To celebrate, I decided to hastily type up a Rapid Fire post celebrating some great Irish bands across the decades. Yes, they may be obvious choices but a popular band wouldn't be where it is today without some kind of reason so let's take a look at three different albums already!
1. Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy
Possibly the most well known (if not one of the most) albums by Thin Lizzy containing two of their biggest hits; "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "Jailbreak", the latter also being the album opener. I may have given this song shit for containing a dumb opening lyric but as far as Classic Rock songs with a bit of a Hard Rock edge go, it's pretty good. In fact, the whole album is full of "pretty good" songs apart from "The Boys Are Back In Town", which is an absolute belter.
Jailbreak is serviceable but the most incredible thing about this or indeed any Thin Lizzy album is Phil Lynott's work as vocalist and bassist. It's quite possibly the defining trait of the band's entire career. His voice isn't just unique but it fits in perfectly with the band's sound regardless of whatever they ended up producing, as proven by the band's foray into Metal territories. But we're not talking about Thunder & Lightning, we're talking about Jailbreak.
Most people credit Gary Moore as being the best guitarist Thin Lizzy ever had but the twin harmonies of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson deserve some credit too. Tracks like "Angel From The Coast", "Cowboy Song" and "Emerald" showed that they knew how to rock out with a variety of soft and heavy riffs, not to mention catchy solos too. I'd recommend Jailbreak to anyone who likes pure Classic Rock without the red, white and blue stains of America on it.
1. Jailbreak
2. Angel From The Coast
3. Running Back
4. Romeo And The Lonely Girl
5. Warriors
6. The Boys Are Back In Town
7. Fight Or Fall
8. Cowboy Song
9. Emerald
ALBUM RATING - 7/10
2. The Joshua Tree - U2
When people quote U2 albums, it's either this or Achtung Baby so when decided which album to listen to for this post, it had to be this one. Straight off the bat, we get three of the band's most famous songs in succession; "Where The Streets Have No Name", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With Or Without You". These are also the three weakest tracks on the album if you want Rock music as opposed to Wood. It's only when the album gets to "Bullet The Blue Sky" that the band clearly remembered you can make Alternative Rock with some fucking balls. Heavy bass, eerie guitar, drums that would've been better if Larry Mullen wasn't shit and Bono NOT whining.
Before you think of me as some fucking idiot who just wants AC/DC with every album he listens to, I was aware of the story behind this album. Dead friend + soul searching trip across America = The Joshua Tree. However, there are similar sounding tracks on the album that sound like they were written to be listened to and enjoyed ("In God's Country") and tracks that sound like the band trying to show everyone how fucking deep they were, basically the musical equivalent of a carefully posed Instagram pic of the band flexing in front of a mirror at a gym ("Where The Streets Have No Name").
Despite dedicating some time to rocking a little bit in the middle, the band return to slower, more sombre music in the last third of the album. Whilst I may not like the songs, the musical flow of the tracklist works and makes for a better listening experience...provided you can listen to the last songs without your mind drifting onto thoughts of how much happier you'd be listening to something else like a kitten trying to wake up its dead mother. It's lyrically well written and musically well performed (apart from Larry Mullen's parts, he just does what he can) but not an album I'd personally recommend unless you're on some kind of pilgrimage to seek out and listen to all the records you'd find in those pretentious "One Million Albums To Hear Before You Die" lists.
1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
3. With Or Without You
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Running To Stand Still
6. Red Hill Mining Town
7. In God's Country
8. Trip Through Your Wires
9. One Tree Hill
10. Exit
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared
ALBUM RATING - 5/10
3. All Hell Breaks Loose - Black Star Riders
I said that I'd have to listen to more albums by this band in my Heavy Fire review so here I am, talking about their debut in a post on Irish Rock bands when I've already looked at a Thin Lizzy record. It was either these guys or the Cranberries and fuck. that. Anyway, to refresh your memory, Black Star Riders is basically Thin Lizzy 2.0 founded by Scott Gorham with a vocalist who sounds as close as they could get to Thin Lizzy without pissing on his memory. They also made their music heavier so, in theory, it should balance out to make a partway decent Rock band...and it does! As far as debuts go, this is alright.
Sadly, album opener and title track "All Hell Breaks Loose" is piss weak but thankfully the rest of the album makes up for it. I'm assuming they didn't want to name their album "Bound For Glory" after the song due to the connotations of arrogance on the band's part (even if it would've been a greater album opener with a much better name for the album) but if you're after Irish Hard Rock, this album delivers. The main downside to this is that it's a bit tame, even with heavier guitars, but debut albums are allowed to play it safe.
The tracks that do have a bit of an edge to them are usually the better songs to listen to ("Valley Of The Stones", "Bloodshot") but the whole album is enjoyable if not a little generic ("Hey Judas", "Someday Salvation"). I'd recommend All Hell Breaks Loose to anyone who likes Thin Lizzy and Hard Rock, pretty much my views towards Heavy Fire and likely The Killer Instinct, even though I haven't listened to it. The catchy guitar riffs are still there from the days when Lynott fronted the band and whilst it will never be as great as the days of Thin Lizzy at their peak, at least we've got something good.
1. All Hell Breaks Loose
2. Bound For Glory
3. Kingdom Of The Lost
4. Bloodshot
5. Kissin' The Ground
6. Hey Judas
7. Hoodoo Voodoo
8. Valley Of The Stones
9. Someday Salvation
10. Before The War
11. Blues Ain't So Bad
ALBUM RATING - 7/10
I'm aware I still have a blog post for March to catch up on but I've been quite preoccupied with playing Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. Don't worry though, I'll make sure to post an extra one before April comes around.
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