A treasure! That’s how I could possibly describe in one word this release that contains recordings that the band made for the BBC spanning through their entire career.
Thin Lizzy were invited many times to record tracks at the BBC Studios, that were going to be broadcasted on the radio a few days later. The band would have one day of studio time to record a preferred batch of songs, something that Lizzy cunningly took advantage of sometimes to cut new demos. As I read on the very good booklet the band had most often just released album, when they were invited by the Beeb, so the songs were fresh from having been quite recently recorded. So, Lynott and co. were fed up from the recording sessions and approached the re-recordings with a fresh eye, resulting in different performances of the songs! Thus, “Don’t Believe A Word” has different solos, “Suicide” is even more vivid, “Whisky In The Jar” sounds even more melancholic and so on…
Something that comes to mind after listening to this material is how good was this band’s performances with any lineup. Either you had Eric Bell, Robbo with Gorham, or White, Sykes, and of course Gary Moore, that we can enjoy here from some ’74 recordings replacing the Scotsman the band was always…a killer! Honestly, it’s at least impressing to listen to listen to those songs with the slight changes that they’ve been through from the band itself, and the always different but impeccable production by BBC’s sound engineers on duty.
Apart from this version “Thin Lizzy Live At The BBC” is also out in a deuxe 6-CD box set that also contains a DVD with rare and previously unreleased material, which I am sure, judging by the double CD we’ve got over here, that is worth purchasing if you have the cash!
PS: I am scared to even think what’s on those Lynott tapes that were recently discovered…
