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Good Ones is a thrice-weekly email newsletter that tells you about a really cool song and then sorta just talks about it or about something else but usually ties it up pretty well in the end.
This is the Wednesday edition.
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Thin Lizzy were continuously judged for what they weren’t rather than what they were.
Jailbreak was Thin Lizzy’s last chance at commercial success before the label was going to drop them, and in 1976, was their sixth release. Fronted by Phil Lynott who exerted creative control over the group, sang, and played bass, Thin Lizzy’s songs were often thrown in the newly burgeoning “hard rock” category, which was a way to blur the lines between the early 70s heavy metal sounds and the dominant pop rock that was dominating the airwaves throughout the rest of the 70s.
“Jailbreak” delivers on that promise. Released in 1976, it features Lynott’s classic sort of talk-singing over a hard, straight, palm-muted riff. In a lot of ways, released at the same time as early Ramones and Sex Pistols material, “Jailbreak” shows how groupthink got people to similar sounds without the punk image, though Lynott would later play tribute to punk music in subsequent albums.
Robert Christgau thought Thin Lizzy was boring, but then again, so’s Robert Christgau. Searching for a comparison, Thin Lizzy was often compared to Springsteen or Van Morrison, but those comparisons didn’t quite capture the dimensions of the group’s songwriting fully.
The fact is, Thin Lizzy kept redefining what their music was to themselves, writing songs that pulled influences from folk traditions, country music, and jazz, too. And trying to compare Thin Lizzy to anything other than Thin Lizzy just doesn’t quite give you a complete formula.
Advanced Reading
Thin Lizzy would go on to write a number of concept albums after Jailbreak, and they’re all great, but perhaps their tightest work was Bad Reputation from 1977. It gave us such great tracks like “Southbound,” a ballad-esque rock song, or the heavily swung soul-inspired “Dancing In The Moonlight” (not that one). But it’s the title track that really kicks ass. Built around a heavy double-time drum rhythm, and a big drum fill interlude for the chorus while the guitars hit a really heavy riff, it sounds like nothing else in the rock world.
The song really gives Brian Downey a chance to shine behind the kit, and the core of the track’s composition starts to almost feel like a free jazz bop with extensive drum soloing. The album was produced by Tony Visconti, a veteran of the glam rock and proto-punk scene, and it shows.
While Jailbreak is significant for how the songs re-oriented how people looked at rock ‘n roll as a genre, Bad Reputation is their secret sleeper hit album.