Each week, a different artist comes out of the jar and I listen to them solidly.
This week it was the turn of duelling guitar aficionados, Thin Lizzy.
What I Knew Before: My dad had Jailbreak on vinyl when I was a kid so I knew those songs better than I knew how to spell my own surname. It’s also very confusing that the opening lyric of the album “tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town” is confusing because there’s only one place a jailbreak can take place, and that’s at the jail.
What I Know Now: Phil Lynott was an incredible figure in rock ‘n’ roll and was unashamedly himself. He could party better than a lot of them and his songwriting is on another level.
They went through a Spinal Tapian number of band members, particularly guitarists.
Thin Lizzy pioneered/popularised the harmonised guitar sound for which they are known.
Their work gets really interesting from 1974 onwards when they added a second guitarist because Phil decided it would be a good backup for when one of them quit. This became the sound for which they are known and during this period they produced my favourite albums of theirs (Jailbreak, Bad Reputation, Black Rose)
This documentary is very important:
Favourite Song(s): Cowboy, Whiskey In The Jar, Dancing In The Moonlight.
Favourite Album(s): Bad Reputation, Jailbreak, Black Rose.
My thanks to Sarah for the recommendation.
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