Artist: Taste
Album: I'll Remember
Bitrate: 221kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Polydor
Genre: Blues
Size: 440.68 megs
PlayTime: 4h 28min 09sec total
Rip Date: 2015-09-04
Store Date: 2015-08-28
Track List: Disc #1/4
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01. Blister On The Moon 3:28
02. Leavin' Blues 4:17
03. SugarMama 7:17
04. Hail 2:38
05. Born On The Wrong Side Of Time 4:03
06. Dual Carriageway Pain 3:14
07. Same Old Story 3:34
08. Catfish 8:05
09. I'm Movin' On 2:32
10. Blister On The Moon 3:22
11. Leavin' Blues 4:32
12. Hail 2:39
13. Dual Carriageway Pain 3:14
14. Same Old Story 3:27
15. Catfish 6:55
Track List: Disc #2/4
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01. What's Going On 2:48
02. Railway And Gun 3:38
03. It's Happened Before, It Will 6:33
Happen Again
04. If The Day Was Any Longer 2:09
05. Morning Sun 2:39
06. Eat My Words 3:47
07. On The Boards 6:02
08. If I Don't Sing I'll Cry 2:40
09. See Here 3:05
10. I'll Remember 3:04
11. Railway And Gun 4:28
12. See Here 3:15
13. It's Happened Before, It Will 10:57
Happen Again
14. If The Day Was Any Longer 2:36
15. Morning Sun 3:37
16. It's Happened Before, It Will 9:46
Happen Again
Track List: Disc #3/4
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01. What's Going On 6:14
02. Sugar Mamma 6:48
03. Gamblin' Blues 6:41
04. Sinner Boy 6:23
05. At The Bottom 3:19
06. She's 19 Years Old 3:57
07. Morning Sun 4:18
08. Catfish 6:35
09. I'll Remember 6:15
10. Railway And Gun 4:59
11. Sugar Mama 7:20
12. Eat My Words 9:18
13. Catfish 5:34
Track List: Disc #4/4
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01. Wee Wee Baby 2:48
02. How Many More Years 3:27
03. Take It Easy Baby 7:12
04. Pardon Me Mister 2:45
05. You've GotTo Pay 3:57
06. Norman Invasion 3:02
07. Worried Man 2:34
08. Blister On The Moon 3:32
09. Born On The Wrong Side Of Time 3:24
10. Summertime 1:29
11. Blister On The Moon 3:36
12. I Got My Brand On You 7:23
13. Medley 10:58
Release Notes:
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When Melody MakerÆs Roy Hollingworth broke the news to his readers in 1970 that
Taste, the popular Irish trio, were disbanding, his tone was one of shock.
ôAfter one of the most ludicrous of upsetsà You couldnÆt really believe what was
actually going on.ö Many of the 600,000 attendees of the Isle of Wight Festival,
held six weeks earlier, would have agreed with him. Fronted by guitarist and
singer Rory Gallagher, Taste had stormed the festivalÆs Friday evening slot and
seemed poised for a breakthrough, not a break-up.
What was it about Taste that could ignite the Isle of Wight yet end in a bitter,
inexplicable divorce? Why did Gallagher never play their songs in public again?
There are no easy answers on IÆll Remember, a Taste live-and-studio boxset that
follows the recent Gallagher anthologies Kickback City, Live At Montreux and
Irish Tour Æ74. Over four discs (1967-70), we hear a blues-rock band stretching
out onstage û and showing off their folk and jazz influences in the studio û but
the one thing we never get is a sense of climax or closure. Are Taste one of
rockÆs great what-might-have-beens? If so, GallagherÆs solo career (1971-95) had
to serve as their alternative history.
