•
Rating: I begin this review by immediately clarifying that it is actually a pretext... a pretext to praise that great music, current of life, ensemble of people, era that is Rock and Roll.
Why this album? Well because no one gives a damn about Thin Lizzy in Italy and it's a real shame because Philip Lynott & co were really great... maybe some blonde girl with pins and borkikkkkie knows their name because the great lazy friend Axl Rose wore a T-shirt with this big name on it during concerts (of course he thought it would be a good idea to recover his squalor by subsequently wearing one of Charles Manson...).
Thin Lizzy is one of those bands like The Who that cannot be praised for this or that... or rather you can certainly try to do so, but love only blossoms by listening to their albums... they're bands comparable to truffles in cooking... either you love them or you can't stand them.
I love them!
That whispered English black voice with swallowed words that feels a lot like Hendrix on valium, that incredible bass, that damn uncertain and devastating guitar like an old school Alfa Romeo engine out of tune. Thin Lizzy is one of the most underrated bands in the Rock And Roll scene of all time.
This album is probably not the most famous but I like it for its sincerity. Tracks like "Mama Nature Said" should make you think... acid experiments like "The Hero And The Madman" aren't the best to listen to in the car on the way back from work (speaking as someone who devastates his eardrums every morning and evening);
Rocker is a song that, as far as I'm concerned, should be the fucking official anthem of rock and roll... just listen to it, an incredible riff and a solo that in my opinion is absolutely the best of all time (rock and roll is like Jeremy Clarkson... you have to get excited and make sweeping statements that you'll take back tomorrow but do it with heart, and then you hit the mark). This song can truly distinguish the crowd, dividing it into two large groups: the true rockers, those who listen to rock just to fill the silence that would be there without it. The song is pure adrenaline, excellent technique immersed in a jar of honey corrected with tequila. In short, listen to it because it deserves it :P
The other songs alternate between highs and lows, still always enjoyable.
"Whiskey In The Jar" is a classic Irish song (like "Hey Joe" or "House of the Rising Sun") which in my opinion reaches its peak in the Thin Lizzy version. Forget about talking crap about the MERDAllica version: pure crap. The voice is copied in equal measure to the French class test written in Turkish by a poor illegal immigrant desperately trying to get a passing grade without knowing the difference between vowels and consonants of the language from beyond the Alps.
Poor misunderstood Phil' died following heroin and alcohol complications in the sad year 1986; replaced by a bronze statue in Dublin...
But let's move on to rock (actually with this album we're already neck-deep in it). I don't think rock is simply a musical style like metal, punk, or house can be (if we even want to call the latter music). Rock is a way of thinking, living, loving, seeing. Rock is sensations, emotions: anger, pain, love, sweetness all blended inside a damn Gibson SG diavoletto (any reference is purely coincidental).
I wake up in the morning to go to work and carry out my beautiful daily routine free of true satisfaction... sometimes I think I haven't understood anything about this world, that I've messed everything up... I think I need to "settle down"... then I turn on my turntable, drop Led Zeppelin 4 on the second track, and lower the stylus... Well what can I tell you... it only takes 7 notes to totally change my mind...
It's only rock and roll... but I like it!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Mama Nature Said (04:54)
Mama Nature said
"It's murder what you've done"
I sent you forth my brightest world
Now it's nearly gone
Birds and bees
Been telling me
You can't see
The forest for the trees
You cover up your lies
With sympathies
And I got no solutions
To your persecution
Mama Nature said
"I can't believe it's true"
I gave you life and food for thought
Look what did you do
You're killing my rivers
Drowning my baby streams
Day by day by day by day
I hear them scream
I'm so disillusioned
I'm so disillusioned
Mama Nature said
"You're guilty of this crime"
Now it's not just a matter of fact
But just a matter of time
Cruel will be the vengeance
So savage is the deed that's done
And I've got no solutions
To your own pollutions
02 The Hero and the Madman (06:11)
The hero he rode a white horse
Across the desert to where his woman was
He'd been riding for four days
When he saw the tower where she was locked
In the moonlight he left his old steed
Near the drawbridge that he crossed
And by way of a rope ladder
He tip-toed to where his woman was
If I recall you're the actor
Who followed the stars
Searching for
The lost city of Mars
Hoping time would heal the scars
Knowing fate held no bars
Are you the one
That I think you are?
