Calling Card

iTunes Review

Even though 1976’s Calling Card was Rory Gallagher’s sixth studio album, it was his first time working with a “name” producer. Deep Purple bass player Roger Glover injected a big beefy sound to Gallagher’s more driving rock songs like the muscled opener “Do You Read Me.” Even the bluesy ramble on “Country Mile” sounds toughened up to play with a harder, faster drive that is on par with Golden Earring’s 1973 hit “Radar Love.” And if Gallagher’s soulful singing inflections sounded a little more weathered and raspy, “Secret Agent” could easily be mistaken for an early ZZ Top outtake. The title-track downshifts to let loose on a sultry-yet-suave approach to rock ‘n’ roll — the same kind that makes Thin Lizzy’s “Dancing In the Moonlight” so salient. Keeping things diverse, Gallagher picks a detuned acoustic guitar on the snappy “Ill Admit You’re Gone” and on the closing gem “Barley & Grape Rag.”