Izvajalec: Thin Lizzy
Založba: Mercury Records
Izid: 1976
Trajanje: 35.52
Buckle up, dear friends, because “The Boys Are Back In Town”. “Warning, Jailbreak” screams the cover of the legendary and all-too-often overlooked album with which Thin Lizzy, after four more or less failed attempts at a big breakthrough (Fighting doesn’t count), finally manage to break the ice. And what a way to do it! Jailbreak is without a doubt one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music. Sure, it never reached the status of In Rock, Machine Head, the first Led Zeppelin records and other legendary albums, but it still stands as one of the peaks in the long story of rock & roll.
If you like real rock & roll, with balls and all the other “culinary” extras, this is definitely the album for you. From the opening guitar punch, which erupts like a volcano with all those long-suppressed emotions, to the wild slaughter that closes things out in Emerald, Thin Lizzy keep us in a whirlwind of tireless guitar and drum dancing on Jailbreak, with the rhythm dictated the whole way by Lynott and his uncompromising bass playing. Long story short, Phil and co. finally show that they’ve truly matured into proper hard rock daddies! That goes especially for Mr. Lynott, whose poetry still remains endearingly simple, yet deep and moving all the same.
Well, there’s nothing moving to be sensed in the opening track, which carries the name of the album. This is the classic Thin Lizzy approach, but with a much sharper-edged guitar that quickly lodges itself in the listener’s ear. “Tonight There’s Gonna Be A Jailbreak” Lynott drives home right at the start, hinting that caution is anything but superfluous here. The boys are thirsty for a fight, and after all those years of “abstinence” we couldn’t blame them even if we wanted to. The song is pure wild energy, perfect for opening both the album and the actual gigs. The “Lizzies” saw their way onward with Angel From The Coast, whose lighter approach, unlike the opening rampage, gives no hint of Phil describing dirty mafia business. The song leaves us in a joyful mood, mostly thanks to the colorful interplay of the two guitars and, of course, Phil’s convincing delivery. Running Back and Romeo And The Lonely Girl try to paint us a picture of romantic dreaminess, always strongly mixed with the typical melancholy of rainy Dublin. These are really two typical Phil Lynott numbers, which, once again thanks to his soft, gently storytelling voice, rise well above average. And just when you’d almost forgotten the album’s killer opening, Lynott jolts us awake again with Warriors. The Robertson – Gorham duo sounds rawer than ever before, giving this tale of fallen rock heroes (we’re talking about Hendrix and Duane Allman) outrageous power. Surely one of the more mysterious Thin Lizzy creations, especially seen from Lynott’s perspective, considering his later fate. Chilling, no question.
So we slowly arrive at the track by which most casual listeners know Thin Lizzy today. Of course, I’m talking about The Boys Are Back In Town, with which Thin Lizzy finally broke through onto the world’s charts. It’s a really catchy song, but as far as commercial success goes, it may even do Phil and co. an injustice, because the guys were surely capable of much greater masterpieces back then. Whatever the case, “Boys” is considered indispensable in any rocker’s playlist these days. And speaking of masterpieces, one of them is Cowboy Song, where Lynott, with his description of loneliness, is probably talking about himself. Robertson and Gorham, in their own signature style, selflessly chip in their share of this emotional outpouring. Both Cowboy Song and Emerald, with Phil’s lyrics, go back to his troubled childhood, in which, identifying with various legends of Irish mythology, he fought against all the injustices of this rotten world. A wild and thoroughly stirring finish to the album, with practically everything any lover of real hard rock could need! It’s quite likely that Lynott’s crew didn’t even fully realize at the time what a masterpiece the old-timers had just handed their fans, which we can thank their run of previous, awfully average albums for. But in spite of everything, with Jailbreak they did manage to create a document that today shouldn’t be missing from any real rocker’s shelf.
Zasedba
Phil Lynott: vocals/bass
Brian Robertson: guitar
Scott Gorham: guitar
Brian Downey: drums
Produkcija
John Alcock
Seznam skladb
1.Jailbreak
2.Angel From The Coast
3.Running Back
4.Romeo And The Lonely Girl
5.Warriors
6.The Boys Are Back In Town
7.Fight Or Fall
8.Cowboy Song
9.Emerald
