Artist: Thin Lizzy
Title: “Jailbreak” Deluxe Edition
Label: Universal Music
Release Date: 2/8/2011
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 4/5

Even though “Jailbreak” was the sixth Thin Lizzy album it was without question the one that really firmed up the bands importance in the eyes of Rock and Roll connoisseurs around the world. I am saying this as one of the more casual fans of the bands body of work having never really been into more than the hits when they were first doing their thing. I appreciated them of course but was not like some of my friends who lived and breathed what founder Phil Lynott was doing. The reason I make such a bold statement was based on the level of exposure that no less than four of its numbers received. Back around the time of its initial release in 1976, you could not turn on Rock radio and not hear “The Boys Are Back In Town” or “Jailbreak” at some point during your listen. My how the times have changed for that medium eh? It was exposure like this that was the Internet and the MTV of its time and helped strengthen bands powers to that of legend. With “Jailbreak” I felt that there was a little of something for everyone on it. The title track was a rousing start and Phil’s vocal was smooth on top of it as he lined out the story. I cannot add much to the views about “The Boys Are Back In Town” other than this is perhaps the most known song in the bands repertoire whether they liked it or not. It’s the kind of tune that always finds the stereo being made louder and the drinks flowing a little faster. Songs like “Emerald” are also long lasting in terms of their reach and it was only about a year or so ago when I caught the band Mastodon doing their own version of it. Despite this being the bands most mainstream success, I think the term of “commercially viable” was a lot different back then and had more oomph than it does today. This would be the album that became a standard purchase for Rock fans and especially those who were forming bands of their own with two lead players. The melodies of Gorham and Robertson were like few others and of great influence to many bands that formed around this time. I had to say that I enjoyed being able to hear the superb re-mastering job and listening to this vintage release with more adult ears.
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