Are you the hero or are you the madman?
The madman climbed
The steeple spire
"Go higher" said the crowd
From down below
"But...the world's on fire" cried the madman
From the steeple spire
"You're a liar" cried the crown
From down below
The madman climbed the steeple spire
And let a crystal ball tear
Fall on the crown
From down below
If I recall you're the actor
Who took to the stage
Set the world ablaze
With your anger and your rage
With every new leaf
You turned and wrote a new page
Cleverly concealing
Your real age
Those that knew you
Were always quite amazed
Are you the one
Who can take this praise?
Are you the hero or are you the madman?
"You're the only one"
"who can save us"
Said the wizard
"Or all is lost"
04 The Rocker (05:15)
I am your main man if you're looking for trouble
I take no lip no one's tougher than me
I'd kick your face you'd soon be seeing double
Hey little girl keep your hands off of me
I'm a rocker
I'm a rocker
I'm a roller too, baby
I'm a rocker
Down at the juke joint me and the boys are stompin�
Bippin' an' boppin' and telling a dirty joke or two
In walked this chick and I new she was up to something
And I kissed her right there out of the blue
I said, "Hey baby, meet me I'm a tough guy
Got my cycle outside, wanna try?"
She just looked at me and rolled them big eyes and said,
"Ooh, I'd do anything for you, 'cause you're a rocker"
That's right
I'm a rocker
I'm a roller too, honey
I'm a rocker
I love to rock and roll
I get my records at the Rock On stall
Rock and roll
Teddy boy, you got them all
Rocker
I love to rock and roll
I get my records at the Rock On stall
Sweet rock and roll
Teddy boy, you got them all
I'm a rocker
05 Vagabond of the Western World (04:48)
I could tell you the story of a vagabond
A playboy of the western world
One day by chance he came upon
A fair young maid, a country girl
He told her that he loved her
And he took all of her silver
He told her that he needed her too
He said "Hey baby, you got eyes of blue"
But he was a vagabond
Blue eyes, oh baby blue, oh blue eyes
The kind of eyes that say "I do" eyes
Oh baby blue, oh blue eyes
Oh baby blue, oh blue eyes
He roamed around the cities
Searching for his fortune and fame
No lady ever got to know his name
Shame, but that was his game
Gave a girl a baby boy
He said "This child is my pride and joy"
"I'm busy running wild and free"
"Make sure he grows up like me"
And I'm a vagabond
Blue eyes, oh baby blue, oh blue eyes
The kind of eyes that say "I do" eyes
Oh baby blue, oh blue eyes
Oh baby blue, oh blue eyes
Oh I could tell you a story of a vagabond
He was a playboy of the western world
He wore an earring in his left ear
You see his father he was a gypsy
You just might meet him upon the highway
Pretty fine dancer too
But he's leave you blue, he'd leave
He'd leave you woman
06 Little Girl in Bloom (05:17)
Little girl in bloom
With happy heart you wipe aside
Any sadness, sorrow or gloom
Tomorrow you'll be a blushing bride
That loves her blushing groom
Little girl in bloom
You watch the men play cricket
From the window in your room
See the ball go from bat to wicket
Pass away the afternoon
Little girl in bloom
Carries a secret
The child she carries in her womb
She feels something sacred
She's gonna be a mammy soon
When your daddy comes home
Don't tell him till alone
When your daddy comes back
Go tell him the facts
Just relax and see how he's gonna react
Little girl in bloom
All the clouds will go drifting by
So sing your lullabying tune
Every word is in your eyes
As you sit and softly croon
Little girl in bloom
Your love it fills the air
With the scent of the sweetest, sweet perfume
You feel so good you just don't care
You're gonna be a mammy soon
When your daddy comes home
Don't tell him till alone
When your daddy comes back
Go tell him the facts
Just relax and see how he's gonna react
Loading comments slowly
