''Calling Card'' is the sixth studio album and eighth album overall by Irish singer/guitarist

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

. A 1976 release, it was his second of four albums released on

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright A ...

in the 1970s. Deep Purple/

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

ist

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

co-produced with Gallagher: it was the first time that Gallagher worked with a "name" producer and the only successful such collaboration. It was also the last album Gallagher would do with Rod de'Ath (drums) and Lou Martin (keyboards). After ''Calling Card'', Gallagher retained only his long-time bass guitarist

Gerry McAvoy John Gerard McAvoy (born 19 December 1951) is a Northern Irish blues rock bass guitarist. He played with blues rock musician Rory Gallagher between 1970 and 1991, and then with Nine Below Zero until 2011. Biography McAvoy was born in Belfast, ...

and hired

Ted McKenna Edward McKenna (10 March 1950 – 19 January 2019) was a Scottish drummer who played with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Rory Gallagher, The Greg Lake Band, and The Michael Schenker Group. He also toured with Ian Gillan for a short period ...

on drums. This revised

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

was Gallagher's line up for the next five years when Brendan O'Neil took the sticks.

Recording

The sessions for the album began at

Musicland Studios Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany. It was established by Italian record producer, songwriter and performer Giorgio Moroder in the early 1970s.

Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, in the summer of 1976. Glover came on board as co-producer after having met Gallagher when the latter opened for Deep Purple on an American tour. The choice of Glover signified a conscious attempt by Gallagher to try new directions from the hard rock he was best known for. ''Calling Card'' is one of his most diverse albums. It also reflects the synergy that the band had developed after years of playing together. As producer Roger Glover commented “they all seemed very dedicated to Rory, there was an allegiance, born of years of smoky clubs and endless journeys”. This was the fifth and last release featuring this line-up.

Reaction

The album is often considered one of Gallagher's finest studio offerings with

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

giving the album 4.5 stars out of 5. In its August 2005 issue, ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political ...

s "Oeuvre Easy" feature on Gallagher praised its "brilliant songs" and "rockin' edge" and listed it in the "Inspired" section of his catalogue. Irish folk group

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

later covered "Barley And Grape Rag" on their 1992 release, ''

30 Years A-Greying ''30 Years A-Greying'' is a double album by The Dubliners, again produced by Eamonn Campbell. ''30 Years A-Greying'' is similar to ''25 Years Celebration'' in that it also features a number of special guests. The Pogues featured again, this time ...

''.

1999 remaster

The album was reissued by

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundi ...

in 1999 along with the rest of Gallagher's catalogue. As with the rest of the reissues, the album featured remastered sound, newly written

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

by Gallagher's brother Donal, and

bonus tracks An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...

"Rue the Day" and "Public Enemy" (an early version of a track that later appeared on Gallagher's 1979 album '' Top Priority'').

Track listing

All tracks composed by Rory Gallagher.

Personnel

*Rory Gallagher –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

–

Lou Martin Louis Michael "Lou" Martin (12 August 1949 – 17 August 2012) was a piano and organ player from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was an original member of the London-based band Killing Floor, and also worked with fellow Irish musician Rory Galla ...

– keyboards *

Rod de'Ath Roderick Morris Buckenham de'Ath (; 18 June 1950 – 1 August 2014) was a Welsh musician, best known for his role as drummer with Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher in the 1970s. Career With Rory Gallagher De'Ath was playing with the band Killing ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

;Technical *Hans Menzel, Mack – engineer

References

External links

Rory Gallagher's Official Site
{{Authority control 1976 albums Rory Gallagher albums Albums produced by Roger Glover Albums produced by Rory Gallagher Buddah Records albums Albums with cover art by Mick Rock