A Review of "the Bible"

by Fred Bourgoin
(1 April 1996)

If you've been visiting the page these past few months surely you've noticed my enthusiastic references to this thing I call "the Bible". So far my enthusiasm has been "second-hand", so to speak; what I really was excited about was Lennart Hedenstrøm's kind words for the "thing". Until two days ago...

I love my mailbox! It can bring such great surprises sometimes... Such was the case recently; a preliminary copy of the item in question magically appeared there, accompanied by a note from the author himself. Since then I haven't been able to keep my hands (and eyes) off the book. My impressions are still fresh and, no doubt, I'm somewhat biased, but I'll do my best to give you an honest opinion. One last note: Even though I am writing this on April's Fool Day, this is no joke!

What Is "the Bible"?

The "Bible" is the definitive book about Gary Moore; more than 600 pages, 1kg of paper, tons of pictures, and the most extensive list of recordings you've ever seen. The complete title is Gary Moore - The Bio-Discography 1969-1994. Authored by René Aagaard with the help of Finn K. Jensen, members of the very exclusive DDGMS and Gary Moore experts in their own rights, this is quite a book! The book was originally scheduled for release in October 1995, but the presses were quickly stopped when the author wasn't satisfied with the printing. The finished product should appear very shortly, published by the Bidstrup Discographical Publishing Company of Denmark. (See end of article for ordering information.)

The book begins with short accounts of Gary Moore's career and his chart successes. The two big parts are "The Complete Recording Sessions" and "The Complete Discography" both organized year-by-year and spanning several hundred pages. Also included are indexes to bands, musicians, songs, and tour dates.

What I Thought of the Book

Let's begin with the more technical matters, the form if you will. We'll deal with the fun stuff (the content) later. The cover is a beauty; not flashy, professional-looking, with a nice picture of Gary Moore, perfect for my taste. I even like the side of the book! It's got a little picture of Gary Moore at the top, it'll look great in my shelf. Inside the book things are a little different. The font if pretty small (but anything bigger would have made the book monstruously big). I would have preferred justified text and bigger titles. It's sometimes difficult to distinguish headings of differing levels. That being said, my copy is only a preliminary copy and I have no idea what the finished product will look like. Something that might disappoint you is that all the pictures are black and white and not always of the greatest quality.

That's pretty much it for the technical part of the review; and that's it for the negative impressions as well! Everything from here down is good. And that's great news because I'm about to discuss the actual content of the book, what most of us care most about.

Beware! This item may not be good for your ego... If you thought you knew a lot about Gary Moore, think again! This is outstanding! All the bands Gary has had anything to do with are in there; that's 25 years of solo albums, group projects, and session work (plenty of it). All the recording sessions (complete with tracks recorded, producer, musicians, etc.). The index of songs contains all the recorded material known to exist (from official LP releases to bootlegs); very interesting if you have a favorite song. The index of musicians can also be very revealing. The index of tour dates is a great addition; finally someone has compiled such a thing! As for the discography, it's almost sickening... I am so ashamed of the one I first put up on the page...

I said above that the pictures weren't always of the greatest quality, but here's what makes that disappear: the number of them! There are so many in there! The promotional pictures are fun, but we've seen most them already; no, what is really interesting is the number of pictures of covers. Bootlegs, LPs, promotional releases, special editions, it's in there! The author did a great job in collecting them. Do you know what the Swedish single "Parisienne Walkways" looks like? I didn't until a minute ago, but there it is!

I could go on about this book, but I think it better to give you an overall opinion of it. The bottom line is this:

Conclusion

If you are a "casual fan" (nothing bad about that!) you'll certainly enjoy flipping through the many page of "the Bible", but it might be a bit more than you need. If you are a dedicated collector (nothing bad about that either!), you must get your hands on the thing! Nowhere else will you find a more complete discography; it'll blow your mind away. Finally, if you're neither a "casual fan" nor a dedicated collector, I leave it to you to ponder: How much do you want to know about Gary Moore's recording career? For it is what it ultimately comes down to.

So what about those complaints I had earlier?... What complaints? If I had any, I've already forgotten them; and you will, too.

I suppose I ought to add the following. If you're looking for a biography, this ain't it. This isn't about Gary Moore's life, his dates from grade school on, whether he did drugs in the 1970s, what kind of food he likes, etc. This is a serious research effort about his recording career.

A Few Details

I would like to thank René Aagaard for sending me a copy of the book. I wasn't expecting it and I am very flattered. Excellent job, René!

Addendum (24 May 1996): I've been flipping through the pages for almost two months now and I'm still very excited about "The Bible". One thing bothers me a little though: The tracks are not always listed in order (on compilations). That's the only "bad" thing I have to say about it... The book is just THE best resource around.