![]() ![]() Once he had finished the “nightmarish” job of cobbling together the poor recordings, Phil Lynott showed up to listen. To put Live and Dangerous together, Visconti was given concert tapes from a 1976 London performance at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon, and two 1977 shows at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. From left, Brian Robertson (guitar), Phil Lynott (vocals and bass), Scott Gorham (guitar) and Brian Downey (drums). He controlled, manipulated and electrified crowds, and became indelibly associated with the cover of Live and Dangerous – a Dionysian portrait in leather pants, clenched fist, spiked wristband and pirate earring.” Thin Lizzy in a 1977 photo taken in New York. In Cowboy Song: The Authorized Biography of Thin Lizzy’s Philip Lynott (2017), Graeme Thomson writes: “Lynott embodied the paradigm of the rock and roll bandleader. ![]() ![]() People who acted tough to hide deep vulnerabilities. His songs were about gangsters, Irish heroes and tough guys bruised by heartbreak. Journalist Tito Lesende, the author of a book on the 100 best live rock albums, describes Lynott: “He read Albert Camus, fought constantly, listened to Frank Sinatra and prayed in church with his family.” A mixed-race kid, Lynott always felt like the odd one out. His father abandoned the family when Lynott was a few months old, and when he was seven, his mother sent him to live in Dublin with his grandmother. Phil Lynott was the soul of Thin Lizzy, a singer, bassist and songwriter born in England to an Irish mother and a father from British Guiana (now Guyana). Inspired by the success of Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), they thought they could do one too. Thin Lizzy already had three good studio albums under their belts by the time they first considered releasing a live one. Thin Lizzy’s Brian Robertson, Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham at a 1978 concert in London. On many occasions, live albums marked a career retirement or a pivot to a different stage. Sometimes they were released to save careers ( Alive!, by Kiss, being an example), and sometimes the aim was to relaunch flagging careers. Live concert albums are a genre in themselves that had one fundamental mission – to package up a band’s greatest hits. The Rolling Stones have about 20 of them. Younger generations of music fans may never have set eyes on one, but more or lesss every pop and rock star has released at least one, from The Who to Beyoncé. Perhaps we should begin this story by saying there was a time when issuing a live album was de rigueur for a rock and roll band. The concert recording was recently reissued as a remastered, deluxe edition of eight compact discs with plenty of additional material. That was when they hatched a plan to produce Live and Dangerous (1978), the greatest live album ever, according to Classic Rock magazine. When he finally managed to select a few songs for the album, Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott wasn’t convinced. They were recorded at different speeds, and only some used the Dolby system of recording. But then he heard the concert tapes, which were a mess. Visconti figured the Thin Lizzy gig wouldn’t take long and he could move on to the Bowie album. He had agreed to produce a live album by a band he loved – Thin Lizzy – even though David Bowie was also impatiently waiting for him to produce an album. Tony Visconti’s heart dropped when he started listening to the tapes. ![]()
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