THIN LIZZY – THUNDER AND LIGHTNING LP – Nr MINT US 1983

Thin Lizzy – Thunder And Lightning
(Warner Bros Records  1983  923831   US Press)

Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– import cut top left edge

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition

Thin Lizzy are a hard 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 featured several 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.” 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.

Thunder and Lightning is the twelfth and final studio album by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1983. Guitarist John Sykes was hired to replace Snowy White after 1981’s Renegade, and Sykes helped to provide a heavier sound and guitar tone than Thin Lizzy had used on previous albums. However, the bulk of the songwriting (except for “Cold Sweat”) was completed before he joined the band. Keyboard player Darren Wharton also offered a stronger musical influence to Thin Lizzy’s final studio album, co-writing many of the tracks including “Some Day She Is Going to Hit Back”, and the final single “The Sun Goes Down”. A farewell tour followed the album’s release, followed by the live album Life. The group’s co-founder, frontman and bass player Phil Lynott died in 1986 from drug-related causes.

Track listing

Personnel

• Phil Lynott – bass guitar, vocals
• Scott Gorham – guitar, backing vocals
• John Sykes – guitar, backing vocals
• Darren Wharton – keyboards, backing vocals
• Brian Downey – drums, percussion