G-Force

by Eduardo Rivadavia
After experiencing his first taste of solo success with a belated second album, Back on the Streets (his first, Grinding Stone, had been released to no acclaim way back in 1973), guitar hero Gary Moore was under pressure to deliver an even stronger follow-up, and seemed to hit a creative wall during the unsuccessful 1980 sessions that would later be unearthed and issued as the Dirty Fingers LP. So when he was given the opportunity to tour America in support of Van Halen, he not only put the stalled recordings on the back burner, but recruited vocalist Tony Newton, bassist Willie Dee, and drummer Mark Nauseef (ex-Ian Gillan Band and Elf) to embark on said tour -- not as Gary Moore -- but as an entirely new band named G Force. The tour was a success in so far as the group subsequently completed an entire album consisting of hard rock fare (significantly more radio-oriented than most Moore material) in Los Angeles, but they would fall apart as soon as Gary was invited to join former ELP man Greg Lake's band, after which he once again resumed his solo career with renewed confidence on 1982's Corridors of Power.