- Uncategorized
- 01 Mar 05
(9/100 The People's Choice)
Broadcaster Gerry Ryan on Live & Dangerous:
"For my money it’s the best live album ever made, and there were a lot of live albums around at the time it was released in 1978. It’s without doubt Thin Lizzy at the height of their powers, their definitive album. They’d come out of the Jailbreak album where they had tried to break the States but for a variety of reasons it didn’t happen for them. This was an impression of what it could have been like.
Favourite tracks? The segue from ‘The Cowboy Song’ into the ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ – that summed up everything that Jon Bon Jovi would have felt when he heard the album as a young kid. There’s a blistering version of ‘Don’t Believe A Word’, on it and of course there’s that great version of ‘Still In Love With You’.
Philip wasn’t the best bass guitarist in the world, but he knew how to put a show together and he was sexy, which made it an album that girls could tolerate. And those southern twin guitar lines of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson all held together by Brian Downey’s rock solid drumming – brilliant!
I don’t have any problem with some of the album being re-recorded or processed in the studio as has been rumoured over the years. Once the end product sounds good, that’s all that really matters. Having seen Lizzy in all their different incarnations I firmly believe that Live & Dangerous is a powerful depiction of the band at their best. They were the quintessential rock band for me – and this is their classic album."
Advertisement
Gerard Wallace, hotpress.com:
"The best live album ever made, Live And Dangerous showcases the live edge that Thin Lizzy had over other bands, which they unfortunately couldn’t always convert to the studio. Brian Downey on drums (the most overlooked drummer in music), and Brian Robertson and his sidekick Scott Gorham on guitar, (especially the solo on ‘Still in Love With You’) are breathtaking. Then of course Phil Lynott, in his prime, full of balls and charm, enticing the audience to be drawn into the music. His voice is on top form, the bass lines are sharp and catchy, and the charisma is there for all to see. This album must be a blueprint for all others to work off and the pinnacle of Ireland’s greatest rocker’s tragically short career."