Gary Moore

"Scars"
(Sanctuary Records)

After about a decade on the delta, Mr. Moore amps up and tightens the grip with a brand new trio and "Scars," a Rock and Rollin' end result from the guitar great that went the way of the hills (and far away) many a midnight moon ago. Listeners expecting a retro-rock revival-well you're not entirely off. The Celtic flavored and big "Metal" sound that defined the Moore of the 1980s is certainly a thing of the past, here "retro" buys back a stake in the 1970s, less so Lizzy-like than a higher potency Creem or Grand Funk. The sound owes much to the obvious, Moore's fingers flying and still plenty dirty, blasting through the Blues with a fiercer strike of the strings ("Wasn't Born In Chicago" serves an outstanding teeth clenching example) and Moore's ground level and still gritty voice; but it's the band that brings together the fuzzed up, dumbed down classic Rock style with a monumental Tsangarides/Moore production that should not, and cannot be overlooked in resurrecting from a previously muddy character, soaring new heights. The first four tracks are straight up and hard rocking, with a live-in studio rawness, Moore's fretblazing combining the potency of "future's" past and his more blues-bleeding touch of a later day. "Just Can't Let You Go" is an inspired ballad that follows. and then again, aren't they all? "My Baby (She's So Good To Me)" is typically "After Hours" Moore, still unsettled on whether to walk away or stay for another sorrow drowning round; "World Of Confusion" is the best Hendrix tune Moore's ever written; "Ball And Chain" slows to a snail's pace for a twelve and a half minute jaunt back through the bayou where he so comfortably settled all those post-"War" years; "World Keep Turnin' Round" revisits a bit o' the ol' "Crosstown Traffic" with an extra ounce of amp and seething licks-kudos to the other players, worth mentioning in the overall "Scars" scheme of things-they being Cass Lewis and Darrin Mooney on bass and drums respectively and respectable rhythmists that get the job done then punch in for another week's worth of jam kicking overtime to ably meet the level of an insatiable Moore standard. "Who Knows (What Tomorrow My Bring)" is a closing epic of about ten minutes worth of the soulful side of Moore, an exemplary musician who's done well throughout the years to reinvent and redefine the parameters of his music. "Scars" is an overall return to guitar rock and smokin' jams effectively offset by the sultry ballad, Blues and fuse, all of which finding the crafty player splitting the crossroads of present and past and giving it his mid-life best without benefit of muddy boots, bloody emeralds or stodgy folk tales.

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