Thin Lizzy, Black Rose

Thin Lizzy, Black Rose (Vertigo-1979)

So we have all heard the hits Whiskey in a Jar and The Boys Are Back in Town but most people have missed out on the bands best work and here it is.

With the hits being available on rock compilations I see why most people just skim over the bands catalog thinking they were the only good songs. But here is a chance to get a great rock album.

Opener "Do Anything You Want To" was that good it was a single and a great start. Nice big bass and drums hit you then that trademark twin Lizzy guitar riff comes in. This album welcomes Gary Moore to the studio recording for the first time in the bands history (he had replaced others on tour but left before recording twice). His blues sound is evident but not taking anything from the rock band at all. Riffs are less loud and more melodic. Add in Lynott on Bass the album has plenty of skill here.

"Toughest Street in Town" and " S and M" continue the great rock music and could all easily fill dance floors in any rock pub. "Waiting for an Alibi" has that guitar riffing back again with nice vocals and lyrics from Phil. Classic solos and guitar shapes follow here as well. The outro riff would make most want to pick up a guitar. Catchy and also very raw, the band were known for touring and this can still be heard in the production.

Phil Lynot shows his soft side in "Sarah" written about his newly born daughter. It is a nice slow one with little bits of mouth organ and nice 12 sting guitar. This was released as a single in 1979 and gained some alternative fans who think the band were all about hard rock.

The mellow and less musically serious side from Phil is evident in "Got to Give It Up" a song about his drug problems. You can hear it in his voice he sounds very much unhappy. Classic Lizzy guitars and a great chorus make you forget the real problems.

"Get Out of Here" was co wrote with Midge Ure and could be a small token to all the people who have left the band in the past (Ure was asked to finish the tour as Moore left). "With Love" follows nicely into "Róisín Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend" the album has been named after this stunning song and it is a riff paradise.

The last song is all traditional songs given a rock arrangement. It really should not work but does and so well. The twin guitars work so well here that the reason they were invented is more of skill. For those who do not know why the band have two guitars playing the same riff, the band had and still did have problems with keeping guitar players. So Lynott hired two so that if one went he had another that meant live dates were able to be played. So so simple but it was never done before and let onto the birth of the twin guitar riffs the likes of Metallica and many more guitar bands after them done.

Listen to the song carefully and the lyrics are like a poem to all who are Irish or have have Irish roots. It is really just a tribute to Ireland with Black Rose slang for Ireland other things in the song are famous people from Ireland from James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan are all Irish authors referenced in this song in amazing ways. Van the man is Van Morrison, soccer man is George Best and many many other things. As said it is all done in a traditional style with four songs used in the whole seven minutes in that twin riffing and his voice it is amazing to listen to. It is like mixing a history lesson and a music lesson in one. Simply stunning and I have yet to hear anything replicate it.

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