''Deuce'' is the second solo album by

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

, released in 1971. In contrast with his previous album, ''

'', where Gallagher tried for a precise, organised sound, ''Deuce'' was his first of many attempts to capture the energy of a live performance in the studio.

Recording

''Deuce'' was recorded at Tangerine Studios in

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

with

Gerry McAvoy John Gerard McAvoy (born 19 December 1951) is a Northern Irish blues rock bass guitarist. He played with blues rock musician Rory Gallagher between 1970 and 1991, and then with Nine Below Zero until 2011. Biography McAvoy was born in Belfas ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

and

Wilgar Campbell Wilgar William Campbell (1946 – October 1989) was an Irish blues rock musician, best known for his role as drummer with Rory Gallagher in the early 1970s. Career Early career Campbell played with Belfast band The Method, who moved to London in ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. The engineer was Robin Sylvester and it was produced by Rory Gallagher. In order to capture the feeling of a live performance that Gallagher wanted, he would often record immediately before or after live performances while keeping production at a minimum. It was released on POLYDOR SUPER 2383 076 in November 1971. ''Deuce'' was

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed from the original

master tapes Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via me ...

in 1997 by Colin Fairly at Tony Arnold's Courthouse Facilities in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. The remastered album was released in 1998 with the bonus track "Persuasion".

Impact

At the time of release, ''Deuce'' was not a huge success. ''Rolling Stone'' damned it with faint praise such as: "All of which is not to say that it isn't a good album. If it isn't a world beater, it isn't all that bad either" and described the supporting musicians as "the highly pedestrian, almost pedantic bass and drum thumpings of two hacks named McAvoy and Campbell". However, over the years the album has remained popular with Gallagher's fans which include many legendary guitarists. For example,

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

said in an interview: "There was one day when I was playing along with the ''Deuce'' album which was a complete turning point for me as a guitar player". And critic Dave Thompson says the album "peaks with the closing, broiling 'Crest of a Wave'. With bass set on stun, the drums a turbulent wall of sound, and Gallagher's guitar a sonic switchblade, it's a masterpiece of aggressive dynamics, the sound of a band so close to its peak that you can almost touch the electricity." In an interview shortly after the release of the album Gallagher said "I was looking for a raw earthy sound on ''Deuce'' and I was fairly pleased with it. ''Deuce'' made the top twenty for one week, I guess I was a little disappointed but not depressed, after all 17,000 albums is not bad."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Rory Gallagher. Side one #"Used to Be" – 5:06 #"I'm Not Awake Yet" – 5:24 #"Don't Know Where I'm Going" – 2:45 #"Maybe I Will" – 4:13 #"Whole Lot of People" – 4:54 Side two #"In Your Town" – 5:43 #"Should've Learnt My Lesson" – 3:34 #"There's a Light" – 5:59 #"Out of My Mind" – 3:00 #"Crest of a Wave" – 5:52

1998 CD edition

*All songs composed by Rory Gallagher #"I'm Not Awake Yet" – 5:24 #"Used to Be" – 5:06 #"Don't Know Where I'm Going" – 2:45 #"Maybe I Will" – 4:13 #"Whole Lot of People" – 4:54 #"In Your Town" – 5:43 #"Should've Learnt My Lesson" – 3:34 #"There's a Light" – 5:59 #"Out of My Mind" – 3:00 #"Crest of a Wave" – 5:52 CD bonus track #"Persuasion" – 4:42 For 2012 CD edition, track list was reverted to 1971 configuration.

Personnel

*Rory Gallagher – vocals, guitars,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

– bass guitar *

– drums,

Technical *Robin Sylvester – engineer *

Mick Rock Michael David Rock (born Michael Edward Chester Smith; 21 November 1948 – 18 November 2021) was a British photographer. He photographed rock music acts such as Queen, David Bowie, Waylon Jennings, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and ...

– sleeve, photography

Charts

References

External links

*
Discog's album page
{{Authority control 1971 albums Rory Gallagher albums Buddah Records albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Rory Gallagher Albums with cover art by Mick Rock