Thin Lizzy

To celebrate 50 years of Thin Lizzy Universal Music are releasing Rock Legends, a 6CD+DVD box set that features an astonishing 74 unreleased tracks. This box covers the band’s whole career with audio newly mastered by Andy Pearce. The content encompasses a raft of unreleased material including demos, radio sessions, live recordings and rare single edits. The track listing has been compiled by Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham and Lizzy expert Nick Sharp from a collection of newly discovered tapes most of which have never been heard before.

Inside Thin Lizzy 1971-1983: An Independent Critical Review offers a look at each of the band's albums during this period alongside archival footage of the band in concert and in various television appearances.

Thin Lizzy was originally conceived as a power trio in the image of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but Eric Bell lacked the charisma of those groups' guitarists, forcing vocalist/bassist Philip Lynott to take center stage from day one. Despite his already poetic, intensely personal lyrics, Lynott was only beginning to develop as a songwriter, and the band's unfocused, folk-infused early efforts are a far cry from their mid-'70s hard rock glory. Recorded on a shoestring budget, their self-titled debut is surprisingly mellow; many songs, such as "Clifton Grange Hotel" and "The Friendly Ranger of Clontarf Castle," sound confused and unfinished. Quiet ballads like "Honesty Is No Excuse," "Eire," and "Saga of the Ageing Orphan" abound, while supposed rockers such as "Ray-Gun" and "Return of the Farmer's Son" fall remarkably flat. In fact, Lizzy only bare their claws on "Look What the Wind Blew In," a gutsy rocker that hints at things to come.

2011 two CD release, a collection of tracks taken from the BBC owned Lizzy recordings that still exist in the archive and charts the inexorable rise of the band: From the first steps as a three piece on the Decca label, to the glory days as one of the greatest live acts of all time. This collection brings together sessions and live recordings from throughout the band's career including the last concert with Phil Lynott from the Reading festival in 1983.