THIN LIZZY – Bad Reputation +6 [Rock Candy remastering & production]

With the recent – and excellent – THIN LIZZY box set presented here, many of you asked for the band’s albums in its best sound quality CD press. 0dayrox team, being a big Lizzy fan, will select what we consider the best of them.
Now we have here “Bad Reputation“, rightly regarded as one of the pre-eminent albums in THIN LIZZY’s historic career.
This expanded reissue is the one to get, handled by Rock Candy Records with artwork done in their style and the audio remastered by resident Andy Pearce. There was very little or no compression used during the new remastering, which benefits the album to keep its ‘analog’ nature.

Bad Reputation was originally released in 1977 and the band benefited from a switch to producer Tony Visconti as he captured critical elements of the band’s live sound and swagger. Visconti would be an important part of Lizzy’s upcoming albums / career.

Visconti helped to re-capture the Lizzy sound stripped down to their bare bones, even when they have horns pushing them forward on “Dancing in the Moonlight” or when overdubbed vocals pile up on the title track.
Of course, they were stripped down to a trio for most of this record: guitarist Brian Robertson (who’d injured his hand) had to sit out on most of the recording, but Scott Gorham’s double duty makes his absence unnoticeable.

Plus, this is pure visceral rock & roll, the hardest and heaviest that Thin Lizzy ever made, living up to the promise of the title track. And, as always, a lot of this has to do with Phil Lynott’s writing, which is in top form whether he’s romanticizing “Soldiers of Fortune” or heading down the “Opium Trail.”+
It adds up to an album that rivals ‘Jailbreak’ as their best studio album.

This new reissue sounds great – there is a notable improvement over the previously released versions of ”Bad Reputation”. The five of the bonus tracks are from a John Peel Session that the band recorded for the BBC in 1977. The last track is a soundcheck recording of “Me and the Boys” which was recorded at an unspecified location.
One of our favorite Thin Lizzy albums, and one you need in your collection.

1 – Soldier Of Fortune
2 – Bad Reputation
3 – Opium Trail
4 – Southbound
5 – Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight)
6 – Killer Without A Cause
7 – Downtown Sundown
8 – That Woman’s Gonna Break Your Heart
9 – Dear Lord
BONUS TRACKS:
10 – Killer Without A Cause [BBC Session 01-08-77]
11 – Bad Reputation [BBC Session 01-08-77]
12 – That Woman’s Gonna Break Your Heart [BBC Session 01-08-77]
13 – Dancing In The Moonlight [BBC Session 01-08-77]
14 – Downtown Sundown [BBC Session 01-08-77]
15 – Me And The Boys (Soundcheck) [Universal Monitor Mixes]

Phil Lynott – bass, lead vocals, string synthesizer, Celtic harp
Scott Gorham – lead and rhythm guitar
Brian Robertson – lead guitar on tracks 3, 6, 8, voice box, keyboards
Brian Downey – drums, percussion

BUY IT
www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Reputation-Expanded-Thin-Lizzy/dp/B004ZJADNQ