The greats of Irish Rock



 

The Legends of Rock

Phil Lynott

 

 

I must admit to being a huge fan of rock music, more specifically Irish Rock. Two men dominated my early musical life, Garry Moore and Phil Lynott.  This was later reinforced by meeting and coming friendly with Brush Shiels. Brush is an amazing man, one of the true individuals still existing in an industry bending all to conform to a stereotype. I have seen Brush perform live on many occasions. No matter what crowd he is faced with, from bikers to blue rinse old biddies, he always gets the crowd going. The sad thing is that I never got the chance to see his great friends play with him. Although I feel I have touched greatness through his stories.


 Brush Shiels

Phil joined Brush in founding a band called Skid Row. At this stage Phil sang lead but did not play any instruments. It was not long before Phil was having trouble with maintaining key and pitch, it was down to his tonsils.  Phil had to take a break from the band.

 

Garry Moore was born in Belfast and joined Skid Row replacing a member that went to work full time in the Guinness brewery. When Phil recovered, his spot in the band had been taken. Brush felt bad and offered to teach him to play the guitar. Thinking the base would be easier he sold Phil a Fender base for £36 Irish pounds and the rest is history.

 

Garry Moore

Phil would later go on to front one of the greatest rock bands ever to come out of Ireland, Thin Lizzy. Garry Moore and Phil Lynott continued to work together for many years and would later collaborate on an album called Out in the Fields resulting in the amazing piece of music I want to share with you tonight. The great tragedy of this story is that Phil Lynott passed away on the 4th Jan 1986 and Garry Moore was taken from this world in Christmas 2012. Two legends in the truest sense. I will always regret not seeing them live. It is all the more remarkable to remember that they were producing music of this vibrancy as far back as the late 1960's. It seems just as fresh to my ears today. I hope you take a little over six minutes to enjoy this video, you wont be sorry.

Parisienne Walkways - Garry Moore / Phil Lynott (Live)