Black Rose [VINYL]

By the time 1979 came round, Thin Lizzy was already going through the lead guitarists like no tomorrow. Brian Robertson was out and Gary Moore was back in for the third time. The result has to be the most creative album in the band's back catalogue.Thin Lizzy's Black Rose is the peak of the band's creativity. Jailbreak was a balls to the wall heavy album and Johnny The Fox was a slick disc of great songs. However Black Rose trumps them both in sheer quality. Sure they don't necessarily have that all time classic hit single, the closest being Waiting For An Alibi.To be honest I bought this album primarily for the title track, Roisin Dubh (Black Rose). The seven minute blues epic that has everything a Thin Lizzy fan desires. The drawn out dual guitar solo and main riff is a thing of absolute beauty.Though I would think it would be safe to say that each song has some stunning guitar work. Of course it does. I mean how can you get a bad guitar solo out of Scott Gorham and Gary Moore? I do not think that is technically possible.So other than the immense title track, Black Rose has the excellent Waiting For An Alibi (mentioned above). A live favourite for the band and I would think most rock and heavy metal fans know this song. It also has gems like, Do Anything You Want To, Got To Give It Up and Get Out of Here.In terms of sound quality I would say that Black Rose resembles what Thin Lizzy could do live. This is despite the fact that Black Rose is not the most up beat or heaviest album, up until this point. Jailbreak certainly had a lot more heavy metal based songs but it had a more commercially viable sound. Whilst Black Rose has a more commercial set of songs and a more accurate live sound. Either way the album was very nicely produced and still sounds fantastic.Thin Lizzy has certainly released a lot of great material over the years. However if I were to recommend an album it would be between Black Rose and Jailbreak. There is a lot more spirit and emotion in this music that is not necessarily present in most of the other records.Black Rose is by definition a hard rock classic. I would recommend it to anybody who wants some classic rock music. There is not a bad song on the album and no faults with the exception of some memorable singles. That is not much to complain about when you look at the big picture.

A superb album. Thin Lizzy at their best. A timeless classic. A must for Lizzy fans & those looking to get into rock music

Want some upbeat good old hard rock that still stands up as a fun hard rocking listen? Then you definitely want to take a trip back in time and bathe in the glory of this amazingly uplifting album.`Sarah' is an incredibly laid back bass heavy track, absolutely drenched in pop sensibilities; it must have broken some charts back when it was released. These types of songs are perfectly contrasted with the guitar heavy `Do Anything You Want To' and `Got to Give it Up' which are two of the best tracks on the album.Philip Lynott has remarkable vocal skills, fitting tracks perfectly whether they are more groovy pop songs or the more straight ahead hard rock. Whatever the style; when needed his voice can soar.The perfect track for anyone new to Thin Lizzy or wishing to check out the album before buying it is the amazing closing track `Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend' which combines everything that is good about Thin Lizzy.I don't drive but I imagine that this album is what people mean by driving music. Sometimes listening to this I am transported to some infinitely long (and massively wide) American road in an open top huge car kind of like the one in the Red Hot Chilli Peppers video for `Scar Tissue'. It's an album packed full of melody which even today manages to sound quite firm and sort of heavy in a vague sort of way anyway, Still a must buy, that is sure to pick up anybody who suffers from SAD thanks to its links to dopamine production (probably).Track List:Do Anything You Want toToughest Street in TownS & MWaiting For an AlibiSarahGot to Give it UpGet Out of HereWith LoveRoisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend

Not a five star album for me as there are some questionable tracks on here (S&M is cringy) and the single 'Sarah' sounds more like it should have been on a Phil Lynott solo album. However, when it's good, it's great. By this point, Lynott was honing his pop sensibilities and writing some great choruses that really stick in the mind. As a songwriter, he now really had a confident sense of the kind of songwriter he was and it all sounds so natural and flowing. The album benefits from the guitar of Gary Moore, although I feel Lizzy lost something special when Brian Robertson left the band. I guess the chemistry of the classic 'Jailbreak' line up was hard to follow. I personally prefer the album before this - 'Bad reputation' - but that is not to say this is a substandard album because it has many stunning moments, including the closing 7 mins and a bit song 'Roisin Dubh' which shows the scope of the band's musical ambition at this point. I think it's fair to say that 'Black Rose' is the album where Thin Lizzy were still scaling the peak of their career that started with 'Jailbreak' and that from hereon, things were never quite as great and Lynott sadly succumbed to drug addiction - although he still had some great music left in him.

Thin Lizzy are on on top form on this album. As the only full album they did with Gary Moore as a full time member,it had his stamp all over it. The stand out tracks for me are 'With Love' and the title track 'Black Rose - A Rock Legend'. There are no dud songs on this album,although the track 'Sarah' (which Phil Lynott wrote about his baby daughter) sits a little awkwardly among the rest of the hard rock tracks. Maybe it would have been better suited to his solo album. But never mind,a brilliant album overall!

one album I never got round to buying, glad I got it.

This was the first rock album I truly loved and it hasn't lost it's shine over the years. Classic quality rock that stands the test of time.