11/28/2023
ON THIS DATE (52 YEARS AGO)
November 28, 1971 – Rory Gallagher: Deuce is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 4.5/5
# Allmusic 4/5
Deuce is the second solo album by Rory Gallagher, released on November 28, 1971.
‘Deuce’ was the culmination of Rory’s musical apprenticeship. He’d toured with an Irish showband, released acclaimed records with ‘Taste’ and played the Isle Of Wight Festival, but this was the first time he’d had the necessary level of control, self-belief and technical ability to record the album he’d always wanted to.
His eponymous titled first album had seen Rory’s transition from group member to solo artist, allowing him a degree of artistic freedom he’d so far not encountered. This resulted in an excellent debut album, highlighting Rory’s musical development since ‘Taste’.
In 1971 when he began working on ‘Deuce’, he decided on a different approach to the recording of his second album. His first album had a precise, organized sound, Rory was keen ‘Deuce’ would capture the raw energy of a live performance. To achieve this, many of the sessions were recorded just before or immediately after gigs and production were kept to a minimum. The results were electric.
Rory came alive when he played in front of an audience, as he said, “I love playing to people. The audience means a lot to me. It’s not the whole thing, I love recording too, but I need regular and frequent contact with the public. It gives me energy.” Which is why capturing a ‘live’ feel on the album was so important to Rory. ‘Deuce’ was the first, but certainly not the last time he achieved this.
‘Deuce’ was recorded at Tangerine Studios in Dalston, which was built by the innovative 60’s producer Joe Meek. This North London studio was sited next to a bingo hall and any fans blessed with a keen sense of hearing may just be able to make out the distant shouts of the bingo caller.
‘Deuce’ saw Rory and his band reach a new musical high. Band members, Gerry McAvoy and Wilgar Campbell, played with a fresh, raw quality that complimented Rory’s amazing Strat work. They were young and talented, with a point to prove, the ingredients that have produced some of the greatest music in history. ‘Deuce’ would become part of that illustrious tradition.
~ Shu Tomioka (from Rory Gallagher website)
"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.”
~ Johnny Marr, The Smiths
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ORIGINAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW
Rory Gallagher is a rock and roll journeyman. He makes music that skims the rock circumference from tedium to excitement, while hitting all the stops such as bland, startling, trivial, dynamic and too familiar on the way. Nothing more or less than an average five gigs a week rock 'n' roller who managed to turn his reputation into a recording contract.
Largely unknown in the United States, he once fronted a second-rate Irish group called Taste, and then split to form his own group, which he humbly named after himself. This is the new group's second effort at recording, and hence is cleverly entitled "Deuce." The first album was unspectacular, depending almost wholly on Gallagher's average voice and better than average guitar playing, backed with the highly pedestrian, almost pedantic bass and drum thumpings of two hacks named McAvoy and Campbell. This second album is a carbon copy of the first.
All of which is not to say that it isn't a good album. If it isn't a world be**er, it isn't all that bad either. And to admit to disliking it would be admitting a bias against English basic-rock trios.
Like its predecessor, its main selling point is Gallagher's tasteful guitar playing. He tends to be neat, clean and precise, as well as unencumbered by massive slurring and distortion, although a bit of tastefully controlled feedback is allowed to escape once in a while. He handles slide and anglo-flash techniques with equal aplomb, and moves easily from one style to the other with a minimum of distress. However, he still insists on monopolizing the vocals himself, which again tend toward the wretched. If only he maintained a touch of the Irish dialect it might be enough of a gimmick to catapult the group all the way to the top of the old slag-heap.
Without doubt, the best cuts are the overt rockers–"Used To Be," the opener on Side One, "Whole Lot of People," and "Crest of a Wave." They depend solely on Gallagher's Page-Beck-Peter Green guitar riffs, and prove, if nothing else, that he has absorbed his many influences well.
As for the low points on the disc, there really aren't any. Granted, there are some slightly less appealing moments tossed in to break the monotony which might result from their absence, but they too are interesting in their own gimpy little way. "There's A Light" features some rather Dylanish harmonica by Gallagher, and isn't stunningly original, but is certainly likable for its catchy melody and lack of pretension. "Maybe I Will" is one of those songs that has you asking that musical question, "Where the hell did I hear this before?" The song is just Rory, sittin' and pickin', as it were, and allows you to provide the drum parts yourself by slapping your thighs and knees silly if you so desire. "I'm Not Awake Yet" is Gallagher's attempt at "de blooze," the strange phenomenon that seems to affect all these oversexed, over - payed loose - living young English lads throughout most of their existences. It's absence might have been more pretentious than its inclusion.
Deuce is finally a competent piece of basic Anglo-rock, not too heavy, not too light, and not enough to make anybody's year-end poll. (RS 108)
~ Alan Niester (May 11, 1972)
TRACKS:
All songs composed by Rory Gallagher.
Side one
"I'm Not Awake Yet" – 5:24
"Used to Be" – 5:06
"Don't Know Where I'm Going" – 2:42
"Maybe I Will" – 4:15
"Whole Lot of People" – 4:57
Side two
"In Your Town" – 5:47
"Should've Learnt My Lesson" – 3:36
"There's a Light" – 5:59
"Out of My Mind" – 3:05
"Crest of a Wave" – 6:00
