Out in the Fields: The Very Best of Gary Moore in Bloomington, MN

Irish guitarist
Gary Moore
has built an entire career on stubborn self-recycling. Just when listeners think they have him pegged within a particular musical style (
heavy metal
guitar slinger, soft-hearted acoustic player,
jazz fusion
experimentalist,
electric blues
purist), the enduring six-string legend throws a curve ball and changes artistic direction -- seemingly just to spite his critics. Because of this, his extensive recorded legacy as a solo artist has defied adequate encapsulation into greatest-hits packages, and in America, where his profile has never exceeded the status of a connoisseur's favorite, taking a first stab at discovering his work becomes an even more vexing task.
Out in the Fields: The Very Best of Gary Moore
doesn't solve this problem, but it does alleviate it somewhat by concentrating on
Moore
's best-known guise among the aforementioned connoisseur club --
hard rock
and
guitar shredder. Included here are the rare mainstream hits (
"Out in the Fields,"
"Wild Frontier"
), balls-out
metal
headbangers (
"Run for Cover,"
"Military Man"
), sublime
ballads
(
"Parisienne Walkways,"
"Empty Rooms"
), and later-day
blues
successes (
"Cold Day in Hell,"
"Still Got the Blues"
). In an imperfect world and a less-than-perfect career, this is about as spot-on as one can expect. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia