Here's a story for you '80s New Wave fans, re: Thin Lizzy:

Synth-god and fashion-plate Midge Ure was a touring member of Thin Lizzy after Moore left the second time. I have a Ure career retrospective where the members of Lizzy talk about how Midge came out on stage the first night in full face makeup and styled hair and they thought, "Oh no, this crowd is going to eat him alive". Fortunately, Ure is also one of the best unsung guitarists in the world and the crowd quickly accepted him.

Ure went on to co-write and produce some of Phil Lynott's solo stuff, including the totally non-Lizzy-esque, but VERY Midge Ure-sounding, "Yellow Pearl".

Well I'm a huge UFO fan, they are easily in my top 5 bands of all time. Lizzy doesn't rate nearly as high in my opinion because their songs are so hit and miss for me. I never got the facination with "Boys Are Back in Town" or even "Jailbreak." Songs like "Emerald", "Don't Believe a Word" and "Cowboy Song" are incredible though, so I'm not sure where I fit in exactly.

UFO had such a phenomenal string of albums starting with Phenomenon through Obsession obviously fueled by the incredible talent of Michael Schenker. Post Schenker their output was very enjoyable, but certainly not the same quality. I might feel differently about Lizzy if they'd had a guitarist approaching that caliber.

Thanks for posting the vids though. I'd never heard that "Dedication" song but it's great!

BTW, whenever I think of Thin Lizzy, I can't help but be reminded of Gary Moore's song "Blood of Emeralds" from After the War. It's a hell of a tribute to Phil.

Lizzy had a few guitarists equally as good (if not better) than Schenker in my opinion. Gary Moore, Brian Robertson and John Sykes to name three. Snowy White was not slacker, either.

Really, I think it's just ok - but most fans, and even the band, considered it pretty week compared to Live And Dangerous. It should have been great, but there's a lot of places where it's lacking (sound quality, performance, etc..). Gotta love that slow, original arrangement of "Don't Believe A Word", though. Now that is a standout performance.

Myself, I'm a huge Thin Lizzy fan and always have been. Have all their albums (on vinyl, and re-mastered import CD's), and Phil Lynott was one of my idols. I was crushed when he died, (on my birthday, no less) back in 1986. They just don't make them like that anymore.

As for the Lizzy vs. UFO debate - I like UFO, but to me there's not even a contest. UFO had one truly great album in Lights Out, and some other decent ones - but track for track, I think Lizzy had far more consistently great albums, and less clunkers. But, to each their own. One of my best friends is on the UFO side of the fence, but then again he's a huge Schenker fan, too.

I never would have believed this. I've only seen Ure play mundane rhtythm guitar with Ultravox.

[QUOTE=Rocketdog2000]Really, I think it's just ok - but most fans, and even the band, considered it pretty week compared to Live And Dangerous. It should have been great, but there's a lot of places where it's lacking (sound quality, performance, etc..). Gotta love that slow, original arrangement of "Don't Believe A Word", though. Now that is a standout performance.

I know I'm in the minority on that one, but I always liked it more since I listened to their later music more than their earlier stuff. I just never got into Live and Dangerous as much.

Live And Dangerous (great though it is) has a ton of overdubs on it. The Lizzy manager at the time admitted that 25% of it is studio work. Still sounds good though.

I saw them at the LA Forum on the same tour. My first concert ever. I thought they were just ok but I wasn't really familiar with anything other than Boys Are Back in Town (their encore)--I'm still not. I remember they opened with Jailbreak which I hadn't heard before but I thought was pretty good.

But they did - two actually! Gary Moore and John Sykes! Man, listen to the Thunder and Lightning album! It's a guitar player's dream (the perfect combination of feel and flash). Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson were both underrated - they may not have been shredders, but their solos had incredible feeling and such strong melodies that the lack of speed really didn't (and still doesn't) matter. (Gorham actually got "speedier" as time went on and he spent time with Moore and Sykes - their presence pushed him to become a better player.)

Obviously this kind of stuff is beyond subjective, but I'd put Schenker in the top 5 rock guitarists of all time. The guy just knew when to play and when not to play. Toss on Lovedrive by Scorpions. To me, that's the definition of what a hard rock album should sound like, paritcularly the instrumental "Coast to Coast." It's just perfection and most of the stuff isn't even that difficult to play!

