THIN LIZZY SKL 5082 (-71) UK

Band background story is well known and as Wikipedia has it all I'm not repeating it here. To me the most important part would be the connection with Skid Row, as Phil Lynott was an early member together with Gary Moore, but sacked due to band leader Brendan "Brush" Shiels wanted a power trio rather than a quartet. In any case they seemed to have stayed on good terms - Shiels eventually taught Lynott to play the bass and Moore later became famed guitarist in Thin Lizzy. In retrospective it's interesting how things turned out for both bands given their early works. Skid Row's first two LP:s (see earlier posts) are powerful blues/prog efforts, though far from commercial no less than brilliant, and still sounding important today. However not very successful back then and now mostly seen as a parenthesis in rock history. This Thin Lizzy debute on the other hand sounds somewhat more trembly. A couple of blues/rock tracks - "Clifton Grange Hotel", "Ray-Gun" and "Look What The Wind Blew", all powerful showing guitarist Eric Bell was a lot better than his current reputation. He's now always compared with and then coming out short to Gary Moore, which seems unfair when you listen to this cause the guitars on those blues numbers are very good. But there's also parts where Lynott more or less talk-sings layered over a vacillating background and though there are some interesting stories told in fitting drag I can't help also hearing unfinished. Still from this rather uneven start the band developed and soon became one of the most celebrated acts in rock history. I guess that's the main reason this UK original is very sought after today and sometimes sold for big bucks...the minty ones that is, but if you can just settle with decent it's still possible to get an original at affordable price. I've seen copies with laminated sleeves flaunted as absolutely first, but I'm not so sure. Mine has the earliest -3D/-3D matrixes and 1B/1K mother-stampers, so it's with all certainty pressed pre-release, and the sleeve is unlaminated. I might add this is cut very loud and the sound may crack at one or two places depending on what equipment you use, but as a whole it sounds a-ok. 1971 US and Canadian on London (PS 594) came with different sleeve design, German (SLK 16718-P) on green "art" Decca label. Japan 2010 CD (Decca UICY-94741) had eleven bonus tracks, including the 1971 "New Day" EP. Premiere UK had label as shown here and thin matt cover with "-71" dated blue box stereo inner.