New Best Of Collection from Guitar Great featuring Tracks from Seminal First Band Taste Through To Last Studio Album Fresh Evidence!

If ever there was a "musician's musician" then that accolade surely belongs to Rory Gallagher. Renowned for his blistering live performances and highly respected for his dedication to his craft, he died in 1995, aged just 47, yet his reputation has continued to flourish in the years since. Indeed, some of rock's most seminal figures, from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, Queen's Brian May to The Smiths' Johnny Marr, have cited him as an influence. Gallagher remains a touchstone for all would-be guitar heroes in the 21st Century. Following the success of the recent albums Blues (2019) and Check Shirt Wizard – Live in '77 (2020), UMe presents a new Rory Gallagher best of collection. The 15-track double album gathers his most legendary songs compiled from across his recording career, including tracks from Rory's seminal first band Taste through to his last studio album Fresh Evidence (1992).

When asked "How does it feel to be the best guitarist in the world," Jimi replied, "I don't know, why don't you go and ask Rory Gallagher." – Jimi Hendrix

"The man who got me back into the blues." – Eric Clapton

"There are a million guys who sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan, but I never heard anybody who could really pull off sounding like Rory Gallagher." – Slash

"As soon as I heard Cradle Rock, I was hooked. I thought, 'This is what I want to be when I grow up." – Joe Bonamassa

"I really liked Rory, he was fine guitarist and singer and lovely man." – Jimmy Page

"He was just a magician, he's one of the very few people of that time who could make his guitar do anything it seemed. It just seemed to be magic. I remember looking at that battered Stratocaster and thinking "how does that come out of there?" – Brian May

"The man who changed my musical life was Rory Gallagher, I picked up a guitar because of him." – Johnny Marr

"A beautiful man and an amazing guitar player. He was a very sensitive man and a great musician." – The Edge

"An amazing player, very spirited... he had a particular sound using that Stratocaster and he really got it because of the brute force in the way that he played, he just had such a passion about it." – Joe Satriani

"Rory was the one to measure yourself against. He was a real credit to music and pushed it to another level altogether." – Peter Frampton