Taste (Irish band)

Taste are an Irish blues rock band that was founded by songwriter and guitarist Rory Gallagher in Cork in 1966. Gallagher left the band in 1970.

History

Taste (originally "The Taste") were formed in Cork, Ireland, in August 1966 as a trio consisting of Rory Gallagher on guitars and vocals, Eric Kitteringham on bass, and Norman Damery on drums.<ref name="Guinness Rockopedia">Template:Cite book</ref> They toured in Hamburg and Ireland before becoming regulars at Club Rado in the Maritime Hotel, an R&B club in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the summer of 1967.<ref name="The Rise">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1968 the original lineup split up and a new lineup formed with Richard McCracken on bass and John Wilson on drums.<ref name="Guinness Rockopedia"/> The new Taste moved permanently to London where they signed with the record label Polydor. In November 1968, the band, along with Yes, opened at Cream's farewell concerts. While with Polydor, Taste began touring the United States and Canada with the English supergroup Blind Faith. In April 1969, Taste released the first of their two studio albums, the self-titled Taste, with On the Boards following in early 1970,<ref name="Guinness Rockopedia"/> the latter showing the band's jazz influences with Gallagher playing saxophone on two tracks.

They performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, alongside Jimi Hendrix and The Who. According to Donal Gallagher (Rory's brother who managed the band) filmmaker Murray Lerner had instructed his crew to shoot just two numbers from the new bands and to save the main film stock for Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Leonard Cohen and the other headliners, but Taste's performance prompted him to change his instructions: "Murray didn't know who Taste were but when he saw the spontaneity of the band and the audience and their interaction, he just told his guys keep filming and they just kept going and captured over an hour of the performance which was quite incredible." In the song "Sugar Mama", a photographer can be seen hurriedly bringing his camera up from a re-load to cover another camera angle.Template:Cn

Later in 1970 Taste toured Europe, then disbanded for numerous reasons, the details of which are still unclear, but are generally acknowledged as being related to managerial disputes, and tensions between Gallagher and the rest of the band, who wanted to be recognised as equals with him (Gallagher having been the sole songwriter in the band). They performed their last show on New Year's Eve in Belfast.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"> Template:Cite book</ref> Wilson and McCracken immediately formed 'Stud' in early 1971, with Jim Cregan and John Weider, while Gallagher went on to pursue a solo career. Some years after the break-up, recordings of the original line-up emerged.

A musical homage to Taste and Gallagher was made by Black 47 in their song "Rory", released on 1998's Green Suede Shoes album.

In 1996, Richard McCracken and John Wilson reformed the band with guitarist/vocalist Sam Davidson taking over Rory Gallagher's role as frontman, with Albert Mills replacing McCracken in 2010.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The band continued in this formation until February 2017, when it was revealed that the band would tour under the name "Little Taste of Rory feat. John Wilson", and that the line-up now consisted of Wilson, Davidson, and new bassist Alan Niblock.<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> In 2018 John Wilson retired from the band due to ill health but Sam Davidson continues to perform as "Sam Davidson's TASTE" with Albert Mills back on bass and Lyn McMullan taking over from Wilson on drums.Template:Cn

Personnel

Members

Current members

• Sam Davidson – guitars, vocals Template:Small
• Albert Mills – bass Template:Small
• Lyn McMullan – drums Template:Small

Former members

• Rory Gallagher – guitars, vocals, saxophone, harmonica Template:Small
• Norman Damery – drums Template:Small
• Eric Kitteringham – bass Template:Small
• John Wilson – drums Template:Small
• Richard McCracken – bass Template:Small
• Alan Niblock – bass Template:Small

Timeline <timeline>ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:120 bottom:110 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1966 till:01/01/2022 #it is best not to use auto-updating timelines as it can cause problems when the graphic updates on a daily basis TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

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id:guitar    value:green        legend:Guitars,_vocals
id:bass      value:blue         legend:Bass
id:drums     value:orange       legend:Drums
id:sax       value:yellow legend:Saxophone,_harmonica
id:bars      value:gray(0.9)
id:studio    value:black        legend:Studio_album
id:live      value:gray(0.7)    legend:Live_album

