This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.
Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak
Vertigo/Mercury Records – 26 Mar 2021
Special guest reviewer Josh Caterer talks about this classic album, as well as his own personal experience with it.
When I was about 8 years old, our next door neighbors had a garage sale. There was a cardboard box full of vinyl LP’s. As I rummaged through it, one of the album covers grabbed my attention. It was a crazy cartoon picture of what appeared to be a futuristic robot head hovering over a TV screen showing 4 action hero type guys running away from a large explosion. I’d never heard of the band before, but I figured with artwork as cool as that, how could the music be anything less than awesome? So I shelled out 50 cents of my allowance, at which point Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” became the first album I ever bought.
The music turned out to be just as captivating as the cover. First of all, there’s the startling, dramatic opening chord, like an unexpected punch in the face. Hardly anything has happened yet, just a single chord, but you immediately know that this band is not messing around. When the groove kicks in, there’s a relentless, razor-sharp precision to everything they’re doing. The guitar tone is absolutely incredible, not too overbearing, just perfectly crisp with the right amount of growl, and the interlocking riffs are delivered with such ease and clarity, it’s obvious these guys are in complete mastery of their instruments.
And then Phil Lynott starts singing and the whole thing gets even better. There’s something uniquely compelling about Mr. Lynott’s persona. As a lead singer and lyricist, he’s somehow able to combine the machismo of a leather-clad rocker with the emotional sensitivity of a beat poet, and he does it with an almost childlike earnestness that makes the whole thing work beautifully. I would put him alongside Bon Scott as one of the great unlikely frontmen of rock-n-roll, delivering lines that simply wouldn’t work if they were coming from anyone else. I mean, who else could say “Hey you, good lookin’ female…c’mere!” and pull it off?
This album is filled with well-written and flawlessly executed songs. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite, but if I had to, I’d probably go with “Romeo and the Lonely Girl.” In fact, I’m pretty sure the Popes stole that descending chord pattern in the verse for our song “Don’t Be Afraid.” It wasn’t intentional theft as much as involuntary homage, one of many Thin Lizzy-isms that pop up in our music, right down to the occasional dual-guitar solo. The influence of Thin Lizzy on the Smoking Popes cannot be overstated. We grew up saturated in their music, so what do you expect?
They made several great records, but I think this one is their best. Maybe that’s just because of my personal connection to it, all those countless childhood hours spent listening to this particular album, but I don’t think that’s it. There’s an undeniable consistency to this collection of tunes. They were really on top of their game here. I give it a 10 out of 10.
Josh Caterer is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Chicago, best known as a founding member of Smoking Popes. His new solo album is called The Hideout Sessions.
