Tell me about Johnny the Fox by Thin Lizzy

[Stadler]

I might give my semiannual (well, usually every couple years) dive back in to Lizzy to see what I'm missing.  They've never really clicked for me (primarily because of Phil's voice) but I LOVE Brian Robertson, and people whose taste I trust really dig them so it's likely a "me" thing.   

[EPICVIEW]

STUNNING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_rPiCCnpY

[TAC]

STUNNING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_rPiCCnpY

Gary Moore!!!

[TAC]

Here's Chinatown from the Midnight Special.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SP6ZyCZsQM


For someone who never really fit in, Snowy White made two GREAT albums with them.

[TAC]

For whatever reason, Scott Gorham never gets his due.

[EPICVIEW]

For whatever reason, Scott Gorham never gets his due.

agreed bro   agreed

[EPICVIEW]

I love old Lizzy bootleg stuff ,,,,  Phil is just the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1f5ix3LerA

[KevShmev]

For anyone interested, I am now loving Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation.  All have been a regular part of my listening rotation the last few months.

Fighting will be next, but still loving the above three for now.

Running Back, Warriors, Emerald, Fool's Gold, Old Flame, Killer Without a Cause, That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart and Dear Lord are all some of my favorites. 

[TAC]

"Dear Lord, take the time
I believed your story
Now you believe mine"



Love this line!




Glad to see you pop in.

[KevShmev]

"Dear Lord, take the time
I believed your story
Now you believe mine"



Love this line!




Glad to see you pop in.

    Sometimes, we all need just time away and/or a breather. 

Back to the tunes, at this point, Thin Lizzy is pretty locked in as my "late to the party" artist of 2023 (6th year in a row I have had one of those!).

[Metro]

Jailbreak is a flawless album

[TAC]

Kev, you being such a big Blue Oyster Cult fan, and now getting into Thin Lizzy....we gotta get you to try some UFO!

[KevShmev]

Let's slow that roll.   Too much to get to first with Thin Lizzy and others, but plenty of time for that eventually.

[TAC]

Let's slow that roll.   Too much to get to first with Thin Lizzy and others, but plenty of time for that eventually.

Oh for sure. You got 4 more Thin Lizzy albums after Bad Reputation.

[LudwigVan]

Johnny the Fox is a fantastic album, one of my favorites of theirs.

Aside from Maiden, I hear lots of Thin Lizzy in KISS music. Not that Kev cares about KISS.   

[KevShmev]

In my attempts to be a less snarky poster, I will resist the urge to take a cheap shot at KISS. 

[EPICVIEW]

For anyone interested, I am now loving Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation.  All have been a regular part of my listening rotation the last few months.

Fighting will be next, but still loving the above three for now.

Running Back, Warriors, Emerald, Fool's Gold, Old Flame, Killer Without a Cause, That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart and Dear Lord are all some of my favorites. 

very happy you are enjoying the Thin Lizzy     true greatness   Phil is a deity   the band is stellar

[Stadler]

In my attempts to be a less snarky poster, I will resist the urge to take a cheap shot at KISS. 

I give that a matter of days...

[KevShmev]

In my attempts to be a less snarky poster, I will resist the urge to take a cheap shot at KISS. 

I give that a matter of days...

Ah, ye of little faith.

very happy you are enjoying the Thin Lizzy     true greatness   Phil is a deity   the band is stellar

 

[KevShmev]

I thought I'd give a quick update here in case anyone is still interested at all (perhaps not, given my inactivity here in the last few months)...

Fighting struck me as pretty good, but it hasn't quite grabbed a hold me like Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation all have.  Those three, or random songs from them all, still get fairly regular play with me.  I will circle back to Fighting soon to see if it makes more of a dent.

[TAC]

Yeah, good to see you Kev!

I rate Fighting #4 of the 4 out listed, but I still quite enjoy it. My favorite song is Wild One. Just flows beautifully.
Fighting is a bit less understated and they hadn't quite hit their harder rocking stride yet. Still, it's quite reflective and pretty easy on the ears.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, good to see you Kev!

 

Ditto! 

I rate Fighting #4 of the 4 out listed, but I still quite enjoy it. My favorite song is Wild One. Just flows beautifully.
Fighting is a bit less understated and they hadn't quite hit their harder rocking stride yet. Still, it's quite reflective and pretty easy on the ears.

Suicide and Spirit Slips Away were my favorites when I first heard the album, but I liked Wild One quite a bit as well.  I will try to revisit it this week.

I do think Killer Without a Cause is holding steady so far as my favorite Thin Lizzy song overall.

