Saturday, February 12, 2011

Gary Moore - Wild Frontier (1987) [2003 Virgin Remaster]



GARY MOORE

1952-2011

On Sunday 6th February 2011 musician Gary Moore died in his sleep of a heart attack while on holiday in Spain.

Acknowledged as one of the finest guitarists that the British Isles has ever produced; Gary Moore’s career dated back to the sixties. Moore graced the line-ups of several notable rock bands including Thin Lizzy, Collosseum II and Skid Row, to name but three, and to this year maintained a highly successful solo career.





Format: flac + cue + log
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 1987
Label: Virgin Records




Gary Moore - guitar, vocals

Neil Carter - keyboards, vocals

Bob Daisley - bass


The drums are sequenced with a drum machine, but the programming is uncredited in the liner

notes of the album
Additional engineer: Chris Porter.
Additional producers: Pete Smith, James "Jimbo" Barton, Mike Stone.


Wild Frontier is a 1987 album by Gary Moore. His first studio album after a trip back to his native Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1985, this album has several songs about Ireland and even the music itself is steeped in Celtic roots. The title track was intended to be sung by Phil Lynott, however Lynott's death in January 1986 prevented that. The album is dedicated to the memory of Phil Lynott, with the words "For Philip" on the rear cover. This album contains the hit "Over the Hills and Far Away", which reached #20 in the UK as well as a cover of the Australian band The Easybeats' hit of the middle of the 1960s, "Friday on My Mind".

"Over the Hills and Far Away" was covered by the Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish on their 2001 EP of the same title, and Swedish viking metal band Thyrfing on their album Urkraft.
This album attempted to repeat the pop-metal formula of Gary Moore's 1985 album, Run for Cover, but falls short for various reasons. First, the songwriting wasn't quite up to par and except for "Over the Hills and Far Away, the title track, and "The Loner" - a beautifully moody guitar instrumental, Moore seemed to be going through the motions. Second, and most fatal was the decision to use a drum machine throughout the album; a failed experiment which just plain sounds wrong. Still, this is hardly a bad record, just slightly disappointing. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

UK remastered reissue of the Irish guitarist's 1987 album includes three bonus tracks, 'Loner' (Extended Mix), 'Friday On My Mind' (12 Inch Version), & 'Out In The Fields' (Live). Virgin. 2003.


Allmusic Album Review: Billboard

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