Slowdown/My Bonnie lies Over The Ocean (1964)

THE FIRST recording by Irish guitar legend Rory Gallagher may have been uncovered in an archive in Cork that was collected by the late manager
of Gallagher's first band, The Fontana Showband.

Music fan Tim O'Leary said yesterday that he was given the archive by
Sarah Prendergast, whose husband, Philip, was the first manager of The
Fontana Showband, which Gallagher joined in 1963.

"Sarah was moving house two years ago and gave me this archive --
there's a five-track reel-to-reel recording made at Kingsway Studios in
London in 1964, and Rory sings lead on two of the songs."

Gallagher sings solo on a song called Slowdown "and I reckon that is his
first ever recording", Mr O'Leary said.

"He later recorded it again in 1982 -- the arrangement and the voice is
the same but it's 18 years later and you can hear how he has developed
as a guitarist."

The second song Gallagher sings is a version of My Bonnie Lies over the
Ocean, which was a standard at the time, recorded by many bands in
Ireland and the UK -- including The Beatles, who backed Tony Sheridan on
a version entitled My Bonnie.

Mr O'Leary, who revealed details of the archive on the Neil Prendeville
show on Cork 96FM, said it also had 30 photographs of The Fontana, which
also included brothers Bernie and Oliver Tobin, and John Lehane, Eamon
O'Sullivan and Declan O'Keeffe.

"The photographs were taken by an official photographer -- some in
studios and some rehearsing, but they also include what I reckon is
Rory's first passport photograph," said Mr O'Leary.

"He was about 15 or 16 when The Fontana went on tour in the UK and
Spain, and Sarah told me how Philip had to bring Rory into Woolworths in
Patrick Street in Cork to get photographs taken for his passport."

One of the earliest recordings of blues legend Rory Gallagher has emerged amidst a treasure trove of Gallagher memorabilia which was "lost" for almost half a century.

The previously unknown archive material was unveiled yesterday in the hope that it can be collated professionally and put on display for music fans everywhere.

The rare items, which lay undiscovered in a box in a house in Cork since the mid-1960s, include:

* An audio tape of a 16-year-old Gallagher singing one of the first songs he ever wrote, during what is believed to have been his first studio session;

* A photograph of the teenage Gallagher with his first electric guitar;

* A biography from his time with his first group, the Fontana Showband, in which he reveals his favourite clothes are leather, his favourite drink is orange, and his hobbies are art, girls, and collecting records;

* Two passport photos taken in 1964 of the teenager, who would go on to become one of the world’s greatest guitar legends.

The material was amassed by the late Philip Prendergast, who managed the Fontana Showband — Gallagher’s first real music job. He was lead vocalist and guitarist.

Mr Prendergast kept the material in a box in his house.

However, it lay undiscovered until a few years after his death, when his widow, Sarah, packed to move house.

She realised how important the material was and she presented it to her friend, Tim O’Leary, from Riverstick, Co Cork, just over two years ago.

He decided to go public with it yesterday in the hope that it will be put on display.

“I would love to see it displayed properly for music fans, and Gallagher fans in particular. And I would love to see it stay in Cork,” he said.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lost-recordings-offer-fans-a-taste-of-early-gallagher-189380.html#ixzz1r2zvTVga

FOR more than four decades it lay buried and forgotten in an old filing cabinet.

But the first recording by Irish blues legend Rory Gallagher has now been rediscovered, along with a collection of photos of the young guitarist with his first band, the Fontana Showband.

Tim O'Leary, from Riverstick in Cork, now wants the material to go on public display in a music museum or through a private collector.

"For 46 years this has been buried and I think it is time it saw the light. I don't want it to be buried again," he told the Irish Independent yesterday.

Mr O'Leary was given the material for safe keeping by Sarah Prendergast, the wife of Phil Prendergast, who managed Mr Gallagher's first band, the Fontana Showband, when she moved house several years ago.

The tape and collection of photos was tucked inside an old file amongst some personal effects.

Mr Prendergast helped the young Mr Gallagher secure his first recording session in the mid-1960s with the Fontana Showband.

That session -- at London's Kingsway Studios in 1964 -- produced a reel-to-reel tape featuring four songs which Mr O'Leary later discovered.

One track, 'Slow Down', is believed to be the first recording of a song penned by Mr Gallagher.

Mr Gallagher had joined the Fontana Showband a year earlier, in 1963.

Mr O'Leary is a lifelong fan of the Donegal-born but Cork-raised blues guitarist, who started his career on the showband circuit.

After discovering the recording, he got the reel-to-reel tape transferred to CD and has been listening to the material himself.

"I put it on the CD player and let it blast away -- it is amazing stuff," he added.

Now he wants the wider public to enjoy the material from Mr Gallagher's early years.

"I would like someone to make a contribution to Sarah for the material -- but most of all I don't want it to be buried again. I want fans to be able to see these photos and admire this music," he added.

Emi a écrit:Génial!!! Vous avez vu l'en tête du disque? Thank you Wim!!!