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Rating: The black panther threatens the city under a huge and bright moon, pierced by a Roger Dean lettering. The black panther would be Phil Lynott, as already mentioned in all the other reviews on this site, half Brazilian and half Irish. He was part of Skid Row, was expelled from them and formed the Orphanage, where he met drummer Brian Downey, who then became Thin Lizzy with guitarist Eric Bell. And up to this point, we knew that.
1973: Thin Lizzy, with three albums to their name, were almost at breaking point (or rather "disbanded"): dropped by Decca, coming off more than modest record sales and tours that saw disastrous public attendance, they were on the brink of financial ruin, despite the success of the recent hit "Whisky In The Jar". They were left without the first guitarist Eric Bell at first, and his occasional replacement Gary Moore after, and even the two guitarists hired on a temporary basis, Andy Gee and John Cann (from Andromeda). Drummer Brian Downey, frustrated with the situation, was on the verge of leaving.
Thanks to a stroke of genius by manager Chris O'Donnel, Thin Lizzy managed to sign a contract with Vertigo, playing the "enfant prodige" card again, saying that the band included an eighteen-year-old guitarist (presumably Gary Moore, as he had been five years earlier in Skid Row...) and they were immediately signed by the record label.
For many, this is where the "real" Thin Lizzy starts, the one with the two guitarists Scott Gorham and Brian "Robbo" Robertson. I prefer to say that the so-called "classic" lineup was inaugurated, no longer a power trio, but a perfect quartet. Scott Gorham, born and raised in California, had moved to London with the aim of joining Supertramp, his favorite band. Disappointed, he formed a band named Fastbuck, with very little success, but thanks to it, he attended (not very convinced) an audition for Thin Lizzy ("The first thing I thought was that this had one of the ugliest names I'd ever heard"). Robbo was much more enthusiastic, pressing Lynott and Downey not to change the band's name, which had always been one of his favorites. Thus, both were hired.
So begins the first studio adventure of the new lineup, "Nightlife": certainly not yet at the peak, here and there some weak spots (Showdown, especially in the chorus) but from here onwards it's all a climb to the top. The orchestration is perhaps a bit too intrusive and pompous, as in the funky Night Life and the piano ballad Frankie Carroll, one of the many melancholic sketches of Dublin life, not to mention the closing ballad Dear Heart. But when we hear the sound attack of It's Only Money, rather than the battering drums of an explosive Brian Downey in Sha-la-la, where he rolls and rumbas like a four-stroke engine, with a double pedal used tastefully, we understand the greatness of this album. The great ballad Still In Love With You, featuring Gary Moore and Frankie Miller, will become a showpiece for the band, and then Philomena, dedicated to Lynott's mother. Great splendor from here on, there's no doubt about it.
A small note: issue #29 of January of the good magazine Classix is dedicated to Thin Lizzy. "Some still delude themselves today having seen Thin Lizzy returning from the performance of a handful of mercenaries playing the songs of a man who has not been with us for almost 25 years". Well, I was there on February 2nd in Trezzo d'Adda, and frankly, the presence of Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, and keyboardist Wharton (already a keyboardist in Chinatown, Renegade, and Thunder And Lightning) changed my mind: also because Vivian Campbell (Dio) and Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake) are not the first idiots to walk by. Sure, good Ricky Warwick will NEVER be Phil Lynott, obviously, but I think they truly pay a very special tribute to the great genius of Dublin's "panther".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 She Knows (05:15)
Who's got the funk
When you're feeling low down
Who's going to love you
When there's no one else around
Who's going to help you
Especially when you're sick
Mother Mary
I need you quick
She knows and she gives her everything
She knows and she can do her thing
She knows and she tries her best
She knows, oh, you know she knows
Who's got the junk
When you're feeling low down
Who's going to give
When there's none to go around
Who's going to help you
When you feel you've had enough
Mother Mary
This time it's rough
But Mother Mary
Do you feel the pain?
I'm falling down
And I can't get up again
Do ya, do ya, do ya
Do ya, do ya, do ya
Just a slide guitar injection
Who's going to help you
Especially when you're ill
Loving Mary
I hope you will
But Mother Mary
Do you feel the pain?
I'm falling down
And I can't get up again
Do ya, do ya, do ya
Do ya, do ya, do ya
Mother Mary, is there nothing you can do?
