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Thin Lizzy

Vagabonds Of The Western World
LP Black $18
  • 24 bit / 96 kHz remaster from the original tapes
  • 180-gram LP housed in a deluxe gatefold “Tip-On” jacket
  • Book-deep liner notes and rare archival photos

Description

Seismic shifts happened between the previous year’s Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and 1973’s Vagabonds Of The Western World.

Seismic shifts happened between the previous year’s Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and 1973’s Vagabonds Of The Western World.

Frontman Phil Lynott was still documenting working class life in the group’s native Dublin, and the band still featured guitarist Eric Bell and drummer Brian Downey, even if Bell was soon to leave; the shift was in the feel of the album. Between Jim Fitzpatrick’s lurid album cover which depicted the band in space, the new, hot-rod-like Thin Lizzy logo, and Lynott’s newly throaty howl, it’s possibly the first Thin Lizzy album on which they truly could be described as a hard rock band.

Vagabonds presented a swaggering confidence, a band buoyed by the success of semi-accidental smash hit “Whisky In The Jar,” and carved out a moody, dark sound by borrowing bits from the blues, folk, psych, and Celtic music. Check out “Slow Blues” for proof, and decide whether Lynott or the guitars win the wail-off that begins the track.

“Whisky In The Jar” had been a bone of contention for the band who felt it didn’t represent them. Pushed out due to their presence on package tours with rockers Slade and Suzi Quatro, it seemed to seal their fate, and their Vagabonds single, “The Rocker,” set out their stall for good.

The weirdness and idiosyncracies of Phil Lynott’s early songwriting hadn’t been ironed out completely: “The Hero And The Madman” saw them try their hand at acid-fried cowboy rock–if such a thing ever existed.

After the album, and after Bell’s departure due to ill health and disillusionment with the music industry, Thin Lizzy were reinvented once again. Lynott recruited two guitarists and the band left Decca to record Nightlife for Phonogram.

Their big hits and glory years–beginning with 1976’s Jailbreak–were still ahead of them, but, with Vagabonds as a centerpiece, Thin Lizzy’s early years left behind a cabinet of curiosities.

Artist Bio

When scrolling down a list of debut LPs by rock’s heaviest hitters, Thin Lizzy is as unheralded as they come. Long before the group’s trademark “twin-guitar” sound was born and anthems like “The Boys Are Back In Town” became instant hall-of-fame material, the street tough Irish group was a dynamic power trio consisting of guitarist Eric Bell, singing bass player Philip Lynott, and sticksman Brian Downey. Forming only a year before their monumental signing to world-famous Decca Records, Thin Lizzy fused folk, hard rock, lyrical poetry, and a dose of Celtic lore in a heady brew that despite its potency, sold poorly at the time of release. Often ignored apart from hardcore Lizzy devotees around the globe, Light In The Attic is incredibly proud to produce a much-needed vinyl-only re-release of Thin Lizzy.

Preview Tracklist

  • 1 Mama Nature Said
  • 2 The Hero And The Madman
  • 3 Slow Blues
  • 4 The Rocker
  • 5 Vagabond Of The Western World
  • 6 Little Girl In Bloom
  • 7 Gonna Creep Up On You
  • 8 A Song For While I'm Away