Unknown Soldier

Overview
After their towering achievement with Bad Reputation in 1977 and the blistering live album Live and Dangerous in 1978, Thin Lizzy were back on the road again in 1979 with their ninth studio album Black Rose: A Rock Legend. Brian Robertson was now no longer a band member, as previous sometimes band member Gary Moore was welcomed back to the fold, despite already having a solo career, in fact Phil Lynott had been a heavy contributor on Gary Moore’s previous solo album Back on the Streets (see albums that missed the cut for 1978) The album Black Rose: A Rock Legend would bring nothing new to the table for Thin Lizzy, but what it did do was to maintain their position in the rock hierarchy, as probably the most pop-orientated hard rock band around and still keeping their gritty hard rock credentials at the same time. The key to the album’s success, was surely the replacement of Brian Robertson with Gary Moore, as Gary Moore would prove to be the perfect fit for the band, despite the fact that he would leave the band after the recording of the album to resume his solo career once again. This surely gives the impression that his role in the band at this time was no more than being a familiar fill-in for Phil Lynott. Tony Visconti stays with the band as producer and produces his second album with band, and the album would go onto become their highest placed album to date, where it reached No.2 in the UK album charts. The albums two singles would be “Waiting for an Alibi” and “Do Anything You Want To” and would be two instantly recognizable Thin Lizzy tracks. Also there are contributions on the album from a certain Midge Ure, who of course before going onto to lead Ultravox in the 1980s would feature as a guest musician on a couple of Thin Lizzy albums and he also features on a song-writing credit on this album as well. The album also features guest spots by session man Mark Nauseef on drums and Huey Lewis on harmonica (of who I didn’t know had featured on this album) It always seemed that Phil Lynott had a great knack for getting talented artists to feature as guest musicians on his album, which demonstrates just how repected he was by his fellow artists.

Phil Lynott- Bass/Vocals
Scott Gorham- Guitar
Gary Moore- Guitar
Brian Downey- Drums

Production- Tony Visconti

Album
Do Anything You Want To- With its distinctive drumming start, of which the video for the single had all four band members banging the drums together, the song then moves into familiar Thin Lizzy melodic fare and sets the tone for the rest of the album. The Toughest Street in Town- Starts with a rocky guitar intro and it’s a song that demonstrates nicely the melodic rocky style of the album and it’s also the only song on the album that features a Gary Moore writing contribution. S&M- A funky influenced track, that then tones down the speed so that Phil Lynott can account one of his lurid tales. Waiting for an Alibi- The lead single from the album, which doesn’t bring anything new to the table and is largely what the listener would expect to hear by the band. Sarah- Probably the most heartfelt song in the Phil Lynott catalogue and it regards his new born daughter. A previous song with the same name had been on the earlier Thin Lizzy album Shades of a Blue Orphanage. Got to Give It Up- A heartfelt song told in rocking fashion, about Phil Lynott’s need to give up his addictions, of which he refers to them on this song as ‘that stuff’. Sadly he didn’t and they would take his life a few years later! Get Out of Here- An album track that was written by both Phil Lynott and Midge Ure, and probably ranks as the weakest track on the whole album. With Love- A slowish paced Phil Lynott track and the type of track that shows the in-depth quality of the album. Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend- The 7 minute title track where Gary Moore incorporates a complex playing style, which in turn incorporates celtic themes into the song.

Verdict
Once the album starts Thin Lizzy quickly go into familiar territory, with proceedings being competently started off by the percussion driven “Do Anything You Want To” which was also the second single off the album. Melody and rock never come together any better than they do on the album’s second track “The Toughest Street in Town” and this strong trilogy is then completed by the lead off single for the album “Waiting for an Alibi” which again melds both rock and melody together in a tasty sandwich. The band then cover typical Judas Priest subject material on a song like “S&M” but in a far more easeful style and it has a funky beat thrown into mix things up a bit, but sadly the song tends to drag along and never lights up. Then there is the touching jewel of a song “Sarah” followed by the rocking morbidity of “Got to Give It Up” a song that would account the gradual end of Phil Lynott! Then we have the breezy “With Love” which is the type of quality song that the band were always able to write with real ease. The most complex song though is saved till last, in the title track “Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend”. Throughout both Downey and Moore’s dual guitar attack doesn’t miss a beat and Phil Lynott’s songcraft is as consistent as ever. and the album Black Rose: A Rock Legend would also prove to be the end of the band’s classic run of albums that had started right back with Fighting in 1975. Despite being regarded as their last classic album, the listener can’t help but feel that nearly all the material here, guitar riffs and musical ideas have already been covered before by the band, which certainly shows that their originality had well and truly dried up. But where the album does come into its own and earns its spurs, is that the band were still able to do what they’d always done previously and that was give us another consistent and polished album of highly enjoyable melodic rock. To be fair the chances of the band duplicating Bad Reputation were always going to be a hard act to follow anyway, so whilst not being to the height of that album, we still have an essential album for any Thin Lizzy fans here.

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