Johnny the Fox

by

Thin Lizzy

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The music on this album is 5 stars, no argument. This review is mainly for Thin Lizzy fans debating on whether to purchase this "remastered" import.....DO IT! From the very first track, "Johnny", I was flat out blown away by the improvement in the sound compared to previous releases (the sweep of Brian Downey's drum fills on "Johnny" from the right to left channel are right in your face and super clean....I knew right then this was going to be a fantastic listen). So if you still have this album on vinyl or are thinking about upgrading from your current cd version, add to cart now. You will not regret this purchase, I guarantee it. Lastly, look int zShops, you can get this album at a really, really fair price.

This record following the success of Jailbreak is more of a consolidation of those gains from its predecessor. The first four tracks Johnny, Rocky, Borderline and Don't Believe a Word are an awesome quartet of strength to this release. Phil introduces two character roles here in the third person of the qualities of the dangerous Johnny and cocky Rocky the rock star. Borderline is a quiet tune about a tumultuous relationship between a struggling musician and his estranged girlfriend left behind. Don't Believe a word is in abbreviated form here, orginially begun as a slow blues number, Robertson and Gorham beef this track up to a great hard rock number. In the live sets that followed, "Word" would become a tour de-force for the twin Lizzy axemen. Fools Gold, while an interesting tale of perhaps an old Irish origin, drops the quality a bit here with the flow of the record. With continuance of the first track, comes tale #2 in Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed, which would also be a live staple among most future Lizzy tours. Old Flame again seems a bit of filler here and this is certainly true of the record's closing numbers Sweet Marie and Boogie Woogie Dance, which I feel, really bring this album down. Massacre is shoehorned in between those three and while an extremely powerful number, it cannot save the letdown of what this record could have been. Lizzy would begin to develop a habit of padding some of their future releases with inferior tracks (or if you like, more of a glossy pop sensibility of a song)amongst the harder and better arranged ones. I really want to like this record in its entirety, but because of the 3 or 4 lesser numbers, Johnny the Fox never quite makes it there.