Published on Dec 8, 1997
Thin Lizzy – best known for the hit “The Boys Are Back In Town,”
was one of many bands that didn’t get enough exposure when they
were around. Philip Lynott, bass player, was the frontman/singer.
Like Jimi Hendrix, he was the leader of a group consisting of
himself and two white musicians. The only difference was that
Lynott played bass, Hendrix played guitar. The common ground both
Hendrix and Thin Lizzy shared, was that they both knew how to
ROCK!
More than ten albums were recorded before Lynott (like Hendrix),
died of complications of a drug overdose in 1986.
The two songs that I remember getting a lot of radio airplay by
this band, was (of course) “The Boys Are Back In Town” from 1976’s
Jailbreak, and “Dancing In The Moonlight” from 1977’s
Bad Reputation; (not to be confused with King Harvest’s tune
of the same name; both songs are different). Also, “Jailbreak” did
get some minor airplay too.
After listening to the
Jailbreak album, my conclusion was that this band really
knows how to ROCK! Grabbing my rock encyclopedia, I found out this
band released more than two handfuls of albums: 12 studio albums, 2
live). Obviously, I wanted to hear more of this band from Dublin,
Ireland.
The band’s second album,
Shades Of A Blue Orphanage, was released in 1972. This album
starts out with a 7-minute rocker: “The Rise And Dear Demise Of The
Funky Nomadic Tribes.” As the lyrics in this song state: “Got to
keep-a- movin’, got to keep-a-movin’ on,” it really DOES gets you
movin! Another great tune in this same vein is “Call The Police.”
These two songs just plain ROCK!
“Buffalo Gal” and “Sarah (Version 1)” are slow numbers; they
slow down the pace for the other upbeat/rocking tunes. The title
track is also a slowie. The short two-minuter “I Don’t Want To
Forget How To Jive” has a Stray Cats/50s beat. “Chatting Today”
showcases just Lynott on vocals and lead/rhythm acoustic
guitars.
“Brought Down” is a half-slow/half-rockin number, featuring some
cool chorus vocals with cool vocal sound effects. “Baby Face” is
another cool rockin’ tune, and like “Brought Down,” also has vocal
sound effects; in a way, they’re kind of psychedelic.
Shades Of A Blue Orphanage is pretty evened out — there are
some rockers, and slow-based tunes throughout.
Thin Lizzy had many personnel changes throughout the years, just
as long as Philip Lynott was there to front the band. Original
guitarist Eric Bell would be replaced by a future great guitarist,
Gary Moore. In fact, Moore would leave the group and later rejoin,
more than once. Original drummer Brian Downey remained throughout
the years of the group’s existence.
To describe Thin Lizzy in one word, is just plain cool. Their
“hard-nosed” rock and masculine/macho lyrics is definitely a man’s
band. Any of their albums are definitely worth the price. I don’t
think I’ve heard any of their albums that received a less-than-fair
review. Their music is exciting and never boring. Some of their
album covers are incredible:
Jailbreak,
Vagabonds Of The Western World, and
Chinatown.
Again, this band rocks, and if you want to discover a band from
rock’s past, Thin Lizzy would definitely be somewhere at the top of
that Rockin’ List.