[2020-06-12] Thin Lizzy "Essential Thin Lizzy" budget 3CD set (Spectrum UK)

Linda · **Posted:** Tue May 12, 2020 8:56 pm

Description
When it comes to ‘hard rock’ few would dispute that Thin Lizzy helped define the genre. Formed in Dublin in late 1969, by July 1970 they’d released their debut single whilst the first of their 12 albums would appear the following year. Chart success was still a way off but when it came at the start of 1973 it was with the glorious single Whiskey In The Jar (UK No.6). They would score 7 further top 20 hits over the next 8 years and place no less than 8 albums in the UK top 20, 3 of which would make the top 10 and 4 the top 5.

Disc 1 opens with one of their best loved singles and a timeless classic, The Boys Are Back In Town (UK No.1). Do Anything You Want To (UK No.14) follows before another certified A-grade classic, 1977’s wonderful Dancin’ In The Moonlight (UK No.14). Punk rock might have been raging at that point but it’s an irresistible slice of pop rock. Don’t Believe A Word (UK No.12) is next up and again is simply classic Lizzy at their best. Bad Reputation, the title track from their 1977 top 5 album follows ensuring pulses continue to race and for the most part the rest of CD1 keeps the listener rocking. One notable change of pace comes with the beautiful Still In Love With You.

Disc 2 starts with another top 10 hit and acknowledged rock classic Waiting For An Alibi (UK No.9), the aforementioned hardy perennial Whiskey In The Jar (UK No.6) and Chinatown (UK No.21). The title track from their top 20 album Johnny The Fox (Meets Jimmy The Weed) is up next, the drum break from which was sampled by many in the early days of US hip hop including Tricky Tee and The Beastie Boys, whilst on these shores The Prodigy lifted it for their own ‘Breathe’. Further key album tracks and lost single Trouble Boys complete the rest of CD2.

Disc 3 kicks off with the menacing Killer On The Loose (UK No.10) and the equally robust Jailbreak (UK No.31) before giving way to the beautiful Sarah (UK No.24), a song of love to Lynott’s new daughter. The hard rocking picks up again with Cold Sweat (UK No. 27) and Little Darling whilst the swaggering south American flavoured Mexican Blood, The Rocker and the Cowboy Song all help demonstrate why the band’s albums performed so well and with the live cuts across this set why they were such a formidable proposition on stage.

After numerous line-up changes, Thin Lizzy called time in 1983 but just over two years later were planning to reform. Initial home studio demos (sadly lost) recorded in December 1985 had been promising but it was not to be. With 1986 just 4 days young lead singer and main song writer Phil Lynott died aged 36. Allmusic’s John Dougan wrote "As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition." Meanwhile musically from the mid-70s onwards, they’d championed the use of two lead guitars and whilst this created tensions within the group that would lead to a number of stellar names passing through the their ranks, it also gave them a unique sound which evolved down the years and influenced the likes of Def Leppard, Metallica and Iron Maiden. Thin Lizzy are due to be celebrated through a major documentary and extensive box set in the coming year. The boys may never be back in town again but their music will always be around. Enjoy.

Tracklist
[CD1]
1. The Boys Are Back In Town
2. Do Anything You Want To
3. Dancing In The Moonlight (It's Caught Me In Its Spotlight)
4. Don't Believe A Word
5. Bad Reputation
6. Killer Without A Cause
7. Sha La La
8. Emerald
9. Are You Ready (Live 1976)
10. Roisin Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend
11. Hollywood (Down On Your Luck)
12. Warriors
13. Toughest Street In Town
14. Still In Love With You
15. The Sun Goes Down
16. Soldier Of Fortune

[CD2]
1. Waiting For An Alibi
2. Whiskey In The Jar
3. Chinatown
4. Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed
5. Rosalie
6. Fighting My Way Back
7. Angel Of Death
8. Randolph's Tango
9. The Holy War
10. Opium Trail
11. Trouble Boys
12. Baby Drives Me Crazy (Live 1978)
13. Dear Heart
14. Wild One
15. We Will Be Strong
16. Leave This Town
17. Massacre

[CD3]
1. Killer On The Loose
2. Jailbreak
3. Sarah
4. Cold Sweat
5. Little Darling
6. Mexican Blood
7. A Song For While I'm Away
8. Black Boys On The Corner
9. The Rocker (Live 1978)
10. Southbound
11. King's Vengeance
12. Johnny
13. Renegade
14. Genocide
15. She Knows
16. Got To Give It Up
17. Cowboy Song

Amazon USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087SGSR14/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087SGSR14/?tag=imwan-21

Carmine · **Joined:** 31 Dec 2014 **Posts:** 30

Wow- For $11.99 that’s a pretty strong 3CD compilation for someone who just wants to pick up a representative collection of Lizzy material without making a major investment!