03 It's Only Money (02:50)
You don't believe in love
You don't believe in hatred
Put your money in the bank
It's the only way to save it
You try to make a buck
But you haven't made a penny
You need a little luck
But you know you won't get any
You don't believe in God
You don't believe in glory
You've got a brother in the clinic
Tells the same kind of story
If he had another life
He'd know what would be waiting
If he had another soul
He could sell it all to Satan
You don't believe in war
You don't believe in Jesus
Got a sister in New York
She knows how she pleases
Walking the streets
On the south side of the city
Trying to make ends meet
Isn't that a pity...for money
04 Still in Love With You (05:42)
Think I'll just fall to pieces
If I don't find something else to do
This sadness never ceases
I'm still in love with you
My head, it keeps on reeling
It's got me in a crazy spin
Darling, darling, darling
Is this the end?
Still in love with you
They say time has a way of healing
Dries all the tears from your eyes
But darling it's this empty feeling
My heart can't disguise
After all that we've been through
I try my best but it's no use
I guess I'll keep on loving you
Is this the end?
Now that it's all over, woman
There's something I think you should know
Baby, baby, think it over
Just one more time before you go
Call on me baby
If there's anything I can do for you
Call on me baby
Help me see it through
I'm still in love with you
05 Frankie Carroll (02:05)
Frankie Carroll
He got drunk last night
I tried my best to help him
But he wound up in a fight
And his missy got him
She said
"Frankie, it's alright"
"Frankie won't do you wrong"
Frankie Carroll
He beat his kids last night
"I don't like you kids shouting"
"Shut up now, don't care who's wrong or right"
And his missy got him
She said
"Frankie, I'll keep the kids quiet"
Frankie, Frankie, what's wrong?
Frankie Carroll
He fell to bed last night
And his head hung off the pillow
And his eyes were closed shut tight
And his missy
She got up and turned out the light
Frankie, Frankie, what's wrong?
Frankie Carroll was with a woman last night
06 Showdown (04:33)
Johnny Cool was the king
The leader of the boot boys
He'd never cause no trouble
In a rumble make some noise
He heard about some chick
And they she like to rock
He said "Come here honey"
"Let me see you lift up your frock"
There's gonna be a showdown
Miss Lucy was a chick
He knew she like to ball
He said "Come on Lucy"
"It doesn't matter to me at all"
But Miss Lucy got a fella
With a flick knife in his hand
Johnny Cool pulls a shotgun
The man is in command
There's gonna be a showdown
King Cool
King Kong
King King
With all the kings
King of hearts he's a lover
King of spades he's a brother
King of clubs makes a dollar
King of diamonds the wedding ring
There's gonna be a showdown
07 Banshee (01:29)
The song, "Bandshee", as it appeared on the Night Life release, is an
instrumental. The lyrics printed below are from one of the poetry books
of Philip Lynott and is entitled, "Banshee".
I was your lover
You were my queen
You broke my heart
I gave up everything
I was your friend
But you were my foe
I told you that
I could not let you go
At night I hear the wind calling
"Oh come back my darling"
Oh banshee! Oh banshee!
It keeps on calling me, keeps on calling me
We dance the night away
Oh we dance the night away
I won your heart
You took my soul
I love you then
But you left me cold
I was your lover
You were my queen
You broke my heart
I gave up everything
At night I can hear you calling
"Oh come back my darling"
Oh banshee! Oh banshee!
I hear you calling me, I hear you calling me
08 Philomena (03:43)
Well I've been a wild wild rover
Sailed all over the sea
But this thing that makes me wonder
Has made a fool of me
For it took me from my childhood
Underneath the stars and skies
And I hear the wind
Whistling through the wild wood, whispering goodbye
And it's home boys home
It's home boys home
It's home boys home
When you fire across the fount
And if you see my mother
Tell her I'm keeping fine
Will you tell her that I love her
And I'll try and write sometime
And if you see my mother
Give her all of my love
For she has a heart of gold there
As good as God above
And it's home boys home
She's home boys home
(She's home) Home boys home
When you fire across the fount
Oh there's no place like home
And if you see my old one
Will tell her I'm keeping fine
Will you tell her that I love her
And I'll try and write sometime
And it's home boys home
It's home boys home
It's home boys home
It's home boys home
When you fire across the fount
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