I love Gary Moore. His stuff with Lizzy is great as is his '80s solo material and even his current blues phase. He's another very tasteful guitarist who seems to always know what to play. I like Sykes, particularly his time with Blue Murder but don't consider him on the same level as Moore. I consider Moore to be just a step below Schenker. They do have somewhat similar styles at times but Moore's playing doesn't always grab me whereas Schenker's almost always does. Maybe it's because Moore isn't crazy.

I'm a big Gary Moore fan also love his blues cd's and espically Scars, which in my opinion, you can't get any heavier than that. Scars just blew me away. Also love Power of the Blues. His last cd tailed off a bit but it did say " Ballads " in the title so I wasn't really expecting a whole lot from it anyway. I also like Corridors of Power which has alot of great songs on it. I heard he's due for a new cd this year anyone hear anything about that?
'

As much as I like Schenker, I like Sykes better myself. I've seen them both live (Schenker solo twice and with UFO in 1995), and as a performer/player/songwriter I've got to give the edge to Sykes. They're both great, though, so it's impossible to go wrong either way. I'd say Gary Moore and Schenker would be a wash.

But as you say, this is HIGHLY subjective.

The song they do, Are you ready, what cd is that on? I know it's on Live and Dangerous but did they do a studio version of it? I haven't been able to find it .

I don't think "Are You Ready" ever made it on a studio album. I've never heard a studio version of the song - and as good as the live version is, that's OK with me.

Close as You Get

Yeah, I wasn't able to find where Are you ready was on any of their cd's. That's a shame though, it's a good song that I would of liked to of had on a studio cd. Also, thanks Benedict for the new Gary Moore cd post, I thought I heard or read somewhere that it was comming out so when it does i'll be sure to pick it up.

1983 - First concert with John Sykes. (Where IS the R1 DVD release on this? Originally scheduled for a 2004 release, then pulled but never rescheduled!)
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I seen on the Amazon website that Oct 16th they have Thin Lizzy- Live and Dangerous dvd comming out. It doesn't display any details yet. But hopefully it will be that concert dvd that I've been waiting for. Right now I can't say that it is because they aren't showing any details of what this product is, but i'm hoping and if it is what I think it is i'll be sure and get it for sure.

I pick up Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous dvd at FYE today (didn't know this was out already) and I'm really enjoying watching it. I'm disappointed that their are some songs from the album not on the dvd The Cowboy Song, Warrior, Jailbreak, Suicide and The Rocker. It's does have Me and the Boys which was never released on the live album and it's damn pretty good fast song. The extras are 1983 Sight and Sound in concert, band played eight songs and Top of the Pops with five songs, Phil Lynott even sport a black eye from a fight he was involved in one of the song. Also come with interviews from Brian Downey, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham which is about 45 min. long. The dvd come with a little nice insert which tell the story how the band was form and a bonus CD live from Derby '75. Overall, I'm quite happy that I finally get to see one of the great live band from the late seventy. I still get goosebumps seeing Brian and Scott cranks out those solo on Emerald. A must for any Lizzy's fans.

I just ordered my dvd of the same thing. It was priced down to $15 at Amazon so I jumped on it. Earlier editions of this were anywhere from 30-45 dollars, so i'm pretty pleased I got it for $15.

B5Erik- I don't know if you know it or not, you may have this by now already, but this concert is on the Live and Dangerous set

Damn, I missed that. I just placed my order through DD.

Better late than never - this looks like a great DVD release!

Thanks for the heads up!

I nabbed one of the original import versions on sale last year for $20 (right after Christmas), and the packaging is much cooler than the version that's come out domestically. It's a spit top outer box that separates in the middle, which houses a pull out book style dvd/cd case and booklet. Other than that, I believe the content is the same.

At the time, there was also no certain indication it would ever get a U.S. release, and I've had it a year (almost) already, so I'm not upset I spent a little more on it. DAMN nice set though, and well worth it. To say that the picture quality is infinitely better than my old VHS tape is an understatement. Any fan needs to get this.

I've really been getting into this band lately. There's plenty of cornball, keyboard-heavy cheese in their library, but their best songs are as good as 70's hard rock got. "Wild One" and "Renegade" are two of my favorites. This song has some of the most soaring lead guitar work I've ever heard.

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Black Rose is Lizzy's masterpiece in my opinion.