Fighting (Thin Lizzy album)
Fighting is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1975. Following the release of four studio albums, the band finally forged an identifiable sound featuring the twin guitars of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. This sound draws from hard rock, folk, pop and rhythm and blues. It set the stage for the big commercial breakthrough of the follow-up album, Jailbreak. The album was also their first album to chart in the UK, hitting No. 60.[1]
| Fighting | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 12 September 1975 | |||
| Recorded | May 1975 | |||
| Studio | Olympic Studios, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:56 | |||
| Label | Vertigo Mercury (Canada and 1976 US re-release) | |||
| Producer | Phil Lynott | |||
| Thin Lizzy chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
 Cover of the North American releases | ||||
The track "Suicide" was originally performed by Thin Lizzy when guitarist Eric Bell was still in the band, including on a BBC broadcast recorded in July 1973.[2] It was first performed with different lyrics under the title "Baby's Been Messing", and lacked the middle section that appears on Fighting. The non-album track "Half-Caste" was released on the B-Side of the original "Rosalie" single. Another track recorded at the Fighting sessions was "Try a Little Harder", which was eventually released on the Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels boxed set in 2002.
Fighting is the only other Thin Lizzy album aside from their 1971 debut where band members other than Phil Lynott receive sole songwriting credits for certain tracks. Bell wrote "Ray Gun" on the debut, and Robertson and Gorham wrote "Silver Dollar" and "Ballad of a Hard Man", respectively.
Europe guitarist John Norum covered "Wild One" on his 1987 debut solo album Total Control.[3] Europe covered "Suicide" on their 2008 live album Almost Unplugged.[4]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 10/10[6] |
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Fighting as a "tense, coiled, vicious rock & roll album", with which Thin Lizzy began their classic era. Highlighting Gorham and Robertson's twin-guitar interplay, he described this line-up as "vital and visceral", and added that Lynott had made a leap forward as a songwriter, "fully flourishing as a rock & roll poet".[5] In his Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal Martin Popoff called Fighting a "soulful, stirring hard rock classic", where "Robertson and Gorham's fluid guitar harmonies become an integral part of the Lizzy sound, woven in the very fabric of the arrangements" and "the tales of outlaws and outcasts" reach "a fairly grandiose, history-encompassing, tragic scale."[6]
"I was a Lizzy fan," recalled Sounds writer and future Kerrang! founder Geoff Barton, "but Fighting just didn't cut it for me at the time. 'The band's second LP with their new twin-guitar line-up is an adequate rock album, no more,' I wrote. 'This one suffers from the familiar Lizzy studio trait: lack of any real energy or aggression.' The following month I went to see Lizzy live… About halfway through the show, Phil went into a bit of a diatribe against rock critics and I wondered if he knew I was in the audience. It turned out he did! At the end of the monologue, Phil just kind of shrugged his shoulders and said, with a wry smile on his face, 'But, no matter what, this next song is for Geoff Barton: Still in Love with You.' That was probably the most humbling moment of my entire career."[7]
Track listings
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Rosalie" (Bob Seger cover) | Bob Seger | 3:11 |
| 2. | "For Those Who Love to Live" | Brian Downey, Phil Lynott | 3:08 |
| 3. | "Suicide" | Lynott | 5:12 |
| 4. | "Wild One" | Lynott | 4:18 |
| 5. | "Fighting My Way Back" | Lynott | 3:12 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "King's Vengeance" | Scott Gorham, Lynott | 4:08 |
| 7. | "Spirit Slips Away" | Lynott | 4:35 |
| 8. | "Silver Dollar" | Brian Robertson | 3:26 |
| 9. | "Freedom Song" | Gorham, Lynott | 3:32 |
| 10. | "Ballad of a Hard Man" | Gorham | 3:14 |
Remastered edition
A remastered 2-CD set deluxe edition of Fighting was released on 12 March 2012.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Half Caste" (B-side of the single "Rosalie") | Lynott | 3:39 |
| 2. | "Rosalie" (US album mix) | 2:57 | |
| 3. | "Half Caste" (BBC Session, 29 May 1975) | 3:52 | |
| 4. | "Rosalie" (BBC Session, 29 May 1975) | 3:15 | |
| 5. | "Suicide" (BBC Session, 29 May 1975) | 5:19 | |
| 6. | "Ballad of a Hard Man" (false starts, no vocal) | 4:08 | |
| 7. | "Try a Little Harder" (alternate vocal) | Lynott, Robertson | 4:08 |
| 8. | "Fighting My Way Back" (rough mix with alternate vocal) | 3:24 | |
| 9. | "Song for Jesse" (no vocals) | Lynott | 2:14 |
| 10. | "Leaving Town" (acoustic, bass and drums – no vocals) | Lynott | 4:52 |
| 11. | "Blues Boy" | Robertson | 4:34 |
| 12. | "Leaving Town" (extended take) | 5:52 | |
| 13. | "Spirit Slips Away" (extended version – take four) | 5:31 | |
| 14. | "Wild One" (no vocals) | 4:18 | |
| 15. | "Bryan's Funky Fazer (Silver Dollar)" | Robertson | 3:38 |
| Total length: | 61:41 | ||
Singles
- "Rosalie" / "Half Caste" – 27 June 1975
- "Wild One" / "For Those Who Love to Live" – 17 October 1975
- In the US and Canada, "Wild One" was released with "Freedom Song" as the B-side, and in Greece with "Rosalie" as the B-side.
Personnel
- Thin Lizzy
- Phil Lynott – bass guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on "Wild One", producer
- Scott Gorham – guitar
- Brian Robertson – guitar, backing vocals, piano on "Song for Jesse"
- Brian Downey – drums, percussion
- Additional musicians
- Roger Chapman (from Family) – backing vocals on "Rosalie"
- Ian McLagan (from The Faces) – piano on "Rosalie" and "Silver Dollar"
- Production
- Keith Harwood – engineer and mixing
- Jeremy Gee – assistant engineer
- Gilbert Kong – mastering
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Swedish Albums Chart[8] | 49 |
| UK Albums Chart[1] | 60 |
References
- "Thin Lizzy Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
- "Thin Lizzy - Suicide (Live)". YouTube. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- Total Control (LP cover). John Norum. CBS. 1987. CBS 460203 1.CS1 maint: others (link)
- Almost Unplugged (CD Booklet). Europe. Hell & Back. 2008. HBCD 100.CS1 maint: others (link)
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Thin Lizzy - Fighting review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 278. ISBN 978-1894959025.
- Barton, Geoff; Dome, Malcolm; Kendall, Jo; Ling, Dave (February 2016). "The night I set Phil Lynott's todger on fire and other stories". Classic Rock. No. 219. p. 57.
- "Thin Lizzy – Fighting (Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
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