Post by Erik Rupp on Aug 4, 2010 23:30:12 GMT -5
Not enough good things can ever be said about Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous album.
Almost every song on this seminal live album blows away the studio version. The band plays with amazing passion and energy, and the audio production is much better than on any of their previous studio albums. It could even be argued that the best thing about Live and Dangerous is that the production is perfect.
Polished enough in the studio during mixing that the sound quality is excellent, but still raw enough to capture the power and energy of Thin Lizzy live. Truly live, with virtually no studio overdubs. Or so it sounded, and so most Thin Lizzy fans thought for decades.
As it turns out, that wasn't true. Most of the guitars and vocals were overdubbed in the studio. What's odd is that I've heard true live recordings from that era and they sound almost exactly like this album. That's why I (and many other Lizzy fans) initially thought that there weren't many overdubs in the studio. Apparantly, as per producer Tony Visconti, they just wanted to polish up the live recordings and went overboard in an effort to make all the touchups sound seamless from those original live recordings.
As far as the songs go, there are so many great tracks on Live and Dangerous that it is almost impossible to single out the highlights - almost every track on this album could be considered a highlight! The best way to put it is this; Live and Dangerous is a Hard Rock masterpiece. Rock And Roll has never been better than this. As good? Maybe. Probably. But better? Never.
Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham, Brian Robertson, and Brian Downey set the standard for live Rock albums that has not been surpassed to this day. Live and Dangerous features 17 great songs that sound better in a live setting than they did in the studio (and most of them sounded damned good in the studio to begin with). The band is tight and powerful, but they also show great finesse when needed. The performances match the song selection - simply phenomenal.
This is definitely a, "Must have," album for any serious Hard Rock fan.
5/5