[emtee]

You must listen to Live And Dangerous.

[EPICVIEW]

I thought I'd give a quick update here in case anyone is still interested at all (perhaps not, given my inactivity here in the last few months)...

Fighting struck me as pretty good, but it hasn't quite grabbed a hold me like Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation all have.  Those three, or random songs from them all, still get fairly regular play with me.  I will circle back to Fighting soon to see if it makes more of a dent.

LIVE AND DANGEROUS!!!!   it brings it all into glory

[EPICVIEW]

I adore this version of Didn't I from a sound check    Phil is the GREATEST   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIMgyrBQphU&pp=ygUYdGhpbm4gbGl6enkgZGlkbnQgaSBjb3Jr

[TAC]

As a huge Thin Lizzy fan, I might be the only one to not recommend Live And Dangerous. It sounds so brutally tampered with, and that’s saying something for 70’s live albums.

[KevShmev]

I am not a live album guy anyway for the most part, so I wouldn't even think of listening to that any time soon.  I know, I know, "but you have to hear this one!"  I have read that about 1,399 live albums over the years.  

I will take recs on another studio album, however.

[TAC]

I will take recs on another studio album, however.

I wouldn't go backwards. Nightlife, which precedes Fighting and also has Brian Robertson on guitar isn't great IMO, and the three before that one with Eric Bell are pretty sketchy.

Black Rose comes after Bad Reputation and has the great Gary Moore replacing Robertson. It's a decent, if uneven album, but it does contain the amazing title track and Waiting For An Alibi and Got To Give It Up...all three are essential tracks for me.


The next two, Chinatown and Renegade have Pink Floyd 5th member Snowy White taking over for Moore. To me, this is a real sweet spot. Renegade is my all time favorite Thin Lizzy album, and probably a Top 25 all timer for me. If you like Killer Without A Cause, you'd probably like Chinatown a lot.

Their final album, 1982's Thunder And Lightning has John Sykes replacing White. Generally it's a more hard rocking album, but it's filled with all kinds of great songs.


To me, I'd just go chronological.

[KevShmev]

Cool, I will check out Black Rose next.  Looks like online reviews for that put it on about the same level as the previous three or four albums, so it sounds like the safe way to go as well. Thanks!

[EPICVIEW]

LIVE AND DANGEROUS IS A MUST LISTEN    IT REDOES ALL THE OLD SONGS INTO PURE SMOKE

this has been well vetted in the lizzy community and Lizzys producers, and the release of STILL DANGEROUS  shows again that the original is not tampered with but for a few sour notes Phil was unhappy with

[TAC]

I don't trust it. At all. I mean, listening to the first two songs now. Emerald is live for sure. But Jailbreak? Sounds so doctored, from the perfect and elevated in the mix bassline. Even the guitars sound placed in the studio.

Obviously Southbound is not live. They say it was recorded in a soundcheck. I guess, but the production in dropping the crowd in is just brutal.

I see that they released an 8CD Deluxe Version a couple of years ago. No idea how I missed that. I'd love to get my hands on that. Very similar to UFO's Strangers Deluxe version, which is great and you can tell where some of the overdubs are.

[Stadler]

I love that Huey Lewis played harmonica on L&D.

[KevShmev]

I am not a live album guy anyway for the most part, so I wouldn't even think of listening to that any time soon.  I know, I know, "but you have to hear this one!"  I have read that about 1,399 live albums over the years.  

LIVE AND DANGEROUS IS A MUST LISTEN    IT REDOES ALL THE OLD SONGS INTO PURE SMOKE

this has been well vetted in the lizzy community and Lizzys producers, and the release of STILL DANGEROUS  shows again that the original is not tampered with but for a few sour notes Phil was unhappy with

Right on cue.  

[EPICVIEW]

Right on cue.  

youre welcome  : )

[EPICVIEW]

I don't trust it. At all. I mean, listening to the first two songs now. Emerald is live for sure. But Jailbreak? Sounds so doctored, from the perfect and elevated in the mix bassline. Even the guitars sound placed in the studio.

Obviously Southbound is not live. They say it was recorded in a soundcheck. I guess, but the production in dropping the crowd in is just brutal.

I see that they released an 8CD Deluxe Version a couple of years ago. No idea how I missed that. I'd love to get my hands on that. Very similar to UFO's Strangers Deluxe version, which is great and you can tell where some of the overdubs are.

bro   this is very interesting   i was looking for another breakdown of L  and D and found this

go to the 19 min mark    but its a cool interview w the mixing engineer of the box version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wks2o0R-HaQ