Philip-Lynott.com

Lizzy Come Lately

Bristol Colston Hall

Friday 22nd October 1976 - Record Mirror

1976 will be remembered as the year of the Lizzy.

Few bands have made the impact the four piece rock band Thin Lizzy have made on the concert going and record buying public over the past months.

So far they’ve come up With two superb albums, “Jailbreak” and “Johnny The Fox”, had two singles in the charts “The Boys Are Back in Town” and “Jailbreak”, and wowed concert audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

Their brief but brilliant Hammersmith appearance earlier this year showed the band to be in top gear, playing a set which was both visually and musically exciting.

Those features are included in a current major UK tour.

It's not been a year without problems though. Their front man, Phil Lynott was out of action with a virus Infection, and a highly successful US tour was cut short.

It’s not been a year without problems though. Their front man, Phil Lynott was out of action with a virus infection, and a highly successful US Tour was cut short.

He wasn’t fully recovered for their Hammersmith gig, but soldiered on in true showbiz tradition and gave a performance to be proud of.

Shortly after, they set off for Munich to record “Johnny The Fox” but things didn’t quite go as expected.

On the approach to Munich their plane had difficulties with landing gear and they had to make an emergency landing. No one was hurt then, but a few days later guitarist Brian Robertson cut his hand on a breadknife and had to have five stitches.

But the biggest problem was getting the right sound. It just wasn’t happening, so they returned to Britain.

Phil Lynott takes up the story: "It was just crazy in Munich," he says.

"We'd recorded there before and It went OK, but this time round something didn't work right for us.

"So we spent the whole of August in the Ramport Studios over here getting the album done.  We had a schedule to meet for the new album and we met it."

The result was “Johnny The Fox”. It's being broken In gradually to their stage act with “Massacre”, “Johnny” and “Fools Gold” in what Phil describes as “the melodic half” of the programme.  The other half is devoted entirely to rockers.

Most of their material now comes from the last three albums, which were on Phonogram Records, though their former company Decca neatly cashed in on their success story this year by releasing “Remembering Part l”, a compilation of earlier material made when the group worked as a trio using guitarist Eric Bell and for a short period Gary Moore.

The Decca period gave the band their first single hit “Whiskey In The Jar”, an adapted traditional number.  It's become something of a millstone round their neck, since many people still connect the band with the song and expect them to it.

But they’re a different band these days.

Phil shrugged his shoulders when asked about the re-release of old material.

“We had a say in it though” he assures. "If a product is being put out with our name on it we want to be sure it meets with our approval before the fans get a chance to hear it”.

Their artist Jim Fitzpatrick. who has provided them with some stirring cover artwork, did the cover for “Remembering” creating a link between past and present.  The band carry their supervision of product right down to the badges, t-shirts and belts on sale at their concerts.

One number from their early days that's found its way back into their repertoire as a result of the re-released album is “The Rocker” which was recently issued as a single.

Phil says it virtually sums him up.

Phil and original drummer Brian Downey still form the essential heart of the group, a supercharged rhythm section providing the equally important front and rear attack.

Out front Lynott bends down with his bass pointing out threatening the audience. At times he looks dangerously close to toppling over but with a wave of a clenched fist, he's back up to the and delivering those hard, clever lyrics.

The new excitement in the band comes from the thrilling Scottish-American alliance between guitarists Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham. They create a sharp edge for numbers such as “Warriors”, making wide use of riffs and solos and equally effective but more restrained sounds for “Cowboy Song”, which they slip onto the end of “Rosalie” for the live act.

An essential part of a Lizzy gig is a spot of audience participation which I witnessed on Friday at their Bristol Colston Hall gig, where Phil had them singing along “Baby baby babyee” on “Baby Drives Me Crazy”.

That's usually the end of the act but a crowd is likely to ask for more and get it, as on Friday, with “Me And The Boys Were Wondering How You And The Girls Are Getting Home From Here Tonight”, and then if you're lucky a further encore such as “The Rocker”.

Those of you who can remember Lizzy from a few years back but haven't seen them lately should try and catch them now.

It's not that they've just found form, they seem to have succeeded in turning that promise into a definite direction.

The Boys are delivering the goods.

DAVID BROWN