Win 7 Thin

Thin Lizzy's final studio release, Thunder and Lightning, was their most consistent album since 1979's Black Rose. Guitarist John Sykes replaced Snowy White, and the new blood must have inspired Lynott and company to write some of their best compositions in years. Although a pop-metal production hinders the tracks, there's more of a harder edge present than on their last release, Renegade. While the title track served as the ensuing tour's raging opener, half-baked lyrics detailing a fistfight and an unwarranted synth-solo weakens what should have been a straight-ahead rocker. But such heavies as "This Is the One" and "Cold Sweat" suit the band much better. Lizzy takes a stab at dance-rock with "The Holy War," while laying back with the tranquil "The Sun Goes Down" and the album's underrated highlight, the melodic "Bad Habits"…

After achieving a reluctant Top Ten hit with a rock version of the traditional Irish pub ballad "Whiskey in the Jar," Thin Lizzy began work on Vagabonds of the Western World – their third, and ultimately last album for Decca Records. The single's surprise success gave the band bargaining power to demand more money and time to record, resulting in their first sonically satisfying album. The environmentally-conscious R&B of "Mama Nature Said" kicks things off with Eric Bell leading the way on slide guitar. The overblown "The Hero and the Madman" and the tepid "Slow Blues" threaten to derail the proceedings, but all is well again when the band break into their first bona fide classic "The Rocker."

The 1978 concert in Australia features an array of fan favourites including ‘Jailbreak’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, ‘Bad Reputation’ & more. Although this has been out before on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD this new edition features remixed audio, restored visuals, and includes five additional performances from the concert that have never been officially available…

Thin Lizzy found their trademark twin-guitar sound on 1975's Fighting, but it was on its 1976 successor, Jailbreak, where the band truly took flight. Unlike the leap between Night Life and Fighting, there is not a great distance between Jailbreak and its predecessor. If anything, the album was more of a culmination of everything that came before, as Phil Lynott hit a peak as a songwriter just as guitarists Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson pioneered an intertwined, dual-lead guitar interplay that was one of the most distinctive sounds of '70s rock, and one of the most influential. Lynott no longer let Gorham and Robertson contribute individual songs – they co-wrote, but had no individual credits – which helps tighten up the album, giving it a cohesive personality, namely Lynott's rough rebel with a heart of a poet.

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.

Thin Lizzy's final studio release, Thunder and Lightning, was their most consistent album since 1979's Black Rose. Guitarist John Sykes replaced Snowy White, and the new blood must have inspired Lynott and company to write some of their best compositions in years. Although a pop-metal production hinders the tracks, there's more of a harder edge present than on their last release, Renegade. While the title track served as the ensuing tour's raging opener, half-baked lyrics detailing a fistfight and an unwarranted synth-solo weakens what should have been a straight-ahead rocker. But such heavies as "This Is the One" and "Cold Sweat" suit the band much better. Lizzy takes a stab at dance-rock with "The Holy War," while laying back with the tranquil "The Sun Goes Down" and the album's underrated highlight, the melodic "Bad Habits"…

Jailbreak was such a peak that it was inevitable that its follow-up would fall short in some fashion and Johnny the Fox, delivered the same year as its predecessor, did indeed pale in comparison. What's interesting about Johnny the Fox is that it's interesting, hardly a rote repetition of Jailbreak but instead an odd, fitfully successful evolution forward. All the same strengths are still here – the band still sounds as thunderous as a force of nature, Phil Lynott's writing is still graced with elegant turns of phrase, his singing is still soulful and seductive – but the group ramped up the inherent drama in Lynott's songs by pushing them toward an odd, half-baked concept album. There may be a story within Johnny the Fox – characters are introduced and brought back, at the very least – but it's impossible to tell. If the album only had an undercooked narrative and immediate songs, such digressions would be excusable, but the music is also a bit elliptical in spots, sometimes sounding theatrical, sometimes relying on narration.