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

What's the better subtle touch on "Whiskey in the Jar," the extended intro or the keyboards? (Or would you nominate something else, which you are welcome to do?)

Metallica bludgeoned all subtly out of that song for me! It's sad....I can't hear it with pure, un-Helfield damaged ears now! They took something from me I will never get back.

- "i would press delete"

Cooom on!

Love the Lizzy!

classic!

I'M A ROCKER!
I'M A ROCKER!
I'm a roooooller, too, baby.
I'M A ROCKER!

"Cowboy Song" is really becoming my favorite song of all time

so classic

man, fighting is all killer, no filler! probably top ten of all time material for me.

I had no idea they were this good. Somewhere along the line I picked up a prejudice against them, maybe based on my old brother's dismissals (not that I remember any) or a certain friend's snickering mention of them.

Thin Lizzy was/is godhead.

There was a repress of their first album at a record store in STL a few weeks ago. I got excited cuz I never see it anywhere, but it was priced $32.99 and it was already bent up at the corners. No way am I paying that much! So I went back to the used records section and found Bad Reputation for 7.99. It's a better record and I didn't own a copy already. So I won, I guess.

It was the fisheye photo jacket, not the skinny lady's hip.

Word going around that Gary Moore has passed on.

http://www.hotpress.com/Gary%20Moore/news/Gary-Moore-1952--2011-dies-in-Spain/7492280.html

Can't get that link to load but horrible news. I was hoping this was being bumped in light of the Jailbreak deluxe edition coming out this week and Johnny The Fox coming out later this month.

RIP, Gary, if this sad news prove true.

its on the bbc now.

RIP! ;__;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12377862

RIP

Just heard about Gary Moore. Gutted.

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3-TgDjcBL0

RIP :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3yXUunEq8
Still one of my favourite guitar riffs.

Wow, very unexpected. Saw him a couple of times back in the 80s, but he was in the gated drums and weird stage costumes phase so not that good. Funnily enough Phil Lynott guested at one gig in his last ever public performance, he looked awful.

This could be the greatest album cover of all time :

http://www.rockalbumreviews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/back_on_the_streets.jpg

CTRL + RIP

Very sad news. RIP. In addition to his contributions to Lizzy, he did some great work with Colosseum II.

There was a good piece + obituary in The Times (London) today. The online version is subscription only, so I can't get to it to link.

This is an unjustly overlooked Moore record. Nice mixture of soft rock and shredding:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b1/G-ForceCover.jpg

P.S. maybe a mod could add something to title of this thread?

Sad news...

sad news, although i have to admit i'm not as familiar with the Thin Lizzy records Gary Moore played on. what's the best stuff he did with TL?

Black Rose.

RIP to a great guitarist

RIP

I've probably listened to no other group more than Lizzy in the past 6 months. Rock gods.

Was just thinking that the statue of Phil outside Bruxelles in Dublin looked like him in bloated late era.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phil_Lynott_Statue_at_Bruxelles_Dublin.jpg
A bit like choosing to portray Elvis as he looked in the mid 70s over any other era that could be chosen, '56 or '68 much preferable.

I'm just picking up the remastered reissues.
Still not found out why the Eric Bell era ones got delayed for like 5 years or whatever.Grabbed them as soon as I got the chance when they did appear. Love that stuff.
Less familiar with the later era. Love Jailbreak now I've got it. Will gradually pick up the others over the next while.
Not sure why they skipped 2lps, are they going back to reissue them remastered? Did they just skip from the delayed reissues to the most popular lps, then intend to work on from there including those 2?

Hello:

A treasure trove of tapes stashed away by Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott will be released as a boxed set later this year.

Twenty six years after the Dublin rocker's death at the age of 36, more of his lost music will be heard by the public for the first time in June.

Shortly before he passed away in 1986, Mr Lynott gave 150 tapes to a third party for safekeeping. The cache of up to 700 songs has finally been released to record company Universal Music.

"This is an absolutely stunning find," Steve Hammonds, project manager behind the new Thin Lizzy box set, told the Irish Independent.

