Thin Lizzy - Albums Ranked

1.      Johnny The Fox

2.      Jailbreak

3.      Vagabonds of the Western World

4.      Fighting

5.      Night Life

6.      Chinatown

7.      Bad Reputation

8.      Black Rose

9.      Thin Lizzy

10.   Thunder and Lightning

11.   Renegade  

12.   Shades of a Blue Orphanage

Johnny the Fox and Jailbreak could probably switch positions on any given day. Night Life and Fighting could probably be switched on any given day. Night Life is hard to compare to other albums. Just depends on your mood. Bad Reputation could even be moved up…4,5, and 6 positions are pretty much interchangeable. Shades of a Blue Orphanage needs more listens by me to really find a proper spot, but as it stands…I’m not the biggest fan of Black Rose but it’s got some great songs, alone probably puts it above Orphanage. Those great songs are probably enough to put Black Rose above Night Life, but again Night Life is unique and hard to compare to the other albums in the discography

Bad Reputation and Black Rose are two of Thin Lizzy's most popular albums and have some of their best songs on them.

Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning

1983

This album starts off at a break neck pace. We're talking Motorhead here, then it gets to the guitar solo and it's so over the top in its super speedy shred fest it's almost comical. It quickly calms down from there. Immediately starts sounding more "commercial". The third song, don't listen while you're driving, it could be dangerous. It might put you to sleep. That's when the Sun Goes Down complete with a pretty over the top guitar solo. I mean it seems pretty extreme in relation to the song. I like it and synthesizers are creeping in. I haven't really noticed any dual guitar leads after the first three songs. Fourth song starts with a pretty terrible drum sound. Trashcan. Side two starts off with Cold Sweat it's got a pretty sick riff and there's pinch squeals and toatal shred fest guitar solo followed by another solo! This a killer metal song right up there with Priest or wherever Metal was at in 1983. Then they get more melodic with a driving tune. This time it will keep you awake and the dual guitars are more prevalent before the shred solo. Then a song that seems to go on forever with lots of guitar wailing. Rest of the album is pretty non descript beside a bunch of guitar. This is the first time I've listened to this. It has good stuff like every Thin Lizzy album. I'll return for more listens. I would put this in the bottom half of my favorite Thin Lizzy albums. This one is unique and due to all the guitar shred.

Thin Lizzy - Renegade

1981

This album has a really smooth production job and synthesizers and they experiment with song styles as well as a lot of the usual Thin Lizzy sound. The vocals sometimes remind me of ZZ Top. I think one of the guitar players that was new on this and the previous album has a bluesier style that contributes to the ZZ Top vibe. This album has more in common with Night Life than the harder rocking albums Thin Lizzy is known for. I think if you throw out any preconceptions you have of Thin Lizzy this is another good album from them. It's a bit on the lighter side. The fact that Thin Lizzy has so many quality albums would put this towards the bottom of my favorites list but it's still a good listen. 

Thin Lizzy - Chinatown

1980

While the previous two albums have some of Thin Lizzys' all time best songs, I thought the overall quality of the records were slipping since Johnny the Fox. Some of the songs were feeling samey and didn't have the same emotional impact with me that the earlier albums had. I assumed the quality would drop off even more when we got to this record. I was wrong. I don't know why but this group of songs really connect with me. The tempo of most all the songs is pretty quick. My faith in Thin Lizzy has been restored!

Thin Lizzy - Black Rose

1979

Apparently this is one of Thin Lizzy's most popular albums. There are a few great songs on here but overall this is actually pretty far down my personal list of favorite albums from these guys. The sound is distilled and to the point. The production here  One of their catchier albums. There's a lot of guitar ripping on here. There's no doubt this is a really good album. I think with repeated listens I'll come to appreciate this more.

Thin Lizzy - Johnny the Fox

1976

     Their tightest most driving, focused rocker to date. Great songs, great vocals and storytelling. The production is great and the guitars sound amazing. Drumming is great and fun to listen to. Overall this album has a darker feel than any that came before.  This is their seventh album and it's in the running three others for their best. 

     I assume the pressure was on to follow up with a solid record after the success of Jailbreak. In many ways this is better.

Thin Lizzy - Fighting

1975

The fifth Thin Lizzy and where the dual guitars really take shape. On the four albums before this Thin Lizzy still hadn't figured out what kind of band they we're going to be, I'm sure line up changes didn't help matters, but here they are fully committed to being a Hard Rock band. Interestingly the softer songs like Wild One are among the strongest. It's Phil's story telling and sincere delivery that really make every song enjoyable. That holds true for every Thin Lizzy song up to this point. Of the first five I think this is tied with Vagabonds of the Western World for being the best. This is a really good album.

Thin Lizzy - Nightlife

1974

Well, it's Yacht rock isn't? It's not that bad but it's hovering near there. A couple rockers, but the lighter stuff is Really light. Probably my least favorite of the first four.

Just when I thought they had it figured out they drop this one. I think the balance between the poetic soft side and the rockers was perfect on the previous album. Then if I understand correctly they lost their guitar player, then lost the guitar player who replaced him then got two new guitar players for this album. The soft side of Thin Lizzy here goes way overboard and go's full on Yacht rock. There's only a couple rockers, which are great.The rest of the album is filled in with slow dull songs. Now, this is the first time I've listened to this and was expecting something totally different. I'm sure this album has it's place. The songs are done well, I was just hoping/expecting  so much more after Vagabonds of the Western World.

It's like they're starting over trying to figure out what kind of band they're going to be. Most of this really is something you could listen to while having coffee in the morning. It's pleasant and easy going.

Thin Lizzy - Vagabonds of the Western World

1973

This is a great album. I like every song on it. The balance between the poetic softer side and the rockers is perfect here.

Thin Lizzy - Shades of a Blue Orphanage

1972

I think this one is not quite as interesting as their debut. It's a little bit of a grab bag. They remind me of Queen in that sense, where they're mixing up styles...it doesn't really matter what kind of music they play because the singer is so strong he can pull off anything, but they usually return to the core of what the band is about. In this case it's still being solidified. The first album is so odd/good it makes me want to return to it and figure out what's going on. This album is good, but I don't get the urge to return.

Thin Lizzy - Thin Lizzy

1971

     Hendix-y in places. Baroque in places. Folksy in places. Good vocals everywhere. Production/mixing techniques that you certainly don't hear anymore. Nice/good storytelling songs. 

     Not the rock powerhouse they would become, but this is a really good album. This is before it all gets put together, this album has all (most) of the ingredients. They're not quite hard rock at this point. It's more of a Hendrix inspired folksy bluesy rock band.