The BBC Collection

The BBC Collection is an all-encompassing collection of the many recorded performances of Rory Gallagher at the BBC. Featuring eighteen CDs worth of radio concerts and sessions from 1971 to 1986, roughly 75% of this material has not been officially released before. Also included is two Blu Ray discs of BBC TV concerts and studio performances from 1973 to 1984, all of which has not been officially released previously.

Amassed from the BBC archives and Rory Gallagher’s own transcription discs and off-air cassette recordings, the boxset spans 16 years of his career (1971-1986), taking in highlights such as the 1977 dual television and radio broadcast Sight & Sound concert, Rory’s headlining set at the Reading Festival in 1980 to the emotional ‘At Midnight’ concert live from the Ulster Hall in Belfast, 1984.

A ‘best of’ from this collection is available on 2CD and 3LP, titled The Best of Rory Gallagher at the BBC.

These releases celebrate the importance of the artist Rory Gallagher, who was possibly the most recorded musician of the 1970s by the BBC.

“(‘Tore Down’) That was the first song I ever heard played…It’s a BBC recording of Rory Gallagher playing at the Paris Theatre in London in July 1972. And I was in the audience, aged 15, and those opening bars were enough to make me realise that this was something I wanted to do again and again… ‘Tore Down’ was my introduction to live, loud, amplified blues and when Gallagher had finished, my 15-year-old self could not contain his excitement. He ran down to the front to shake Rory’s hand…When the BBC did eventually broadcast the concert, I taped it by leaning the microphone from my clunky cassette recorder against the speaker of our old transistor radio and I listened to that tape over and over again” Nick Hornby, Author

18CD / 2 Blu Ray Deluxe Set

CD1 ['For the Last Time - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971*†', 'Laundromat - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971*†', 'Hands Up - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971†', 'Sinner Boy - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971†', 'It Takes Time - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971*†', 'I Fall Apart - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971*†', 'Used to Be - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971', 'Crest of a Wave - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1971*', 'Hoodoo Man Blues - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1972†', 'Feel So Bad - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1972*', 'I Could've Had Religion - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1972', 'The Cuckoo - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1972', 'Messin' with The Kid - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1972']

CD2 ['Hands Off - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973*', 'Race the Breeze - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973*', 'Bankers Blues - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973', 'Walk on Hot Coals - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973†', 'Hands Off - BBC Old Grey Whistle Test / 1973', 'Walk on Hot Coals - BBC Old Grey Whistle Test / 1973', 'Unmilitary Two-Step - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973', 'If I Had a Reason - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973', 'Daughter of The Everglades - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973*', 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973*', 'Tattoo'd Lady - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973', 'Cradle Rock - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973', 'A Million Miles Away - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1973*']

CD3 ['Back on My Stompin' Ground - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1974', 'I Wonder Who - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1974', 'They Don't Make Them Like You Anymore - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1974*', 'As the Crow Flies - Live on BBC "Sounds of The Seventies" / 1974', 'Flight to Paradise (with Juan Martin) - BBC Radio 1 / 1984*', "Can't Be Satisfied (with Juan Martin) - BBC Radio 1 / 1984", 'Introduction - BBC Radio 2 Paul Jones Blues Show / 1986', 'When My Baby She Left Me - BBC Radio 2 Paul Jones Blues Show / 1986*', 'Continental Op - BBC Radio 2 Paul Jones Blues Show / 1986', 'Interview - BBC Radio 2 Paul Jones Blues Show / 1986', 'Off the Handle - BBC Radio 2 Paul Jones Blues Show / 1986*']

CD4 ['The Rory Gallagher Story (Narrated by Gary Moore) - BBC Radio 2 / 2005']

CD5 ['Hands Up - Live on BBC "John Peel Sunday Concert" / 12 August