"In every group there's a member who lovingly collects their recordings and in Thin Lizzy that was Phil Lynott, because Lizzy was his baby and his band."

It will be the second boxed set in recent times to feature archive work by the band, following last year's 'Live At The BBC' release.

But the newly unearthed recordings stretch from Thin Lizzy's years with Decca Records, beginning in 1971, to their 'Renegade' album in 1981.

"There are out-takes, unheard versions of Thin Lizzy hits and, most exciting of all, material which was recorded but never released at the time," said Mr Hammonds.

That sounds amazing! I still need to hear the BBC box.

wow, really exciting news

thought it was really nice (if probably coincidental) that within months of Gary Moore passing away, Sade covered a Thin Lizzy song he's widely considered to have co-written:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW8HHw8kpfM

What fantastic news! They better make this a hefty release, I don't want 700 tracks whittled down to two CDs...

This made me smile:

WHEN A 70-YEAR-OLD GRANDMOTHER PLAYED KEYBOARDS WITH THIN LIZZY

holy shit you guys i just bought this record called "jailbreak" and it might be the like, best thing ever

yes, yes it just may be so. I'm still waiting for someone to unearth and epic 40-minute version of "Emerald".

Are you the Hero?
Are you the Madman?

fighting - jailbreak - johnny the fox - bad reputation - black rose

i honestly can't think of a better five album run in rock

Whatever happened to those unearthed Lynott demos and outtakes? I thought a box set was imminent...

thin lizzy not even being considered for the rock and roll HOF means there is no rock and roll HOF.

I was always under the assumption they were in. Arent jackson browne and billy joel in? How is Thin Lizzy not?

no room for thin lizzy or love or war, room for james taylor and RHCP.

RNRHOF is an exercise in tedium.

"Little Girl in Bloom" is such a jam. it seems lazy to compare that song to the groove of The Unforgettable Fire since both bands are Irish but "Little Girl in Bloom" invents that sound, & I'm guessing Bono et. al. knew it well

holy shit you guys i just bought this record called "jailbreak" and it might be the like, best thing ever

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, October 4, 2012 11:53 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh man, I so envy you just getting into this band... Look forward to tons of jaw-dropping and holy-shitting as you explore their catalog...

Been into Thin Lizzy quite a lot over the last eighteen months or so. . .

Nightlife remains my favorite.

Bad Reputation a close second.

My two favorites for a long time have been "Fighting" and "Johnny the Fox" but there's hardly an album of theirs I don't absolutely love.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7vg7i9QKr1qapqhxo1_400.jpg

That pic was on the cover of Sounds, or maybe NME from 1977 or so. So classic.

I've seen it somewhere before, but it crossed my radar again today and felt it needed to be here.

"Downtown Sundown" is a beautiful tune.

http://bravewords-public.s3.amazonaws.com/images/p17q7j5t3j1fi15061c2fj7p1qdl4.jpg

Some bumwads knocked over and seriously damaged the statue of Phil.

http://www.thejournal.ie/phil-lynott-statue-pushed-over-and-seriously-damaged-904013-May2013/

>:(

death by hanging

A+ attitude from his mom, though.

i actually had an ecstatic reaction while listening to thin lizzy today. like a religious experience. i felt the blood rush into my brain and i honestly felt like i could die happy at that moment. i even said this to maria. that i could die happy right then and there. it was a very visceral and physical thing. powerful. right there in public at the store too.

Only fitting on Phil's birthday.

wow, really, is it? i had no idea. weird.

Very weird. Though that sounds like an amazing experience.

it was the guitars...they lifted me out of the world and it didn't seem like a bad place to be. so suddenly!

which record, outta curiosity?

"i actually had an ecstatic reaction while listening to thin lizzy today. like a religious experience. i felt the blood rush into my brain and i honestly felt like i could die happy at that moment. i even said this to maria. that i could die happy right then and there. it was a very visceral and physical thing. powerful. right there in public at the store too."

what about the kids?

i was listening to Bad Reputation. but this didn't happen during "Dear Lord". that would have been appropriate. i think it was actually during "Opium Trail". its all a blur.

