Thunder and Lightning | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 4 March 1983 [1] | |||
Recorded | Late 1982 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 40:36 | |||
Label | Vertigo Mercury (Canada) Warner Bros. (US) | |||
Producer | Thin Lizzy and Chris Tsangarides | |||
Thin Lizzy chronology | ||||
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Thunder and Lightning is the twelfth and final studio album by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, released on 4 March 1983. Guitarist John Sykes was hired to replace Snowy White after 1981's Renegade , and Sykes helped to provide a heavier sound and guitar tone than Thin Lizzy had used on previous albums. However, the bulk of the songwriting (except for "Cold Sweat") was completed before he joined the band. Keyboard player Darren Wharton also offered a stronger musical influence to Thin Lizzy's final studio album, co-writing many of the tracks including "Some Day She Is Going to Hit Back", and the final single "The Sun Goes Down". A farewell tour followed the album's release, followed by the live album Life . The group's co-founder, frontman and bass player Phil Lynott died in 1986.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 10/10 [5] |
Metal Hammer (GER) | 5/7 [6] |
AllMusic's Greg Prato proclaimed Thunder and Lightning "a definite improvement" compared to much of their other output in the 1980s, but remarked that the record was not the "best release" by the band. [4]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Thunder and Lightning" | Brian Downey, Phil Lynott | 4:56 |
2. | "This Is the One" | Lynott, Darren Wharton | 4:04 |
3. | "The Sun Goes Down" | Lynott, Wharton | 6:20 |
4. | "The Holy War" | Lynott | 5:12 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
5. | "Cold Sweat" | Lynott, John Sykes | 3:06 |
6. | "Someday She Is Going to Hit Back" | Downey, Lynott, Wharton | 4:05 |
7. | "Baby Please Don’t Go" | Lynott | 5:10 |
8. | "Bad Habits" | Scott Gorham, Lynott | 4:04 |
9. | "Heart Attack" | Gorham, Lynott, Wharton | 3:39 |
The limited edition double LP and cassette version of the album adds four tracks, recorded live in Britain while Snowy White was still a member of the band.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
5. | "Emerald" | Gorham, Brian Robertson, Downey, Lynott | |
6. | "Killer on the Loose" | Lynott | |
12. | "The Boys Are Back in Town" | Lynott | |
13. | "Hollywood (Down on Your Luck)" | Gorham, Lynott |
In 2013, a deluxe edition of the album was released. It consisted of two discs: disc one included the original release, and disc two contained live recordings from a 1981 Hammersmith Odeon show and a number of demos.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Angel of Death" | Lynott, Wharton | 7:30 |
2. | "Don't Believe a Word" | Lynott | 8:16 |
3. | "Emerald" | Gorham, Robertson, Downey, Lynott | 4:17 |
4. | "Killer on the Loose" | Lynott | 5:39 |
5. | "The Boys Are Back in Town" | Lynott | 5:10 |
6. | "Hollywood (Down on Your Luck)" | Gorham, Lynott | 4:37 |
7. | "The Sun Goes Down" | Lynott, Wharton | 6:07 |
8. | "Bad Habits" | Gorham, Lynott | 4:32 |
9. | "This Is the One" | Lynott, Wharton | 4:21 |
10. | "Thunder and Lightning" | Downey, Lynott | 4:58 |
11. | "Cold Sweat" | Lynott, Sykes | 3:10 |
12. | "Baby Please Don't Go" | Lynott | 5:38 |
13. | "Heart Attack" | Gorham, Lynott, Wharton | 3:41 |
14. | "The Holy War" | Lynott | 5:17 |
15. | "Someday She Is Going to Hit Back" | Downey, Lynott, Wharton | 4:00 |
Chart (1983) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [7] | 42 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [8] | 40 |
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [9] | 29 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [10] | 10 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [11] | 12 |
UK Albums (OCC) [12] | 4 |
US Billboard 200 [13] | 159 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [14] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Fighting is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1975. Following the release of four studio albums, the band finally forged an identifiable sound featuring the twin guitars of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. This sound draws from hard rock, folk, pop and rhythm and blues. It set the stage for the big commercial breakthrough of the follow-up album, Jailbreak. The album was also their first album to chart in the UK, hitting No. 60.
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Bad Reputation is the eighth studio album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1977. As the front cover suggests, most of the tracks feature only three-quarters of the band, with guitarist Brian Robertson only credited on three tracks. He had missed most of their previous tour, following a hand injury sustained in a brawl, and this album turned out to be his last studio effort with Thin Lizzy. On 27 June 2011, a new remastered and expanded version of Bad Reputation was released.
Live and Dangerous is a live double album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in June 1978. It was recorded in London in 1976, and Philadelphia and Toronto in 1977, with further production in Paris. It was also the last Thin Lizzy album to feature guitarist Brian Robertson, who left the band shortly after its release.
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Greatest Hits is a double-CD compilation of Thin Lizzy songs released in 2004.
John James Sykes is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He has also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums.
Dedication: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy is a compilation album released by rock group Thin Lizzy in 1991. The only previously unreleased track was "Dedication", which was reconstructed after band leader Phil Lynott's death, using an old 8 track demo recording of a Grand Slam song originally recorded around 1985 and written by guitarist Laurence Archer. This track was the subject of a High Court case, as following Lynott's death Thin Lizzy released this track as a lost Thin Lizzy track, removing Archer's guitar and the writing credit from the track. Archer is now credited for writing this track.
Wild One: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy is a 1996 compilation album by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. It was released ten years after the death of frontman Phil Lynott in 1986 as a tribute to him.
BBC Radio One Live in Concert is a live recording from 1983 by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1992. This show at the Reading Festival in 1983 came at the end of their farewell tour, and was originally intended to be the band's last concert.
Darren Leigh Wharton is a British keyboardist, singer and songwriter. He has fronted his own band, Dare, since 1985, but first came to attention as a member of Thin Lizzy. In 2023, Wharton launched a second band alongside Dare, Darren Wharton's Renegade. His son, Paris, is also a musician.
Vagabonds Kings Warriors Angels is a 2001 4-disc set by Irish rock group Thin Lizzy, which also contains a book chronicling the life of the band and music in some detail, with rare photos and a discography. The set was packaged in a longbox format with the booklet fixed inside like a book.
Grand Slam are a British rock band originally formed in 1984 by Phil Lynott, after the breakup of his earlier ensemble Thin Lizzy. Grand Slam was active for a year, and Lynott died in 1986, but the band was revived in 2016 by original members Mark Stanway and Laurence Archer.
"The Sun Goes Down" was a single released by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, the last single to be released before they split in 1983. It is featured on the group's album from that year, Thunder and Lightning, and it has been referred to as a ballad.
"Cold Sweat" is a song by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, and is the fifth track on their final studio album Thunder and Lightning. It was co-written by guitarist John Sykes and Phil Lynott, and became the biggest single from the album, entering the UK charts at No. 28, and peaking at No. 23 in Ireland.
"Angel of Death" is a song by rock band Thin Lizzy featured on their Renegade album, released as a single in the United States. The tune peaked at No. 38 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The song was a collaboration between band leader Phil Lynott and Darren Wharton, who had joined the band as a keyboard player in 1980. Angel of Death was premiered live in August 1981 when its lyrics were rather different from the later released versions. The opening number of Thin Lizzy's live set during the Renegade world tour of 1981/2 when it heralded the band on stage with the sound of air-raid sirens, Angel of Death was also an integral part of the Thunder and Lightning live set in 1983.