''Fresh Evidence'' is

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 ...

's eleventh and last studio album, his fourteenth album overall. The album was unusual in that Gallagher used more additional musicians and spent more time recording than he normally did. Not as unusual, the songs show his love for blues artists such as

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

and

Son House Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902His date of birth is a matter of some debate. House alleged that he was middle-aged during World War I and that he was 79 in 1965, which would make his date of birth around 1886. However, all legal re ...

and for other genres such as

Zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Al ...

as well. The album is influenced by his deteriorating health, and explores themes of ill health, mortality, and fighting back against overwhelming odds.

Background

After the release of the album, Gallagher gave several interviews where he went into some detail about the songs and his way of making music. He emphasized how he modeled his music after folk and blues legends such as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

. "So this folk music tradition of passing on, picking up, and stealing goes on like mad! If I'm doing a blues number I can do it very traditional if I want to; I can also add my own twists to it." Gallagher said that the song "Heaven's Gate" is about a man "haunted in a room in a terrible condition. It's a semi-redemption type of song and it's also slightly preaching to people that you can't bribe St. Peter." His inspiration for the song is the blues song "Hellhound On My Trail" by

. "The Loop" is a jazz instrumental. The song title refers to the

Chicago loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

the center of downtown Chicago that is demarcated by the CTA elevated train tracks that make a loop around it. The sound of a train pulling up to a stop is heard at the beginning of the song. "Walking Wounded" is a song about a man who is down but still fighting. Gallagher said it was partly inspired by his health problems. "Kid Gloves" is about a prize fighter pressured by the mob to throw a fight who refuses to give in. It is one of many Gallagher songs inspired by

hardboiled fiction Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

and film noir. The music for "Middle Name" is inspired by blues legend

Slim Harpo Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spiri ...

. For the story Gallagher "tried to create an image of being down around the bible belt with a guy stuck in a situation searching for someone that could be his wife or someone else before a big storm or Armageddon or the Holocaust." “King of Zydeco" is inspired by the music of

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American Creole musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music which arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion and w ...

whom Gallagher called the "

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

". Chenier died before Gallagher was able to meet him, even though they played at least one music festival together and the regret over that lost opportunity inspired the song.

Recording

Gallagher's studio albums were often recorded rapidly, in as little as two weeks. This was partly due to time limitations caused by his heavy touring schedule but also due to the fact that Gallagher was always more comfortable in front of a live audience than in the studio. However, Gallagher spent six months recording ''Fresh Evidence''. He described the recording of the album as follows:

"It took enough out of us, I can tell you. It took about six months to make, which is quite a long time really. It sounds like relatively simple music, but we were trying to get a good vintage, ethnic sound in the production and everything else. We used a lot of old valve microphones, tape echo, old spring reverbs and things like that, instead of using all the digital equipment."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Rory Gallagher except where indicated. Side one #"Kid Gloves" – 5:39 #"The King of Zydeco (To

)" – 3:42 #"Middle Name" – 4:13 #"Alexis" (instrumental) – 4:06 #"Empire State Express" – 5:11 ( Eddie "Son" House) Side two #"Ghost Blues" – 7:59 #"Heaven's Gate" – 5:08 #"The Loop" (instrumental) – 2:21 #"Walkin' Wounded" – 5:08 #"Slumming Angel" – 3:39 CD bonus track #"Never Asked You for Nothin'" – 4:29 #"Bowed Not Broken" – 3:26

Personnel

*Rory Gallagher –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and acoustic guitars,

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

, mandolin and

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditiona ...

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 ...

*Brendan O'Neill – drums *John Cooke –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Invited guests * Lou Martin –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* Mark Feltham – harmonica *

Geraint Watkins Geraint Meurig Vaughan Watkins (born 5 February 1951) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, rock and roll pianist and accordionist. He has backed many notable artists, including Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Ro ...

– accordion * John Earle – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone *Ray Beavis – tenor saxophone *Dick Hanson – trumpet ;Technical *Colin Fairley, Daniel McGowan, John McGowan, Will Reid-Dick – recording

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Rory Gallagher albums Albums produced by Rory Gallagher Intercord albums