"what about the kids?"

there are feelings that go beyond mortal considerations. the kids would be sad if i died. but they'd be okay. they have lots of love around them. i don't want to go yet though. still got records to listen to.

it has a good reputation
xpost

don't let the kids listen to this record though lol!

It's unbelievable that there are only two mentions of "For Those Who Love to Live" on ilx.

reminds me i need to wdyll beside the newly restored phil statue right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANIkF5Ar4GE

About 3 or 4 times a year I think to myself BEST FUCKIN' BAND EVER. EVER.

Just got Black Rose (finally) which is making me think that at this very moment.

otm

holy shit you guys i just bought this record called "jailbreak" and it might be the like, best thing ever

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, October 4, 2012 11:53 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so this just happened to me approximately 35 minutes ago.

where has this been all my life

That's a good thing to have happen to you, for sure.

It's unbelievable that there are only two mentions of "For Those Who Love to Live" on ilx.

― how's life, Thursday, August 22, 2013 8:12 AM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I would like to take the time to mention it again though. This song is hard as fuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N454-BOIhfI&feature=kp

i literally knew no thin lizzy other than BABIT before now. And I have listened to shit-tons of classic rock in cars all my 44 years of life. Weird how these blind spots can happen. Weird and awesome because hello new thing to flip out over!

whoa 'Emerald' here's the egg for all of Slough Feg's oeuvre!

Yeah, the other stuff doesn't make it on the radio at all ever and it's fucking criminal.

my wife seems to think 'Jailbreak' (the song) is pretty standard FM staple. She's from Boston and I'm from Minnesota, maybe it's regional AOR variances...

i turned on the radio a few months ago just as "Cowboy Song" was ending and was like nooooooooooooooooooooo

waht?

nooooo as in like wait i wanna hear the whole thing run it back

Yeah, no, I get that you wanted to hear it. I'm just surprised it was played!

Like, maybe this world is changing.

tbf my local classic rock station goes pretty deep in the crates. i just hadn't heard that particular song on there before.

What station is it though? I mean, I would be listening to the same station. Last time I listened to the Bay (which was for like a month straight) it was all the same old stuff, and 98 rock seems more modern rock oriented.

oh right, yeah, you live around here! it was The Bay, i'm pretty sure. it's pretty same-old-stuff-ish but i still hear pleasant surprises on there fairly regularly.

cowboy song gets a turn on the classik rock station in Sac every now and then

grotesquely swollen Sac

in this heat you're not kidding D:

the extra cymbal hits in the live and dangerous version of "jailbreak" make it even more awesome

http://i.imgur.com/QMBMslN.jpg

heard night life for the first time ever recently. i've listened to it many times since then. what a great band

on such a Lizzy jag at the moment. no diss on other heavy rock and metal bands, but were any ever as romantic and vivid and joyful and witty and poetic storytellers as Phil fuckin' Lynott?

I heard "Got To Give It Up" for the first time about 2 weeks ago and it's been running through my head a LOT.

CLASSIC!

Ridiculously catchy song

the video for Old Town is my happy place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2OcIqwmSaY

Everyone is so over-familiar with 'The Boys are Back in Town' by this point that I wonder just how many people have caught on to how neat the chord changes in the verses are?

I love "got to give it up" but I always sing the "back in town" lyrics over the verse. They match up really well

man, bad reputation is good, good times

i actually had an ecstatic reaction while listening to thin lizzy today. like a religious experience. i felt the blood rush into my brain and i honestly felt like i could die happy at that moment. i even said this to maria. that i could die happy right then and there. it was a very visceral and physical thing. powerful. right there in public at the store too.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 20 August 2013 18:03 (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bless you scott

TL is great music to take a shower to

Where's a good place to start with this band?

jailbreak, bad reputation, or black rose. they have several awesome albums and ways in tbh hard to go wrong

Their self titled debut is amazing too, winning combo of Lynott's Celtic mysticism/Van Morrisonesque childhood nostalgia/hard rocking riffage

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