A Great Finish!
In what may be their hardest album, Lizzy offers up some heavy riffing, powerful song-writing, and those always identifiable Phil Lynott vocals. "Like thunder
and lightning,
God damn it's so exciting!"
Thin Lizzy's final studio album, and they certainly went out swinging. If you're looking for the more mellow Lizzy, the one exemplified on the self-titled Thin Lizzy or Shades of a Blue Orphanage, you won't really find that here. If you want to hear Lizzy really wail and pour a ton of energy into their music, then this is a good album to check out.
There are just so many great tracks on this album. Hard hitters like the title track and "Bad Habits" are well balanced by great, somewhat softer tunes like "The Sun Goes Down" and all around great songs like "Holy War" and "Baby Please Don't Go. " This is really just a phenomenal album.
Out with a bang
Thunder and Lightning was not so much a return to form as an evolution into something different. I found Thin Lizzy to be either tired or hit-and-miss during the Snowy White albums. The higher energy numbers like "Cold Sweat" and the title track had more power than Lizzy had shown, and even something moodier like "The Sun Goes Down" still had a dark energy beneath the surface. In a perfect world, there would have been no need to Lizzy to split after this effort, clearly there was life left and the new blood John Sykes brought to the band had to have helped.
I'd seen the other reviews criticizing poor sound quality on the Wounded Bird release, but with no extra tracks on the Import Version I couldn't justify the higher price. True, this is no remaster, but if you're like me and have only had this one on vinyl for 20 years it's good to have a reasonably-priced version you can listen to without "dragging out all the gear". .
Going downtown one last time.
The cover for a start although i may be seen as nitpicking here,is a woeful cover that screams we are Lizzy and we are hard and play Heavy Metal as well as the next band. By the time Phil Lynott and Lizzy reached this album they were standing on one leg.
Of course this was desperation rather than reality talkinh.
Lizzy were a great hard rock band but metal was never a banner they could live under.
I feel unwell and uneasy listening to this recording,given the state of Phil Lynott's health.
A copy of The Rocker a great book about Phil will make it clear how unclean he was.
Cocaine,heroin,booze and a desperate quest to recapture Thin Lizzy's glory years,as he always had Phil lived hard rock to the point that he answered his door in full stage gear.
Given all of this the album itself has some moments,but listening closely you will hear Phil going back to his great grab bag of superior lyrics and riding on their tattered coat tails.
If you want Lizzy,please go back to the mid to late seventies when they were truly great.
Ian. .
Lizzy at their best
So simply put . I don't like dragging out my reviews . . . this is Thin Lizzy's finest studio cd . It is also their hardest rockin' cd. This has the Lizzy debut of the excellent John Sykes on guitar. Every song is a good one . Cold Sweat , Heart Attack , Baby Please Don't Go , Thunder and Lightning and the rest of em . A great cd from start to finish . Buy it !!!!.
Lizzy Goes Metal
Sykes, who has a style similar to the 'metal' Gary Moore and Dio's once own shred god Vivian Campbell, is in amazing form here; As one of my biggest early influences, Sykes energizes every song with some seriously blistering guitarwork; 'Baby Please Don't Go' is filled with all sorts of guitar fireworks, most of which still hold up even today. The addition of John Sykes did alot to make this one of my favorite Lizzy albums; The songwriting is strong, and the band really sound inspired w/it's new direction. Coupled with the lyrical intelligence of Lynott(not to mention his bass playing, which seems to be taken for granted alot of the time. . . ), the underrated drumming of Downey, and 2nd axeman Gorham, 'Thunder and Lightning' just may be one of the most overlooked rock/metal albums of all time; It seems hardly anyone even knows about this album, or chose to ignore it. And it's a shame they didn't get to progress from here with this line-up. R. I. P, Phil. . . Your last work was some of your greatest!!!.
You can see a complete list of all Thin Lizzy discography, or go back to the Thin Lizzy tabs
|
