold in the UK, where it became his highest-charting entry in the UK Charts, reaching number four. After releasing a tribute album to his friend and mentor Peter Green, with 1995's 'Blues For Greeny', and experimenting with electronic music on 1997's 'Dark Days In Paradise' and 1999's 'A Different Beat', he again returned to his blues roots with 2001's 'Back To The Blues', 2004's 'Power Of The Blues' and 2006's 'Old New Ballads Blues'. This collection of demos, outtakes and b-sides spans the whole of Moore's post-Skid Row career, from that 1978 demo for Thin Lizzy, through the various line-ups and guest vocalists on his solo albums, his G-Force side-project, and his own vocal takes of the two Lynott-sung tracks from his 'Back On The Streets' album.
Track listing
01 Bad Is Bad (Thin Lizzy demo 1978)
02 Track Nine (b-side of 'Back On The Streets' single 1978)
03 Road To Pain ('Back On The Streets' outtake 1978)
04 Track Ten ('Back On The Streets' outtake 1978)
05 Don't Believe A Word (Gary Moore vocal 1978)
06 Parisienne Walkways (Gary Moore vocal 1978)
07 Spanish Guitar (single 1979)
08 The Woman's In Love (G-Force demo 1980)
09 Trust Your Lovin' (b-side of 'You' by G Force 1980)
10 Don't Take Me For A Loser (Gary Barden vocal 1982)
11 Don't Ever Give Your Heart Away (Glenn Hughes demo 1985)
12 Livin' With The Blues ('Back To The Blues' outtake 2001)
13 Oh Pretty Woman (demo 1990)
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