Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (LP)

All Music Guide

On Lizzy's third album with new guitarists Gorham and Robertson, Jailbreak, the band perfected their hard rocking, story telling, guitar-laden style, and was rewarded with worldwide breakthrough success. It also marked the first album where the band finally realized they were a true hard rock band, and put a stop to the soft rock that plagued such albums as 1974's Nightlife. Although vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott was unfairly criticized as being a Bruce Springsteen soundalike at the time, it was on Jailbreak that he came into his own, perfecting his storytelling lyric writing and becoming a true poet in the process. Songwise, the album was also Lizzy's first really consistent album, there is simply not a single weak track in the bunch. The hard rocking war tales of "Emerald" and "Warriors," the killer boogie of "Angel of the Coast," the country rocker "Cowboy Song," and a pair of rock's greatest anthems, the title track and the perennial radio favorite "The Boys Are Back in Town," are a...mong Lizzy's best tracks ever. Add to it such strong album cuts as the Dire Straits-esque ballad "Fight or Fall" plus the heartbroken tales "Running Back" and "Romeo and the Lonely Girl," and you have one of the finest hard rock albums of all time. - Greg Prato, All Music Guide Read more Less