The fifteen years since Gary Moore’s transmogrification from hotshot metal guitarist to old bluesman had been quite eventful. However, a wandering spirit meant his direction of travel wasn’t always straight and found him veering into experimental pop (1997’s Dark Days In Paradise and A Different Beat in 1997), yet the magnetic pull of the blues was hard to resist and his sixteenth studio outing Close As You Get found him back in his natural habitat. At home he might have been, but he certainly wasn’t in his comfort zone and, as this loving reissue amply proves, he served up eleven fresh cuts that evidenced an artist at the cutting edge of creativity.

That Gary Moore was fired up and ready to go becomes immediately apparent when opening track ‘If The Devil Made Whisky’ muscles its way from the speakers. Powered forth by a serrated, staccato riff, it is indicative of Gary’s approach and he delivers a song that becomes the elephant in the room (quite literally) and when this track (and, indeed, the whole album) appears, it’s hard to ignore and stamps itself indelibly upon the listener’s consciousness. Clocking in at under three minutes, it’s akin to being struck by a ten-ton hammer, leaving you bewildered and wondering just what hit you. Rarely has the blues been infused with such energy (and panache) as that which is injected here. However, the blues was always a multifaceted beast, a genre that encompassed a wide array of styles, and Close As You Get touches base at most of them and finds the following ‘Trouble At Home’, a slow burning, sultry number nestling next to an amphetamine-fuelled cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Thirty Days’ quite effortlessly.

If there was one thing that made Gary Moore an authentic propagator of the blues then it was the understanding that it is as much about atmosphere and feeling as the actual song itself. Produced by Mr. Moore and Ian Taylor, the pair furnished Close As You Get with a clean, crisp sound that finds Gary’s guitar ringing out like a tuning fork on crystal glass. It’s a production that also inserts plenty of white space; Gary doesn’t feel the need to scrawl his sound on every surface and when he takes things down a notch or two on ‘I Had A Dream’ there’s not one superfluous moment, meaning that every note serves a purpose, and it is from here that the album derives its atmospherics. It’s a musical economy that creates an intimate feel, even on rowdy tracks such as ‘Checkin’ Up On My Baby’ (a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s classic), and it’s this use of musical dynamics (learned during Gary’s various incarnations) that gives Close As You Get its own personality. It’s the kind of move his peers wouldn’t think of making, but they never had his education.

This was an album that found Gary coming of age, and as such was one of his most varied and authoritative releases, and if you are looking for blues perfection, this is Close As You Get.

• Close As You Get is released via BMG Records on 24th April 2026.

Track List:

1. If The Devil Made Whisky
2. Trouble At Home
3. Thirty Days
4. Hard Times
5. Have You Heard
6. Eyesight To The Blind
7. Evenin’
8. Nowhere Fast
9. Checkin’ Up On My Baby
10. I Had A Dream
11. Sundown

Vinyl Edition:

Side A:

As above, tracks 1, 2 and 3

Side B:

As above, tracks 4, 5 and 6

Side C:

As above, tracks 7, 8 and 9

Side D:

As above, tracks 10 and 11