Jailbreak (and to a lesser extent, Johnny the Fox) notwithstanding, even Thin Lizzy's most ardent fans would probably admit that the seventies Irish hard rock band was spotty at best when it came to their studio albums.
Not so as a live band however. Onstage Thin Lizzy was another story — some would say they were another band — entirely. With the classic lineup of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, and the dual lead guitar attack of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson, Lizzy's high energy shows in fact earned them a reputation as one of the best live bands of their era. If there was a such thing as a don't-miss act outside of Zeppelin and the Who way back then, Thin Lizzy was it - or at least, they were about as close as you could get.
For that reason, Thin Lizzy's Live & Dangerous remains one of the seminal live hard rock albums of the seventies. Unfortunately, it's never had a sequel - at least, until now.
With the new Still Dangerous: Live at the Tower Theater Philadelphia 1977, the newly christened VH1 Classics label, along with the folks at Eagle Rock, have unearthed a gem of a long lost Thin Lizzy show.
Culled from tapes recently discovered by guitarist Scott Gorham, the CD captures Thin Lizzy playing their asses off at a Philadelphia show, a concert remixed and remastered here by legendary Rolling Stones producer Glyn Johns — who came out of retirement to do the honors. The only question here is, how on earth could a show this smoking hot have sat in a box gathering dust all these years?
What you hear on this CD is the sound of a still hungry band just coming off a successful tour that most observers felt was about to propel them to that next level of superstardom. They sound like it too. On the album's ten tracks, Lizzy sound like a much tighter band than they ever did on Live & Dangerous. Yet they match the energy of that classic show riff for riff. The dual leads of Gorham and Robertson — which predated the southern-rock model of bands like the Allmans and Skynyrd by a few years — cut particularly sharp here, proving just how underrated they really were.
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Article comments
1 - bottleneckbill
I was lucky enough to see Lizzy at the Orpheum in Boston on their Bad Reputation tour and at the Paradise (also in Boston) on the Chinatown tour and they were an incredible act. A few years ago I saw the Gorham/Sykes version in Denver and it wasn't even close but it was great to hear the old songs again. I'm looking forward to the new CD and to add it to my Lizzy collection
2 - Blacksabfan
Sorry, but this CD is a pile of crap. Here's why:
1) It's not the full show. It's tracks taken from two different nights. This is stupid considering that Wolfgang's Vault has the 10/20/1977 show available for download, and it fits onto one disc. There was really no reason to NOT include a full set list. This brings me to my next point...
2) They changed the song order! If there was one thing that Lizzy was good at, it was putting together a great set list for their live shows...so why the hell did the order get changed around. The spirit of the show is completely lost.
3) Some of the songs are the same tracks that appear on L&D. And other tracks are the same ones you hear on every compilation. What about "Johnny"? It's one of their best songs and never gets it's due, and they had the chance to include it here and they didn't. Stupid.
Basically if you're new to Lizzy, don't even buy this. It's not a true representation of Thin Lizzy at its best.
3 - muddymaesuggins
man is this review filled with errors.
Thin Lizzy's studio albums were spotty??? what hogwash that is! Fighting, Jailbreak, Bad Reputation, Johnny the Fox, Black Rose, Chinatown, Renegade and Thunder & Lightning are all brilliant albums from start to finish and all in different ways.
And are you really insinuating that the Who, Zeppelin and mmmaybe Thin Lizzy were the ONLY can't-miss acts back then? Are you KIDDING me?? What about ZZ Top, Queen, AC/DC, Skynard, Alice Cooper, Rick Derringer, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Max Webster, Montrose, Judas Priest, UFO, Sweet, Blue Oyster Cult and Blackfoot??? I wasn't even alive back then and I would kill to have been able to have seen those bands play in their prime. Pretty big contrast between then and now, when there are, hmmm.... ZERO can't-miss rock bands on tour that aren't already past their prime.
And, unbelievably, one of the highest compliments you give Thin Lizzy isn't even accurate. The Allman Brothers were already using twin guitar harmony lines on songs like "Jessica" as early as 1973. Thin Lizzy was around then, but they were still a power trio and weren't using those trademark guitar harmonies yet.
4 - philster
The original live and dangerous album was overdubbed in the studio as Phil was not happy with the performances....so how much of that album is live we will never know..The undubbed version was bootlegged heavily over the years..alot of folks including myself think it is better than the overdubbed version...flubs and all...this new release "still Dangerous" is the official release of that bootleg only remixed...to be honest with you...the bootleg is still better!!!
5 - Jeff Marvel
I was at both Lizzy shows at the Tower Theatre and they were the best concerts Iwas ever at period.