Gallagher emerged from the Irish showbands of the mid-Æ60s as a teenage prodigy
and blues fanatic. He formed Taste with two Cork musicians, Eric Kitteringham
(bass) and Norman DÆAmery (drums), soon descending on Belfast, 200 miles to the
north, where the Maritime Hotel still reverberated from the excitement of seeing
Van Morrison and Them in 1964. On a demo recorded at the Maritime to attract the
interest of Decca in London, Taste sound like a beat combo with blues leanings;
there are times when GallagherÆs harmonica is as prominent as his guitar. But an
instrumental, ôNorman Invasionö, suggests he may be paying close attention to
Jimi Hendrix. And be thinking, perhaps, that Taste should become more of a power
trio.
They start to record. A 1968 single, ôBlister On The Moonö, with its strange
lyrics about a totalitarian society crushing a little man who dares to fight
back, is backed by the equally striking ôBorn On The Wrong Side Of Timeö, which
crams the entire repertoire of the Yardbirds into three minutes and 20 seconds.
Captured live at the Woburn Music Festival that summer, Taste are loose and
fiery, like Ten Years After channelling the MC5. Hendrix, who topped the Woburn
bill the night before, would surely have been impressed by the way Taste tear it
up on their 11-minute closing medley, which includes ôBaby Please DonÆt Goö and
ôYou Shook Meö.
A new rhythm section û Richard McCracken (bass) and John Wilson (drums) û was
installed before Taste made their self-titled Polydor debut album in the autumn
of Æ68. Released the following April, it showcases Gallagher the way Led
Zeppelin, in January, had showcased Jimmy Page: as a bluesman, a folkie, a
multi-faceted whizzkid, a maestro. Some of the soloing on Taste is delicious.
ôHailö, an acoustic blues, is dazzlingly accomplished for a 20-year-old. And his
effortless slide playing on Lead BellyÆs ôLeaving Bluesö is the sort of thing
the Stones had to hire Ry Cooder to do for them. No wonder Gallagher was later
considered as a replacement for Mick Taylor.
McCracken and Wilson donÆt stand out on the debut LP, but theyÆre more of a
force on the follow-up. On The Boards (1970) shows Taste exploring and
advancing. Wilson was a fan of Tony WilliamsÆ Lifetime. Gallagher, studying his
Eric Dolphy records, taught himself to play an alto saxophone in a matter of
weeks. On The Boards is progressive, recalling Family here and there, but
GallagherÆs smoky alto solo on the title track, with Wilson on rimshots and ride
cymbal, is something different entirely û like John Densmore getting together
with the Don Rendell-Ian Carr quintet and not worrying about any boundaries.
Taste had come a long way in 12 months. ôIÆll Rememberö, which gives the boxset
its title, is typically schizophrenic, one minute a brooding rock song, the next
a jazzy swing tune.
The 1970 Isle of Wight appearance is omitted from the four discs, alas (though a
DVD/CD release of it is planned), but IÆll Remember features two live
performances from the same year. One is a recording for Radio 1Æs In Concert,
which suffers from muffled mono sound and too much hiss. Much better (and in
stereo) is a 50-minute chunk of Taste in Stockholm, on their final European
tour, where they play with remarkable intensity for three men who are barely
speaking. Gallagher, encouraged by TasteÆs manager to regard the rhythm section
as dispensable sidemen, had quickly become convinced that he could succeed
without them. He irritated Wilson and McCracken by launching into solo blues
numbers onstage, often several at a time, giving them nothing to do. Wilson
disliked encores. Gallagher wanted to play ten a night. They argued over missing
money, each suspecting the other. It later transpired that the manager was the
one with the Polydor deal, not them. If he hadnÆt been so fond of the music biz
practices of the Æ60s, he could have had one of the major bands of the Æ70s.
Prior to GallagherÆs death in 1995, a reconciliation took place of the classic
Taste lineup, and there was even talk of them playing a peace concert for
Northern Ireland. But it didnÆt happen, and resentment over old contracts
continued to linger. Bassist McCracken lives in London now, working for the
company that owns Wembley Stadium. He avoids interviews about Taste and,
according to Wilson, seldom discusses the band in private. Wilson himself formed
a trio in 2000 to play material from the Taste era, incensing GallagherÆs fans
(and brother-manager Donal) by calling the new band Taste. After throat cancer
surgery two years ago, however, Wilson was advised by doctors to avoid strenuous
activity and sold his drumkit. Listening to Taste on IÆll Remember as young
musicians with their lives ahead of them, itÆs poignant to think that none of
them plays music any more.
