THIN LIZZY – BLACK ROSE LP – Nr MINT 1Y1 UK

Thin Lizzy – Black Rose
(Vertigo Records  1979  9102032)
Matrix No’s: 1Y1/2Y2 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– wear to edges/corners
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Thin Lizzy are a rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist and lead vocalist Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott led the group throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums, writing most of the material. Thin Lizzy’s most successful songs, “Whiskey in the Jar” (a traditional Irish ballad), “Jailbreak” and “The Boys Are Back in Town”, were all major international hits. After Lynott’s death in 1986, various incarnations of the band emerged over the years based initially around guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes, though Sykes left the band in 2009. Gorham later continued with a new line-up including Downey.

Lynott, Thin Lizzy’s de facto leader, was composer or co-composer of almost all of the band’s songs, and the first black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. Thin Lizzy boasted some of the most critically acclaimed guitarists throughout their history, with Downey and Lynott as the rhythm section, on the drums and bass guitar. As well as being multiracial, the band drew their members not only from both sides of the Irish border but also from both the Catholic and Protestant communities during The Troubles. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock, and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal. Rolling Stone magazine describes the band as distinctly hard rock, “far apart from the braying mid-70s metal pack”.

AllMusic critic John Dougan has written that “As the band’s creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition.”^[2] Van Morrison, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix were major influences during the early days of the band, and later influences included the pioneering twin lead guitars found in Wishbone Ash and American artists Little Feat and Bob Seger.

In 2012, Gorham and Downey decided against recording new material as Thin Lizzy so a new band, Black Star Riders, was formed to tour and produce new releases such as their debut album All Hell Breaks Loose. Thin Lizzy plan to reunite for occasional concerts.

Black Rose: A Rock Legend is the ninth studio album by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Released in 1979, it has been described as one of the band’s “greatest, most successful albums”.

The album debuted and peaked at No. 2 in the UK album charts. It was the first time that blues rock guitarist Gary Moore remained in Thin Lizzy long enough to record an album after previous brief stints in 1974 and 1977 with the band.

Track listing

Personnel

Thin Lizzy

• Phil Lynott – bass guitar, lead vocals, twelve-string guitar, producer on “With Love”
• Scott Gorham – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Gary Moore – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Brian Downey – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Jimmy Bain – bass guitar on “With Love”
• Huey Lewis – harmonica on “Sarah” and “With Love”
• Mark Nauseef – drums on “Sarah” (uncredited)^[4]

Production

• Tony Visconti – producer