Thin Lizzy
(VH1 Classic)
This recently discovered live recording catches Thin Lizzy near its peak, on the late 1977 US tour in support of Bad Reputation. The band's distinctive dual guitar sound - the foundation for a whole generation of British metal bands - is in full flame here, and the live production, emphasizing the low-end far more than studio releases, gives a sense of just how powerful the band's rhythm section was in a concert setting. Moreover, Phil Lynott, by all reports a troubled, difficult frontman, seems relaxed and happy, his Irish brogue thickening and thinning as he introduces his songs and band.
It was a period of relative calm for this always contentious band. Phil Lynott had been ill with hepatitis during much of 1976, but was generally healthy again. His definitive line-up, the one from Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation had reconvened again with Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson on guitars and original drummer Brian Downey. Robertson had been kicked out of the band in 1976, when he broke his hand in a fight, but had returned for the Jailbreak sessions as a "guest" and now was back in the line-up. (Though not for long. He would leave again for good in 1978.)
Still Dangerous comes from roughly the same period as Thin Lizzy's first official live album, Live and Dangerous, which went to #2 in the UK and cemented the band's reputation as a ferocious performer. Yet unlike the sanctioned "live" album, this one is actually live, no retouching, no overdubs. As you might expect, its versions of classics like "Boys are Back in Town," "Jailbreak" and "Cowboy Song" are far rougher than the studio incarnations - but they are also more evenly mixed, so that you can hear the bass and drums. The cartwheeling guitar interplay is still there, still exhilarating, and Lynott's singing is just as wonderfully soulful and warm even at its loudest. But here, you get more of a band sound than you ever heard on the radio, an intimation of just how heavy and propulsive Lynott's bass playing was and how integral Downey's drumming. ("Massacre" turns almost tribal in this version.)
You also get a real sense of Lynott the showman, leading the crowd in handclaps through "Cowboy Song," basking in the cheers for big songs like "Boys are Back in Town" and "Jailbreak," promising "sex and sax" from new single "Dancing in the Moonlight," easing the audience into an as-yet-unheard song called "Opium Trail."
This line-up of Thin Lizzy lasted through just one more album (Live and Dangerous), and as the 1970s ended, punk rock began to push aside the kind of outsized, guitar-centric music that Lynott specialized in (although it should be noted that Lynott also maintained his credibility among the punks, even teaming with former Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones in the intentionally short-lived combo the Greedy Bastards). Guitarists began to come and go with alarming speed, and Lynott's substance problems to catch up with him. Thin Lizzy continued to tour and record, but never reached the peak of creativity and popularity of the late 1970s. Still Dangerous is a time capsule, a window onto a great band at its absolute best, in its natural, large-scale concert habitat.
Standout Tracks: "Jailbreak", "The Boys are Back in Town" "Cowboy Song" JENNIFER KELLY
