FLASHBACK FRIDAY

In the latest in our series looking back at the albums that rocked our world we focus on Gary Moore’s After The War – 25 years after the former Thin Lizzy man dropped a commercially-tinged blues rock classic.

With the third anniversary of Moore’s death marked next week it’s his blues back catalogue that continues to dominate talk of the Irish guitar hero. 

However, After The War was a targeted response to the late 80s scene with the feisty, quasi-political title track puncturing the UK’s top 40 in the face of hair metal’s continued onslaught.

Album highlights include the cutting Led Clones, featuring Ozzy Osbourne and taking a swipe at those bands attempting to replicate Led Zeppelin’s trademark sound – most famously Kingdom Come.

But if this is a record rooted in commercial hard rock then the seven minutes-plus instrumental The Messiah Will Come Again and the two-art Celtic-flavoured Dunluce – bookending the original version of the album – showcase Moore’s versatility and keen sense of history.

Moore’s ninth solo album peaked at number 23 in the UK album charts but broke the top five across Scandinavia and marked a successful follow-up to top 10 UK album Wild Frontier.

After The War tracklisting:

1.”Dunluce Pt. 1″ (Instrumental)Moore 1:17

2.”After the War”  Moore4:17

3.”Speak for Yourself”  Moore, Carter 3:42

4.”Livin’ on Dreams”  Moore 4:14

5.”Led Clones”  Moore, Carter 6:07

6.”The Messiah Will Come Again” (Instrumental)Buchanan 7:29

7.”Running from the Storm”  Moore 4:45

8.”This Thing Called Love”  Moore 3:22

9.”Ready for Love”  Moore 5:39

10.”Blood of Emeralds”  Moore, Carter 8:19

11.”Dunluce Pt. 2″ (Instrumental)Moore 3:50

Both After The War and Wild Frontier – along with Moore’s previous three studio albums – are available in a budget box set available now via Universal as part of the label’s Classic Collection. Click here for details.