Thin Lizzy: Classic or Dud?

Hstencil to thread!

In any event, fuckin' classic, and anyone who suggests otherwise has their head way, way, way up their ass.

The Robertson era is great too, though, don't get me wrong. I like basically everything up through Bad Reputation. Actually, I haven't heard anything after that, so I might like it too! About a month ago though I heard some archival King Biscuit Flower Hour concert on the local classic rock station, from the era with the dude from Whitesnake. It was kinda bad, actually. All arena gestures. Phil sounded tired.

Yeah, I spotted that too.

Damn, I really need to get those Lynott solo albums.

This is an exception that breaks the rule. Its John Sykes and Scott Gorham's travelling shrine to Phil Lynott. In the past they've also toted along one of the old Lizzy keyboard players, Mark Mendoza and Tommy Aldridge.

And, man, do they smoke for a few dollars. I was a skeptic but the live "Thin Lizzy" album they made a few years ago is very good, altogether superior to the final Lizzy live album and good to hear alongside "Live and Dangerous."

It's true. The rep on them is really grass-roots.

Don't forget Black Oak Arkansas. "Raunch & Roll."

Side One
1. Jailbreak
2. Angel from the Coast
3. Running Back
4. Romeo and the Lonely Girl
5. Warrior
6. The Boys Are Back in Town
7. Fight or Fall
8. Cowboy Song
9. Emerald
10. Killer Without A Cause
11. Dear Lord

Side two
1. Soldier of Fortune
2. Bad Reputation
3. Opium Trail
4. Southbound
5. For Those Who Love to Live
6. Suicide
7. Wild One
8. Fighting My Way Back
9. Spirit Slips Away
10. Sweetheart
11. Sugar Blues
12. Killer on the Loose

The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle
Honesty Is No Excuse
Shades Of A Blue Orphanage
Rocker
Black Boys On The Corner
Whiskey In The Jar
Showdown
It's Only Money
Sweet Marie
Suicide
Rosalie
Cowboy Song
Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed
Jailbreak
We Will Be Strong
Cold Sweat
Dancing In The Moonlight
Opium Trail
That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart
Toughest Street In Town

They went downhill after Black Rose imo

Yeah, start at Jailbreak is an easy enough answer, but just make sure you don't STOP at Jailbreak. I'm a fan of Fighting, in addition to the albums Brad mentioned.

They went downhill after Black Rose imo

― The World According To.... (Michael B), Monday, December 2, 2019 7:28 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

thunder and lightning is great though! sometimes my favorite

Just listening to Emerald and dang the guitars are magnificent. Also, I'd not realised how much Iron Maiden copped from Lizzy: this is the template for a whole bunch of Maiden stuff - sonically and structurally.

the iron maiden s/t is just faster thin lizzy, and that's why it rules

jailbreak is as good a starting point as any imo, cause it has some of their (deservedly) best-known songs and the rest of the tracks are as good or better. and it cuts a great balance between muscular hard rock and heart-on-sleeve pub rock. 'fight or fail' has always been a personal favorite of mine.

The Boys are Back in Town is a song that cannot be worn out.

Great driving music as well.

I really love the Eric Bell era. 1st lp has everyone playing rhythm and lead simultaneously.2nd lp is a bit less intense.
Hadn't really looked into the later era before the deluxe editions 10 years ago and I still need to pick up a couple.
I have a live set with John du Cann on one of the 2 guitars somewhere not sure he stands out as much as elsewhere.
But band was pretty great for a long time.
& Phil is among the guests on the Johnny Thunders solo lp So Alone too.

No-one has mentioned LIVE AND DANGEROUS yet either

Oh should have done. It was the one post 3piece lp I had by them for years.

oooh yeah live and dangerous has definitive versions of a lot of their best work.

the lyrics to Got To Give It Up break me every time

the iron maiden s/t is just faster thin lizzy, and that's why it rules

this is an excellent take

i always rep for nightlife and bad reputation; but truly, the run from nightlife to black rose is pretty stellar. that said, first three albums are still really good and should be sought out eventually.

jailbreak is as good a starting point as any imo, cause it has some of their (deservedly) best-known songs and the rest of the tracks are as good or better. and it cuts a great balance between muscular hard rock and heart-on-sleeve pub rock. 'fight or fail' has always been a personal favorite of mine.

"Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town"

I'd imagine it'll be taking place at the jail, Phil. Great track though, and great band.

IT'S A METAPHOR

Or maybe there are several jails in the town. It could be a big town!

