"Black Rose" and "Chinatown" has been re-issued in Deluxe versions. Both Deluxe versions come with an extensive booklet giving insight to both albums and a bonus disc with rare unreleased material.
"Black Rose" was the first
Thin Lizzy album to feature guitarist
Gary Moore.
Gary Moore really wanted to put his signature on the recordings. It was his idea to bring back the "Irish" into the music of
Thin Lizzy. The song
Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A rock legend is a 7 minute display in rock combined with Celtic music.
Thin Lizzy was a rock band but their Irish roots was in the traditional Irish folk music and therefore
Roisin Dubh is tied together with bits of old Irish tunes like
Danny Boy and even a hint of
Whiskey in the Jar.
"Black Rose" spawned 3 singles with
Waiting For An Alibi as the biggest hit single. The classic twin guitar riff combined with Lynott's bass makes it impossible not to tap your toe to. No need to go into further details - one word describes the song "Classic"
Got To Give It Up is the strongest song on "Black Rose" both lyrical and musical wise. The song deals with drugs and drinking. The lyrics stand very strong when you think of Phil´s tragic death caused by abuse. Phil was using drugs and drinking heavily at the time the song was written, so maybe the song was a cry for help. The first two verses deal with coke and alcohol, while the last verse starts with the lines "I've been messing with the heavy stuff - for a time I couldn't get enough" thereby meaning heroin and the title
Got to Give it Up is self explanatory. The song was penned by Lynott and Gorham who both had problems with Cocaine.
Disc two contains 10 bonus tracks with
Don't Believe a Word in a slow version with
Gary Moore and Phil Lynott trading vocals. The tempo is also slowed down for the Nassau session recording of
Got to Give it Up but yet with a blistering up-tempo guitar solo.
"Chinatown" has never been considered as one of the essential
Thin Lizzy albums.
Gary Moore left the band and was replaced by Snowy
White - a member of Pink Floyd's touring band. "Chinatown" is a successful
Thin Lizzy record because they kept the classic ingredients: twin guitars, Lynott's thunderous bass and expressive vocals. The band plays tight and powerful like no other.
"Chinatown" was recorded and released in 1980. Today it still sounds great and even though this isn't a
Thin Lizzy classic the material is high quality. The album ages really well. The duo Snowy
White and Scott Gorham certainly deserves a mention in
Thin Lizzy history.
Thin Lizzy entered the Hard rocking 80's as forerunners with
Killer on the Loose and the title track. A standout track is
Genocide (The Killing of a Buffalo), which is a good representation of the "new" revamped
Thin Lizzy.
The bonus disc contains the splendid rocker
Don't play Around which was B-side to
Killer on the Loose - certainly a song that was strong enough for album inclusion. There are a handful of tracks recorded at soundcheck and also
Dear Miss Lonely Heart, which was on Phil Lynott's solo album "Solo in Soho". The sessions for "Chinatown" and Phil's solo album overlapped. The liner notes says that the members weren't always fully aware whether they were recording for
Thin Lizzy or "Solo in Soho"
If you don't have these albums then purchase. Otherwise do like myself, upgrade your old copy.
Written by
Michael Sunday, August 7, 2011
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