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bar:Gallagher    text:Rory Gallagher
bar:Davidson     text:Sam Davidson
bar:Kitteringham text:Eric Kitteringham
bar:McCracken    text:Richard McCracken
bar:Mills        text:Albert Mills
bar:Niblock      text:Alan Niblock
bar:Damery       text:Norman Damery
bar:Wilson       text:John Wilson
bar:McMullan     text:Lyn McMullan

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bar:Kitteringham from:01/01/1966  till:01/01/1968   color:bass

bar:McCracken    from:01/01/1968  till:31/12/1970   color:bass
bar:McCracken    from:01/01/1996  till:31/12/2010   color:bass

bar:Wilson       from:01/01/1968  till:31/12/1970   color:drums
bar:Wilson       from:01/01/1996  till:31/12/2017   color:drums

bar:Davidson     from:01/01/1996  till:01/01/2022   color:guitar

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bar:Mills        from:01/01/2018  till:01/01/2022   color:bass

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  at:01/01/2009

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  at:31/08/1970

</timeline>

Line-ups

Years	Lineup
1966–1968	Rory Gallagher – guitars, vocals, saxophone, harmonica Norman Damery – drums Eric Kitteringham – bass
1968–1970	Rory Gallagher – guitars, vocals, saxophone, harmonica Richard McCracken – bass John Wilson – drums
1970–1996	Disbanded
1996–2010	Richard McCracken – bass John Wilson – drums Sam Davidson – guitars, vocals
2010–2017	John Wilson – drums Sam Davidson – guitars, vocals Albert Mills – bass
2017–2018	John Wilson – drums Sam Davidson – guitars, vocals Alan Niblock – bass
2018–present	Sam Davidson – guitar, vocals Lyn McMullan – drums Albert Mills – bass

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		GER <ref name="German Charts">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	UK <ref name="UK Albums">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	US <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Taste	Released: April 1969 Label: Polydor	—	—	133
On the Boards	Released: January 1970 Label: Polydor	33	18	—
Wall to Wall	Released: 2009 Label: Bad Reputation	—	—	—

Live albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		AUS <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	BEL FL <ref name="Belgian FL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	BEL WA <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	FRA <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	GER <ref name="German Charts" />	SPA <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	UK <ref name="UK Albums" />
Live Taste	Released: February 1971 Label: Polydor	35	—	—	—	38	—	14
Live at the Isle of Wight	Released: December 1971 Reissued: September 2015 Label: Polydor	—	191	88	181	37	91	41
In Concert	Released: December 1977 Label: Ariola	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Compilation albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		BEL FL <ref name="Belgian FL" />	GER <ref name="German Charts" />	NL <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Pop History Vol. 9 <ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>	Released: 1971 Label: Polydor	—	—	—
The Best of Taste <ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>	Released: 1994 Label: Polydor	—	—	—
I'll Remember <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Released: 2015 Label: Polydor	118	39	38

Singles

• "Blister on the Moon" / "Born on the Wrong Side of Time" – UK, April 1968 ^[a]
• "Born on the Wrong Side of Time" / "Same Old Story" – UK/ EU/ JPN, 1969
• "What's Going On" / "Railway and Gun" – EU, 1970 ^[b]
• "If I Don't Sing I'll Cry" / "I'll Remember" – ESP, 1970<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>
• "Wee Wee Baby" / "You've Got to Play" – GER 1972
• "Blister on the Moon" / "Sugar Mama" / "Catfish" / "On the Boards" – UK 1982

notes:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• a^ - re-released in 1970 with the sides reversed.
• b^ - b/w "Morning Sun" in some countries.

DVDs

• Message To Love – 1995 (Isle of Wight Festival recordings of "Sinner Boy" and "Gamblin' Blues" only)
• What's Going On: Live At The Isle Of Wight - 2015

Bibliography

• The New Musical Express Book of Rock, 1975, Star Books, Template:ISBN
• Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans Of Ping by Mark McAvoy. Published by Mercier Press (2009) Template:ISBN

External links

• Has the covers of all singles, complete discography, everything
• Gallagher life timeline
• Taste live at Rodeo Club - Athens (Greek)