Q&A
JOHN WILSON (Taste drummer, 1968-70)
What are your feelings about Taste now?
Most people who refer to Taste are talking about Rory. They see it as one facet
of RoryÆs career. My main feeling about Taste is that I was privileged to play
with Rory û and Richard û at a time when bands were allowed to be at their most
expressive. There was no pressure on Rory or any of us. We were just three guys
who went onstage every night and had fun.
Taste are often called a blues band, but you were more flexible than that. Rock,
folk, jazzà
We put no labels on anything. To quote the phrase from Star Trek, itÆs the
blues, Jim, but not as we know it. Coming from Ireland in that era, we all had
lots of influences. The showbands played everything from trad jazz to
rockÆnÆroll. I came from brass bands, playing cornet and euphonium. Rory liked
country music, a lot of jazz stuff. We just experimented and tried incorporating
things into our songs to see if they worked. There was no format, no setlist,
nothing like that.
The boxset has some alternate takes from the two studio albums. Would you
record, say, three or four takes of each song?
Some of them may have been one take. Those studio dates were very quick.
Straight in and straight out, not a lot of thought going into it. I would have
preferred releasing live albums. The studio stuff seemed a bit false, in a way,
compared to what we were giving the punters every night.
Was there anything that could have kept Taste together?
Yes. Better management. We were good friends who loved playing music, but
unfortunately no-one was getting any financial reward other than our manager.
And by a method of divide-and-conquer, he split the band. I tried to give him
the benefit of the doubt. It was only afterwards that I realised how bad he was.
DONAL GALLAGHER (Taste road manager, brother of Rory)
The first Taste album has RoryÆs face on the cover and seems like a vehicle for
his talent as a guitarist. Did Polydor instantly single him out as the star of
the band?
What had occurred with Taste Mark I was that theyÆd got a residency at the
Marquee and Polydor had gone to see them. They had them go into the studio. They
evaluated the tapes when they came back and said, ôWeÆll sign the guitar player,
but we want a different drummer and bass player.ö It emanated from that. It was
very much seen by Polydor as Rory with two other guys. And to a certain extent
thatÆs how Rory saw it too.
How big did Taste seem to be getting by 1970?
TheyÆd broken huge ground in Europe, in Scotland and in the north-east. But they
were ignored by sections of the UK music press, who took the attitude of ôHow
can you have a rock band from Ireland?ö People made condescending remarks. But
then they did the Isle of Wight Festival, playing on the Friday when everyone
was just waiting to rock. A huge army of Taste fans had come over from France,
Germany, Holland and Denmark. For a lot of those people, Taste were their band.
They did five encores.
You saw TasteÆs split from RoryÆs point of view. Why had such a huge gap opened
up between him and other two?
Management issues and financial issues played a huge part. The band were playing
through the PA system that Rory had inherited from his showband days. They were
travelling in a small Ford Transit with me as their road manager. There were
four of us, and the back seat was a bench seat from an old Volkswagen propped up
on a Marshall stack. They were making very good money, and yet they were living
in bedsits in EarlÆs Court. It was obvious they werenÆt being managed correctly.
So Rory went to the other two and said, ôWe need to get rid of the manager.ö But
the manager was from Northern Ireland, and so were the other two, and they sided
with him. A split became inevitable.
Did Rory regret TasteÆs break-up in later years?
Musically, he liked working with the other two û in fact, in the Æ90s when he
was forming a new lineup, he considered getting in touch with John û but the
break-up caused a huge depression in him. He felt a huge opportunity had been
passed by. He never performed TasteÆs songs onstage again. Some nights youÆd
hear him break into the riff of one of them, and you could tell heÆd be itching
to play the whole song, and the audience would be dying to hear it, but he never
did. I suppose he felt heÆd lost ownership of that music.