The year was 1973 and the Irish Blues/Rock legend Rory Gallagher was really peaking as an artist. It was in this year, at the age of just twenty-five that he released his fourth studio album, Tattoo. This album was another in his rapidly growing collection, which proved him and his band’s talent, despite a constant change in drummers and keyboard-players. Rory himself wrote all the tracks on the album, with him on vocals and lead guitar and Gerry McAvoy as always on bass.

The tracks themselves were impressive, with many being included in Greatest Hits/Ultimate Collection albums, and other artists, due to Rory’s talent as a songwriter, have covered many of the tracks on the album, which also gave him many favourites for playing live on his tours. The most notable of these would probably be “Cradle Rock”, an all right song, but I thought it was a little dull and repetitive at times.

The album stuck to the Rory Gallagher that fans knew and loved by incorporating his signature blues/rock/jazzy sound. In particular the song “They Don’t Make Them Like You Anymore” was a great jazz riff and had very catchy beat, and still stuck to his rock roots with a nice little guitar solo to finish it all off. “They Don’t Make Them Like You Anymore” along with “20:20 Vision” are probably the more jazzier and light-hearted tacks on the album. While the rest seem to take a more bluesrock route. MOAR »