Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak [180g Vinyl LP]

Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: 0802631
• Barcode: 602508026317
• Genre: Hard Rock / Classic Rock
• Label: Mercury / Universal
• Originally Released: 26 March 1976
• Reissue Released: 2020
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Jailbreak is the sixth studio album by Thin Lizzy — Phil Lynott (bass, vocals), Scott Gorham (guitar), Brian Robertson (guitar) and Brian Downey (drums) — originally released on 26 March 1976 on Vertigo Records. Recorded at Ramport Studios in Battersea, London and produced by John Alcock, it was the record that broke the band on both sides of the Atlantic and remains their most commercially successful and widely heard work. The album reached number ten on the UK Albums Chart and, driven by the extraordinary success of its lead single, cracked the American market in a way that no previous Thin Lizzy release had managed — making it the only album in their discography to achieve Gold certification in the United States.

The band that made Jailbreak was one of the most distinctive in British hard rock: Lynott's twin-guitar concept — pairing Gorham and Robertson in interlocking lead lines that traded off and harmonised in real time — gave the band a sound that was simultaneously tighter and more cinematic than most of their contemporaries, while Lynott's bass playing anchored an unusually powerful rhythm section alongside Downey's drumming. The album's production, crisp and punchy under Alcock's direction, showcased this configuration to its best advantage. Lyrically, Lynott was operating at the height of his powers: the album's themes draw on the mythology of the outlaw and the street, filtered through an Irish-American sensibility and delivered with a swagger and charisma that few rock vocalists of the era could match. The die-cut sleeve — with its distinctive stylised graphic — became one of the most recognisable album covers in 1970s rock.

"The Boys Are Back in Town" is the album's centrepiece and Thin Lizzy's signature song: a study in economy and momentum, its guitar riff instantly recognisable, its chorus irresistible, its arrangement — building from verse to chorus to twin guitar solo and back — a masterclass in how to write a rock single. It reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart and number twelve on the US Billboard Hot 100, winning the 1976 NME Award for Best Single and propelling the album to its American breakthrough. The title track "Jailbreak" opens the album with one of the band's most urgent and propulsive performances, its helicopter effect introduction giving way to Downey's driving rhythm and the twin guitars at full tilt. "Cowboy Song" — beginning with a delicate fingerpicked acoustic passage before opening into a rolling mid-tempo rock track — became another fan favourite and reached number 77 on the US Billboard Hot 100 as a single. The closing "Emerald" is among the heaviest and most expansive performances in the Thin Lizzy catalogue, its extended twin-guitar solo one of Gorham and Robertson's finest recorded moments together.

This 2020 reissue on Mercury / Universal presents the album on 180 gram vinyl, remastered (℗ 2014, recut for vinyl at Sterling Sound by Greg Calbi) and housed in the original die-cut sleeve, Made in Germany.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Jailbreak
2. Angel from the Coast
3. Running Back
4. Romeo and the Lonely Girl
5. Warriors

Side B

1. The Boys Are Back in Town
2. Fight or Fall
3. Cowboy Song
4. Emerald

Credits

• Phil Lynott – Bass, Vocals
• Scott Gorham – Guitar
• Brian Robertson – Guitar
• Brian Downey – Drums
• John Alcock – Producer
• Greg Calbi – Lacquer Cut (Sterling Sound)
• Label – Mercury / Universal