#13 It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again

 

Album: On The Boards, 1970

 

In 1970, Taste were on the rise. They had toured the States backing Blind Faith with Delaney and Bonnie, with Taste being regarded as many audiences as the best band, whilst Blind Faith crumbled and eventually disbanded. Meanwhile Taste’s self-titled debut album was putting in creditable appearances in the charts.

The follow up album, On The Boards, is arguably the one that brought Rory Gallagher to prominence. Released on New Year’s Day, 1970, it’s jazz and blues mix being praised by fans and reviewers alike. It’s certainly a jump from the rawer first album, the trio sounding stronger and more adventurous, with none other than Lester Bangs writing in Rolling Stone: “The band is so tight and compelling, the songs so affecting, and the experiments and improvisations so clearly thought-out, that it seems a shame even to suggest that Taste be classed in any way with that great puddle of British blues bands. Everybody else is just wood shedding; Taste have arrived.”

As positive as the reviews and reception of On The Boards were, within the band itself, things were slowly starting to rumble, with the group breaking up in October that year. Given they were on the rise, particularly after a legendary set at the Isle of Wight festival in August 1970, it certainly shook a few people. But Rory was headed in a different path from bassist Richard McCracken and drummer John Wilson, both from Omagh and Belfast, respectively.

This jazzy style can be heard the most on the third track of the album, “It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again.” Lyrically, it’s very short and sweet, describing in a vague way the realisation that your significant other is playing you somewhat and the mind games of it are getting a bit much, though nothing is really going to change:

“You only call to see me when I'm out
A guilty conscience nags you, I have no doubt
You've got the balls not to call anymore
It's happened before, it'll happen again
It's happened before, it happened again.”

Perhaps the most notable aspect of Rory in this song is, for once, not his guitar playing, though it’s as ‘Roryish’ as ever in complexity and experimentation, but his sax playing. At the time Rory was listening to a lot of jazz and was a massive fan of Ornette Coleman, the Texan saxophonist. As well as sax, Coleman also played the violin and trumpet. Regarded as one of the originators of free jazz, Coleman took a more improv style in his music, eschewing the more traditional forms of jazz. His sax playing hypnotised Rory. He may have looked for a way to integrate that style into his guitar, but Coleman also inspired him in another way, that apparently led Dónal Gallagher to believe his brother may have been about to switch instruments from guitar, a notion that is somewhat stunning to contemplate these days!

 

At the time, Rory and Dónal were sharing a bedsit in London and somewhat strapped for cash. One day, Dónal returned to their digs to find that Rory had trooped out to the music store and bought himself an alto sax and tutor book. A guitar, understandable, but a saxophone! The landlord of the bedsit didn’t like noise. The neighbours perhaps also found living next door to a musician a bit of a racket. And the saxophone is a notoriously difficult instrument to play. At first, it doesn’t sound too pleasant! Not that this deterred Rory. He solved the problem by learning how to play shut away in the wardrobe, the clothes muffling the sound of his first practice sessions. Apparently if it did annoy any neighbours, Rory’s natural charm soon won them over. In a few weeks, he started to get the hang of it and began incorporating the sax into Taste’s sound, something which John Wilson recalls liking a lot.

 

After Taste split, Rory didn’t play sax as much, but it still made the odd appearance in his solo work, including “A Million Miles Away” and also on the Defender album of 1987.

 

A final, nice touch to Rory and his sax playing is that Rory once found himself staying in the room next door to Ornette Coleman at a hotel. And how did this pan out for the lad who taught himself to play saxophone closed away in his wardrobe so he didn’t annoy the neighbours too much? Ornette practiced his sax playing the entire time Rory was his neighbour…