JohnG · 03 Aug 2006

I agree. I’m a little weak on Thin Lizzy so this fits the bill nicely.

Invisible Pedestrian · **Joined:** 24 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 26163

This comp is all over the place and includes obscure tracks and leaves out classics.

You’d be far better off with the 2CD Greatest Hits from 2004.

Charlie · **Joined:** 23 Dec 2014 **Posts:** 14199

The 2CD set that Pedestrian is talking about:

Amazon USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00029R5MK/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00029R5MK/?tag=imwan-21

JohnG · 03 Aug 2006

Mark MN · 13 Aug 2012

Here's the track list of a comp I made a few years back, using the songs from the Vagabonds set for the most part.

1 - Rosalie
2 - Still in love with you
3 - Showdown
4 - Suicide
5 - Wild One
6 - Jailbreak
7 - Angel from the coast
8 - Running Back
9 - Romeo & the lonely girl
10- Warriors
11 - Boys are back in town
12 - Fight or fall
13 - Cowboy song
14 - Emerald
15 - Johnny
16 - Don't believe a word
17 - Fool's gold
18 - Johnny the fox meets Jimmy the weed
19 - Massacre
20 - Dancin' in the moonlight

Notice I ended up with most of Jailbreak on it. :lmao:

Before I get criticism on the track list, these songs are my all-time fave tunes by TL. It's always subjective from person to person.

As one can see, it only goes up to '77.

Carmine · **Joined:** 31 Dec 2014 **Posts:** 30

Invisible Pedestrian wrote:

This comp is all over the place and includes obscure tracks and leaves out classics.

You’d be far better off with the 2CD Greatest Hits from 2004.

All due respect- but as a major Thin Lizzy aficionado, IMHO that’s simply not very good advice.

The 2CD Greatest Hits set DOES NOT EVEN COME CLOSE to giving you what you get with the 3CD Essential set, which gives you a far more comprehensive and career representative compilation- and for the same price!

Have you actually looked at the track listings?

Here’s what’s on “Greatest Hits” that’s not on “Essential”:

Thunder And Lightning
Dedication
Showdown
Dear Miss Lonely Hearts
Out In The Fields (Gary Moore & Phil Lynott)
Pariesiene Walkways (Gary Moore & Phil Lynott)

Now, look at what’s on “Essential” that’s not on “Greatest Hits”:

Killer Without A Cause
Sha La La
Warriors
Toughest Street In Town
Soldier Of Fortune
Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed
The Holy War
Opium Trail
Baby Drives Me Crazy
Dear Heart
We Will Be Strong
Leave This Town
Massacre
Mexican Blood
Southbound
King’s Vengeance
Johnny
Renegade
Genocide
She Knows
Got To Give It Up

Plus a nice little sampling from Lizzy’s early 3 piece lineup:
Little Darling
A Song For While I’m Away
Black Boys On The Corner
Randolph’s Tango

“Obscure tracks”? Hardly.

Aside from what’s listed above, all other tracks are the same across both sets- so there’s far more “classics” left off the Greatest Hits... literally no comparison really.

Invisible Pedestrian · **Joined:** 24 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 26163

I 100% disagree.

What casual fan wants Mexican Blood, Dear Heart and Genocide?

This is not aimed at a casual fan.

Spectrum releases are notorious for being thrown together like the ones from Asia and Rainbow.

Also, this release ignores the first three albums.

There’s no bigger fan than me and I would not recommend this to someone investigating the band.

Just my opinion.

Carmine · **Joined:** 31 Dec 2014 **Posts:** 30

Sorry, but a comparison of the track listings suggests that there’s not much logic behind that statement. The Essential set gives you 95% of what’s in the Greatest Hits set- plus a whole lot more. Why would anyone want to pay the same amount to get less?

For these songs?
Thunder And Lightning?
Dedication?
Showdown?
Dear Miss Lonely Hearts?

The “casual” fan (whatever definition that might be) who doesn’t know more than a half dozen Lizzy songs wouldn’t know these tracks from anything else the band has done- and frankly there’s much better stuff to be found among the abundance of extra tracks included in the Essential set.

I would say that this Essential set is aimed at the fan who wants to go a bit beyond “casual” (already has some general working knowledge of the band’s albums) but doesn’t want to have to buy the entire back catalog to explore a representative body of their discography- which is exactly what I’d want if I’m taking the next step to investigating a band (why would I want to categorically ignore the first 3 albums?). For that person, Essential is a more complete and well rounded overview of their entire catalog than Greatest Hits.

Again, my opinion. We can agree to disagree.

ARK · **Joined:** 23 Mar 2013 **Posts:** 1320

“Dedication” IS a big miss on this new compilation

ranasakawa · 26 Jan 2007

I just got 'all' their albums up to 1983 and that will do me.

[2020-06-12] Thin Lizzy "Essential Thin Lizzy" budget 3CD set (Spectrum UK)

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