Elly Roberts reviews
Thin Lizzy
Greatest Hits
Distributed by
Universal Music TV
- Year: 2004
- Rating: 9/10
- Cat. No: 9821111
Track listing:
Disc 1:
1.The Boys Are Back In Town
2.Jailbreak
3.Don’t Believe A Word
4.Dancing In The Moonlight
5.Rosalie
6.Waiting For An Alibi
7.Do Anything You Want To
8.Sarah
9.Chinatown
10.Killer On The Loose
11.Trouble Boys
12.Hollywood
13.Cold Sweat
14.Thunder And Lightning
15.The Sun Goes Down
16.Dedication
17.Still In Love With You
Disc 2:
1.Whisky In The Jar
2.Out In The Fields
3.Parisiene Walkways
4.Emerald (live)
5.Bad Reputation
6.Wild One
7.Fighting My Way Back
8.Showdown
9.Black Rose
10.Dear Miss Lonely Hearts
11.The Rocker
12.Are You Ready
13.Renegade
14.King’s Call
15. Angel Of Death
16.Cowboy Song (live)
17.The Boys Are Back In Town (live)
Get your tennis racquets out and plug in!
Out right now is a big fat double disc of Thin Lizzy’s Greatest Hits.
This 36-tracker celebrates the glory days of a band that should have reached
much greater heights. They not only made some good albums, but they consistently
notched up an impressive list of evergreen singles – charting 19 times between
1973 and 1991.
Thin Lizzy was a hard – nosed band whose music was mostly distinguished by the
strong macho themes of Phil Lynott’s songs i.e. The Boys Are Back In
Town, celebrating male camaraderie and comic book heroism, as opposed to
the Glamrockers of the day. After a slow start, they threw the jingly electric
guitar intro of Whisky In The Jar at us (B-side The Rocker) and
we were eventually intoxicated by them.
It took a further 3 years in May ’76 for the hits to roll out, on average two a
year. Main features of their sound was Phil Lynott’s sublime bass playing and
strained vocals, the twin guitars, which over a period, included Gary Moore,
Snowy White and Midge Ure. It wasn’t just pulsating decibel onslaughts
a la Jailbreak and Killer On The Loose, because they had a tender
side with lush hooks on the funky Dancing In The Moonlight and love ballad
Sarah, which always included great choruses.
Two previously unreleased live tracks are added – Cowboy Song and The
Boys Are Back In Town – confirming their status as a great live band. They
officially disbanded in 1983. Lynott had hits with the storming single Yellow
Pearl in 1981, with Gary Moore on the divine Parisienne Walkways (1979)
and Out In The Fields in 1985 (all included).
Following a drug overdose in early ’86, he succumbed to pneumonia and heart
failure. Ah – great memories of Art College discos.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