FUCKING VAGABONDS RULES. FUCKING THE HERO AND THE MADMAN

FUCKING FIGHTING. FUCKING JOHNNY THE FOX

barreras otm

'still in love with you' off live and dangerous absolutely crushes me

most amazing and melancholy guitar solo

starts off like a codeine song, ends up like dinosaur jr

'still in love with you' off live and dangerous absolutely crushes me

― Wee Bloabby (NickB), Monday, 9 December 2019 12:59 (two hours ago)

that bass! trickles like tears running down your cheeks

Nothing to celebrate about Phil dying on this day in 1986 but the t-shirt is too good not to share. pic.twitter.com/Fd0r6PNy3r

— GlennA (@GlennAirey) January 4, 2020

a day late with this.

Emerald/Still In Love With You (Live) back to back for an epic emotional thursday night shred party

A mere smidgen:

https://www.stereogum.com/2095399/thin-lizzy-rock-legends-box-set-unreleased-tracks/music/

And now, for the 50th anniversary of the band’s formation, Universal is embarking on a big reissue campaign to underline the group’s legacy, the first installment of which is a giant box set. The career-spanning compilation features six discs of rarities, demos, radio sessions, and live recordings. Altogether, there’s 74 previously unreleased tracks.

In addition to all the music, there are also a couple DVDs featuring the BBC documentary Bad Reputation and the band’s performance on Rod Stewart’s 1976 TV special A Night On The Town. The set also includes a bunch of book material, spanning everything from reproductions of old tour programs to Phil Lynott’s poetry.

I just noticed this four-CD box set that was released back in 2006: https://www.discogs.com/master/view/282774

Apparently never released in the U.S. which probably explains why I've never seen one. Anyone have this? There's a few tracks I would have included from Live and Dangerous but otherwise it looks pretty solid.

Sorry, 2001, not 2006 - apparently it was reissued in 2006 in more compact packaging with a cheaper price.

I've got it, and it's a great into to Lizzy. The thematic tracklisting thing goes against my own preference for chronological, but...

POP FACT! i just moved house, but i was living one street away from the clifton grange hotel in manchester - which lynott's mother used to run. the boys are back in town is about a manchester gang who used to frequent the hotel. 'the quality street gang'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Street_Gang

That’s a pretty great name for a gang

Just listened to this interview with Huey Lewis who mentioned that Phil Lynott was a mentor to him in the pre-News days when Huey was in Clover. Starts around the 26 minute mark.

https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/huey-lewis/

quality street gang rules

I heard they couldn't fight for toffee

A few of them were hard nuts.

Listening to "She Knows," the Van Morrison influence on Lynott's vocal is pretty charming, especially the brief scat at 2:40. And I really dig the exquisite guitar solos that follow, not to mention those smooth drum fills that punctuate them.

Anyway, great stuff - musically, the record feels like a lovely marriage between Hall & Oates's No Goodbyes and Steely Dan's Katy Lied.

This slipped by too - Thin Lizzy gets a LOT more press in the UK than the US, that's for sure - but here's Record Collector's review for the next box set that's out this week. This part is pretty insane:

"The first in a series of archive releases, Rock Legends will satisfy collectors disappointed with the Warriors, Kings, Vagabonds, Angels (2001) box set’s paucity of rarities. By comparison, this hits the motherlode, with 74 previously unreleased tracks, sourced from an extensive cache of newly recovered master tapes, long rumoured to exist. Nick Sharp, one of the consultants involved in compiling Rock Legends, told RC that the tapes were retrieved when outtakes from Johnny Thunders’ So Alone album appeared on eBay. Knowing of Lynott’s contributions, the seller was contacted and found to be the custodian of the Lizzy tapes. Despite having at one point been stored in the damp confines of a barge on the Manchester Ship Canal, the majority of tapes were salvageable, and the songs chosen for inclusion have been newly mastered."

Maybe it'll be in the booklet but how does a stash of master tapes like that wind up sitting in a barge?

This may be the greatest maritime rarities salvage incident since the Grateful Dead's houseboat tapes.

holy shit

I listen to Thin Lizzy like once a week, just a miraculously good band

holy shit

it's been a while for me, but Jailbreak and Black Rose are impeccable. need to finally dig through the rest of their oeuvre.

FIGHTING!

I, too, have joined the Church of Lizzy & Lynott.

Well that'll do ya

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/thin-lizzy-live-and-dangerous-super-deluxe-edition/

The super deluxe edition of Live And Dangerous finally puts to bed the myth that the album was extensively overdubbed in the studio, and demonstrates that Thin Lizzy was one of the best live bands of the 1970s.

Old Dan in a raincoat
hums the very, very, very special notes
Of a long lost favorite melody
It reminds him of a love affair
when he was young and did not care
And how he parted so soft, so sadden

Something so Irish about that verse. Reminds me of “The Dead”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_rPiCCnpY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXM3zCestm8

Peak Phil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SP6ZyCZsQM