I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy-oh

December 12, 2009 7:02 AM

I love the album Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy. What other Thin Lizzy records should I check out?

I have never heard any other Thin Lizzy albums, but as I look at the ratings and reviews on AllMusic, the preceding album (Fighting) and the three subsequent releases (Johnny the Fox, Bad Reputation, and Black Rose) are all rated 4 or 4.5 stars. Where should I start?

posted by Ike_Arumba to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

boypublisher here, I would like to preface this first by saying Jailbreak is an incredible record - likely one of the best and most consistent genuine rock records of all time. Sadly, The Liz never really got close to this at any other time in their career. The 4 records you do mention are worth considering, with Fighting probably being my favorite of those. The live record Armed and Dangerous is solid as well if you want possibly a different take on some of those Jailbreak songs you love, and hear some of the cuts from Black Rose, Bad Reputation and JTF.
posted by girlpublisher at 8:50 AM on December 12, 2009

Honestly, everything from the first album through Bad Reputation is great. I like Jailbreak the best, but all the other ones are close. If you can only choose one, though, go with Bad Reputation.
posted by NoMich at 8:53 AM on December 12, 2009

My favorite is the eponymous first album. It's not like Jailbreak though. It's a weird country/semi-speed-rock hybrid.
posted by cmoj at 8:56 AM on December 12, 2009

John Alcock (studio designer for The Who) engineered Jailbreak and the next album "Johnny the Fox", too. So those two albums are the most similar, sonically speaking, but there's really no other Thin Lizzy album that comes close to the awesomeness that is "Jailbreak".

I think "Fighting" (the album before Jailbreak, self-produced by Phil Lynott) runs a distant second, personally.

If you really want a kick-ass followup to "Jailbreak", try "Tres Hombres" by ZZ Top.
posted by Aquaman at 9:31 AM on December 12, 2009

How has no one said Live and Dangerous yet?
It is a live album, yes, but I'd bet even people who tend to hate live albums would love it. A true classic. Hilarious cover, too.
posted by plungerjoke at 9:41 AM on December 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

How has no one said Live and Dangerous yet?

There's no "Armed and Dangerous" afaik, so I'm pretty sure that's the live album girlpublisher/boypublisher was talking about.
posted by effbot at 12:29 PM on December 12, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the recommendations. I'm going to work my way through all the suggestions above.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 1:53 PM on December 12, 2009