Chart entered : 20 January 1973
Chart peak : 6
Number of hits : 18
We move into 1973 , my first full year as a pop fan and really the first calendar year I appreciated was a distinct entity with its own character and events. The pop chart certainly helped in this process by providing a framework and instant aide-memoires in the records. I recall certain news events like the death of Dad's Army's James Beck ( a profound shock that someone famous couldn't be saved by going into hospital ) and the Yom Kippur War. Like all years it was a mixture of good and bad. The spring and summer terms at St Mary's were the bad ; Mrs Smith was replaced by the wife of a bloke who taught at the same school as my dad. There was some joking about potential favouritism over the Christmas holidays but nothing could have been further from the mark. While her husband always seemed OK she was absolutely horrendous, a classic example of the self-righteous joylessness of the ultra-religious. It was gratifying some years later to find out that some of her colleagues had similar reservations about her. I spent the summer holiday in the dog house after a wildly over the top negative school report from her. At the far end of that holiday I received a sudden influx of new toys as my cousins ( both boys ) were emigrating to New Zealand and had to surrender them. Though they only lasted a fortnight there only the microscope was ever reclaimed. The rest of the year passed peacefully enough.
As Roy Wood was an established chart force by the time of Wizzard's first record , Thin Lizzy are the first substantial new act to emerge on my watch. Guitarist Eric Bell had been in Them but not at the time they had their hits. The band were formed in Dublin in 1969 after Eric met organist Eric Wrixon who had an on/off relationship with Them in a bar and they decided to put a group together. They approached two guys from a band called The Orphanage , singer Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey who agreed on two conditions, that Phil could play bass as well as sing and that they'd perform some of his own songs. The band were named by Eric B after a robot Tin Lizzie in The Dandy.
Phil was born in England in 1949 to an Irish mother and Afro-Guyanese father but went to live with his grandmother in Dublin when they split up. He met Brian at the Christian Brothers school there. In 1968 he formed the band Skid Row with a bass player Brendan Shiels; Brian turned down the invitation to join. A young guitarist named Gary Moore joined them shortly afterwards. They soon released a single "New Faces Old Places" an acoustic folky item written by Shiels about a compulsory purchase order on the family home which got some support from Peelie but was only available on a small label. It's a bit clumsy and the tin whistle played by Planxty's Johnny Moynihan is a little too prominent but not bad for a first effort.
Phil's vocal on the single is a bit lispy and there was a general concern about the quality of his singing. A problem with his tonsils was identified and while he was having that fixed Shiels took over on vocals and the band decided that worked better. Feeling guilty at bumping his friend Shiels sold him a bass guitar and taught him how to play it. Phil then formed The Orphanage with Brian.
The first Thin Lizzy single was "The Farmer" only released as a limited pressing in Ireland in July 1970 and very valuable if you've got one. Phil wrote it as a mournful invitation to a funeral and it's lachrymose Celtic rock heavily influenced by Astral Weeks-era Van Morrison. The plus point is a terrific guitar solo from Eric B. After its release the restless Eric W quit leaving the group a trio. By the end of the decade they had a deal with Decca and travelled to London to record their eponymous debut LP.
"Thin Lizzy" was not a commercial success. It's not without merit but Phil's songwriting is not quite up to scratch and Eric's Gilmour-esque playing seems wasted on some very formless songs. "Return Of The Farmer's Son" is little more than an excuse for a lengthy guitar and drum workout but I do like the rhyming of "smack me on the ass" with "Sunday Mass".
A few months later they released the "New Day" EP headed by the track "Dublin" where they start getting it together. Phil's lovely spare lines convey the conflicting emotions of a departing son for his home town "that has no jobs" and are underpinned by Eric's lyrical lines. The final track "Things Ain't Working Out Down At The Farm" hints at child abuse and locates the classic Lizzy sound. The less said about the intervening tracks the better.
Now based in London the band released their second album "Shades of a Blue Orphanage" . The promise of the EP wasn't realised on an album that's poorer than their debut with the songs sounding either unfinished or stretched well beyond the length that the germ of an idea can support. "Sarah" , Phil's tribute to his grandmother, is touching but underdeveloped and the Elvis parody "I Don't Want To Forget How To Jive" is one of the most vacuous things I've ever heard.
Decca correctly judged that there wasn't a single on it and were happy for the band to record a Deep Purple covers album for a German businessman Leo Muller ; Lord knows who the intended audience was. Lizzy did it for the cash but were keen to obscure their involvement. They called themselves Funky Junction and brought in a different vocalist who would sound more like Ian Gillan. They only actually recorded five Purple songs and made up the LP with four instrumental jams which they credited to Muller himself. Once that was done they went out on tour as support for Slade which did them no harm and Decca decided to release this one as their new single.
"Whiskey In The Jar" besides being a tremendous record , holds a special place in my heart. Having as yet no record player the next best thing was to buy pop magazines to learn more about the stars and their songs and I soon picked up the latest copy of Words : Record Song Book. For those who don't remember it this was a cheap and cheerful A5 , mostly b & w , monthly magazine cobbled together from song lyrics, press releases and publicity shots and a brief editorial feature. I've never been particularly good at discerning lyrics by ear so this was a godsend ( I think it ceased in 1980, crushed by Smash Hits ). The lyrics to "Whisky In The Jar" revealed something I'd not picked up ; the narrator's adversary and ultimate victim had my own surname* , still , I think, its only appearance on a hit song although we'll be meeting an "artist" ( no relation ) with it before this decade's through.
"Whisky In The Jar" is a traditional folk song from the wild south west of Ireland. The tale is told by a highwayman who relieves a soldier of the cash he is escorting then finds him in bed with his woman with inevitable results. It was first popularised by The Dubliners who released a version as a single in 1968. Lizzy recorded their version during the Orphanage sessions for what turned out to be an unnecessary B side and didn't want it to be released as it wasn't representative of their material. Decca correctly judged that that was a selling point . The arrangement credit was shared between the three of them but it's Eric's record with that instantly recognisable lyrical guitar riff ( I think James Dean Bradfield might have been listening ) and then a blistering solo. Nevertheless Brian 's drumming keeps it punchy and Phil's hoarse desperate vocal invites sympathy for this not very nice character. In the mid-nineties I worked with a guy who played in an Irish showband and asked him what he thought of their version and he said it was definitive.
( * This is not the case with every version of the song; the names are often changed. )
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