The precocious maturity Taste displayed on its 1969 debut album renders the subsequent accomplishment(s) of their second record all the more impressive. Having so fully documented their approach on the two LPs, the dissolution of the Irish blues-rock trio later in 1970 thereby seems inevitable.
As documented in 1971’s Live Taste, the threesome could succumb to the same self-indulgent bombast that often afflicted their contemporaries in the power trio realm. However, at least on their two studio efforts, including this second one, released thirteen months after its recording in December 1968, the group exerted no small amounts of both self-discipline and restraint.
On this sophomore effort titled On The Boards (released 1/9/70) Taste wastes no time in proffering a variety of styles to accompany and enhance the overall precision of its ensemble playing. The acoustic textures of “Railway And Gun” stand out in even more significant relief following the rough-and-tumble electricity of “What’s Going On,” and the jazz inflections of Gallagher’s guitar and vocals are redolent on “It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again.” The latter cut also features the titular leader of the group playing a spirited alto saxophone but in the context of the LP. it’s hardly a non-sequitur: he also warbles on harmonica to good effect for “If The Day Was Any Longer.”
Whatever personnel and/or management friction arose to split Taste beyond repair eventually, there’s no evidence of fracture on this Tony Colton-produced thirty-six minutes. “Morning Sun” stands out among these ten originals of Rory’s precisely because it’s readily discernible as a modified blues. Yet it comes off as an authentic homage to roots rather than a derivative indulgence. And that very distinct impression is further reaffirmed through the former cut’s juxtaposition with “Eat My Words:” Gallagher’s frenetic but pointed slide guitar dominates an arrangement wherein the rhythm section of bassist Richard McCracken and drummer John Wilson propel each other as well as the frontman.
In deceptively vivid contrast, the title song belies the slang definition of its title (“membership in the theatrical profession’). The pointed, exploratory nature of the performance gives the distinct impression it was improvised on a barebones structure. Yet all the action thrives on its spontaneity, especially as more saxophones appear toward the end to enhance the ghostly atmosphere the group conjures up.
While no selection here is more directly reflective of the double image photo on the front cover of On The Boards, most of the tracks run roughly half as long as that six minutes plus. The concise approach is further testament to Taste’s innate recognition of the difference between the stage and the studio displayed throughout this LP.
With the extended perspective of a half-century plus, the final two numbers of On The Boards set the stage for the Rory Gallagher solo career inaugurated later this same year with his eponymous debut. For all intents and purposes, “See Here” is a solo number, while “I’ll Remember” would seem to be the threesome’s way to reflect upon collectively and bid adieu to their shared career: with no bit of finality, Gallagher, McCracken and Wilson rattle and hum, with no little flourish, to signal the conclusion of their time together.
The trio would not dissolve until later in 1970. Their rousing, crowd-pleasing appearance at Britain’s Isle of Wight festival in August of ’70–the complete show of which was reissued as What’s Going On: Live At The Isle Of Wight in 2015 on CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray–enhanced the Taste legacy even more than its billing for Cream’s farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall in November of 1968. So, the half-century perspective applied to On The Boards highlights its standing as emphatic punctuation to the group’s relatively brief four-year existence.
