Thin Lizzy Band

Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist and vocalist Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums. Thin Lizzy's most successful songs, "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back in Town", were all major international hits which are still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations.



Thin Lizzy
Probably the greatest band to come out of Ireland, Thin Lizzy are somehow eternally underrated, which suits them. The twin guitar attack of Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham is probably the most influential aspect of their sound, their harmonized leads setting a template for hundreds of rock and metal bands to come. But they were so much more than a rock band. Fronted by Phil Lynott, an imposing guy who looked like he could take anyone in a brawl, the band’s songs were filled with hard-luck characters, tough-skinned poetics, and an undeniable romantic streak, in the classic sense of the term. Lynott was a storyteller first, ass-kicker second. With the ability to switch from blistering rock like “Are You Ready” to arena-filling pop songs like “The Boys Are Back in Town” to passionate ballads like “Still in Love with You” there was seemingly nothing the band couldn’t do until Lynott’s untimely death in in 1986 at just 36 years old.


Recommended Listen:
Jailbreak

Crash Course
1. Jailbreak
2. Live and Dangerous
3. Nightlife

Compilation Replacement:
Dedication: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy

Signature Songs:
1. Whiskey in the Jar
2. Rosalie
3. The Boys Are Back in Town
4. Cowboy Song
5. Dancing in the Moonlight

Personal Note:
Including a live album in the crash course is a new decision for me, but seemed fitting to give the real picture of Lizzy. Bad Reputation and Fighting would have made great selections, too, but the live record gives an indication of the aspect of their sound their records never fully captured, for all their greatness, and Nightlife gives you a different picture than those two records, which are in a similar vein to Jailbreak. For those looking for a visual component, go on youtube and find their Live at Rockplast show and you won’t be disappointed.

 

hell yeah. Jailbreak is such a great, great record. i don't know many songs that fill me with as much rock 'n' roll joy as 'The Boys are Back in Town' does

 

Yes! Thin Lizzy rules. Please tell me you're making threads for all the classic rock greats haha.

 

I just got really into them this past week so this is quite serendipitous. Jailbreak is phenomenal.

 

Hah until people get annoyed with me for it, you bet.

They were kind of a humbling band for me. I thought I knew what they sounded like and what I thought of them, and then I listened to Jailbreak and heard stuff like "The Cowboy Song" and was like "Nope. I'm an idiot and this is amazing".

 

In that case, I'll echo what everyone else has said about Jailbreak, such an awesome record and Phil is so distinctive vocally. Plenty in their catalog to dig into.

 

Really want to do a lot of relistens this week and make sure I get to Black Rose at the very least.

 

I only know two of their songs off the top of my head, Whiskey in the Jar and Boys are Back in Town. So like Merle last week, they're another artist who are a massive blind spot. Look forward to checking them out a bit more over the next week!

 

Literally the only things I know about this band is "The Boys Are Back in Town" and the fact that that song was always labeled as a Bruce Springsteen song on Limewire.

 

More or less why I picked them. The best music fans I know tend to have no idea how awesome they are

Also we haven't really had a rock band yet

 

Ooooooh man I am excited for this. I have a really busy week but I'm definitely going to make sure I carve out time to listen to a few of these records.

Like some other have said, 'The Boys Are Back In Town' is literally the only thing I know by these guys.

 

Dancing in The Moonlight is an all time favorite.

 

Jailbreak is wayyyy more Van Morrison-esque than I imagined! I had this impression that they were an ACDC / Black Sabbath band, but there's so much soul and jazz to this. The "tra-la-la-las" on Running Back are straight out of the Van playbook. This is totally not what I was expecting, but I'm loving it. There's so much melody and hooks on here, makes them so much more interesting than a lot of other "classic rock" bands.

However, they can also shred and rock like the best of them! Boys are Back in Town is obviously a blast, as is the opening track, and the killer solo on Romeo. Just great, great fun, but a huge depth to it that I wasn't expecting. They're great musicians, really tight rhythm section on these tracks, and Phil Lynott is a gripping vocalist. So much to love about this.

I'll admit to kind of pre-judging Thin Lizzy as a bit of an uninteresting classic rock band, but I was so, so wrong about that! This album is wonderful, and I feel like I've been seriously missing out, because I bloody loved this.

 

Nightlife is a bit less interesting to me than Jailbreak, I appreciate that they're doing more than just rock 'n' roll, they get pretty funky on a few tracks, Slowdown in particular. They're clearly a versatile and talented band, able to dip their toes in more than a few genres with confidence and success. However, I think the songwriting took a massive step up on Jailbreak, so listening to this just a few hours after loving Jailbreak feels a little more understated in comparisons.

I did enjoy this, and it clearly shows their ability and versatility, but I think that Jailbreak is comfortably the better album between the two.

 

The most American sounding rock band, and they're Irish. Absolutely love this band and Phils songwriting

 

This post absolutely makes my day. I feel like that pre-determined idea of how they sound is so common. Pretty sure I thought the same way myself years ago. And the trippy thing is they are SO good at the sound everyone pigeonholes them in, too, and then can do SO much more.

Yeah I mostly put this one in the crash course because I wanted to show a different side of them. Fighting and Bad Reputation are much more in that Jailbreak sweet spot, but Nightlife shows a bit more range. Plus it has "Still in Love with You" which is easily one of my favorite songs of theirs.

 

Listening to Jailbreak right now against my will. Title track was cool. Angel from the Coast is really good musically. The horns on Running Back are a nice touch too. I've always hated the big singles but none of these sound like that so far lol.

 

This band has so many great deep cuts it's hard to pick a favorite, but I've always felt a special connection to "Wild One." Always makes me think of my dad.

 

I always sort of pre judged Thin Lizzy as being a singles band, but Jailbreak was such a great album front to back!

Going through the crash course tonight while I watch the Cubs Cards game.

 

Listened to Bad Reputation for the first time in awhile. Maybe I messed up not putting it in the crash course. This is hard. It's excellent, with the exception of the pretty average title track (why the hell is it the title track). "Dancing in the Moonlight" is the clear highlight though. They had a lot of swinging, jazzy R&B Van Morrison-esque songs, but this one perfected it. The horns alone. The record is definitely better produced than Jailbreak and Johnny the Fox before it, and that's a huge plus.

 

First spin with Black Rose. Definitely another top-tier album from them. The production is a step up from their early stuff, but a little cluttered at times. You can definitely tell they had changed guitarists. Gary Moore does terrific work all over the record, but it's more ferocious and they don't really do much of their signature harmonized lead playing.

"Waiting for an Alibi" is a huge highlight for sure, and rightfully had a big place in their live shows. "My Sarah" might be the peak of Phil's tender side, written to his daughter, and just lovely. The back to back combo of "Got to Give It Up" and "Get Out of Here" plays like a desperate suite and is a perfect example of their ability to go from moody and atmospheric to one of the most driving rock bands around. Only "S&M" really doesn't work. It just can't find a tone lyrically and the music is a bit of a mess, too.

 

I can't think of a band who creates a stronger sense of musical momentum than what they do on Jailbreak. The whole album feels like it's on a forward slant. It's such an energetic album. These songs have a general sense of fun running throughout that's really special to listen to