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Customer Reviews of On the Boards

On the Boards - a lot of tastes in addition to the blues
One of my favourite albums in my collection. I agree with some of the reviewers below that it is completely different to Taste's 1st album (maybe that Blister on the Moon on Taste I announced the future sound). On the Boards covers a greater variety of styles and moods than the former somewhat orthodox rock'n blues album. On the Boards offers fine nearly jazzy improvisations (It's Happened Before...), but also tender folk-rock tunes, sung beautifully by Rory (If the Day ..., If I Don't Sing ... etc), and of course, the hard rock guitar and bass riffs that are often used as small intros to the compositions (What's Going On and others). It is this exciting blend of influences that makes this basically blues album so outstanding. The Taste's arrangements are very simple, but still make a wonderful overall robust sound with 3 people playing 5 instruments (g, bg, ds, hca, sax). The individual tracks alternate different atmospheres: the gloomy one (the bluesy On the Boards, It's Happened Before ..), which may remind you of the gloomy dusks in Ireland), the raw one (Railway and Gun a.o.), which may remind you of the lively Irish whiskey bar, and the flashes of sunlight of the Irish summer (If the Day Was Any Longer, See Here). I think the album brings a genuine Irish sound, different to any other British or American rock'n blues bands. Definitely a 5-star album, essential to any rock'n blues lover's collection, the best way to see who Rory Gallagher was.
Just a small note to the Philip deCatanzaro' s review (just one below): I also remember that people knew quite infrequently of the Taste (even those who knew Rory's name). However, in our pack of the guys at a Prague high school in the early seventies, the Taste were very popular. And they remained so for most of us.

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Tastefully Taste - Rory Showing His Best
I was a Taste fan right from 1969 when I was just a pimply faced young guitar slinger. Although the first (green) Taste album shows a rougher edge, "On the Boards" shows how versatile Rory really was. Aside from the excellent song writing, Rory shows us his ability to play the sax and harp. The excellent bass slappin' Richard McCracken shows us his jazz influences and dynamic drumming fills from John Wilson make the title song unforgetable.
On the Boards was a better produced one than the first. The guitar sounds have better variance and the dynamics of each song come to life. Another of my favorite Rory albums is "Deuce". I am more impressed with the 3 man band Rory albums, although Blueprint and Tatoo stand out.
As I type this I remember that none of my highschool freinds new of the band Taste. I played songs from this album with my blues band then, and would not be ashamed to now. I have since met a few other Rory fans and now that I have the CD I really want them to listen to what they missed.
This has got to be the most influential albums for me as a young guitarist and continues to be a valuable part of my collection.

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Rory the musician
Rory Gallagher was a phenomenally talented musician. Although Eric Clapton is probably the best all around guitarist in the world, if you narrow the field to spontaneous rock guitar, it's a toss-up. Unfortunately, Rory's early death in 1995 forces us to say it was a toss-up. "On The Boards" is the greatest album ever recorded by Taste, lead by R.G., of course. I attended 2 live concerts by Taste in the late 1960's , while attending the Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Most of the tracks from "On The Boards" were played. The guitar work was brilliant, as expected. More impressive was Rory's ability to play two instruments at the same time. I saw and heard him play the guitar and harmonica at the same time. Both to perfection. One of his unique trade marks was to sing the same notes he was playing on the guitar in unison; like a duet. This is heard on several of the tracks, including "Eat My Words". In "See Here" we get to hear what is essentially classical guitar on his acoustic axe. Again, excellent. Probably, there was no instrument Rory could not play well, and "On The Boards" contains a solo saxophone performance as an example of that. It is world class. It was his ability to play different instruments, sometimes more than one at a time, all to perfection, that lead me to entitle this review "Rory the musician". If I could add one more track to the album, it would be "Blister On The Moon". It's dynamic Rory at his best.