Old Flame - Thin Lizzy (1976)

"Old Flame" was released on Thin Lizzy's seventh studio album, Johnny the Fox, in the fall of 1976. Wanted to update another of my old Thin Lizzy videos and so here it is. I'm very partial to Phil's ballads and this is another relatively obscure, but excellent, example of how great he was writing this style. The audio is sourced from a vinyl 192KHz/24 bit and the dynamics are really better than any CD version I've heard. As per usual with the updates, I try to keep the original concept intact and try to upscale the older visual elements and add some new stuff. I didn't spend too much time on it (the updated videos get even less views than the new ones), but I think it's a better presentation than the old one....audio definitely! Thanks for watching!

From Wiki:
This album was written and recorded while bassist/vocalist Phil Lynott was recovering from a bout of hepatitis that put him off the road halfway through the previous Jailbreak tour. "Don't Believe a Word" was a British hit single. Johnny the Fox was the last Thin Lizzy studio album on which guitarist Brian Robertson featured as a full member of the band, as the personality clashes between him and Lynott resulted in Robertson being sacked, reinstated, and later sacked again.

Thin Lizzy used their usual cover artist, Jim Fitzpatrick, to design the sleeve for Johnny the Fox, but he was asked to provide the finished design before the album was given a title. When Lynott asked him for something Celtic, but not the usual kind of Celtic rock design, Fitzpatrick drew a complicated neo-gothic Celtic border with a disc in the centre, left blank for the title and central design. When the deadline was approaching and he grew desperate to finish it, he asked Lynott for any idea of a title to inspire him. Lynott replied, "Ah, call it Johnny the Fox, that'll do." Fitzpatrick reminded him that there was no track with that title on the album, and Lynott replied, "No-one will notice, Jim. The album will be massive." Fitzpatrick subsequently drew the fox design and added the title. An idea of a cut-out with the fox's head showing through was rejected by the record company.

An earlier Fitzpatrick design had the same border with the figure of a warrior in the centre, but both Lynott and Fitzpatrick felt that the fox represented a sort of "outsider" character, much like the panther on the cover of Thin Lizzy's 1974 album, Nightlife.

Johnny the Fox was released on 16 October 1976, and reached No.11 in the UK charts. The single "Don't Believe a Word" reached No.12 in the UK and No.2 in Ireland. Thin Lizzy toured the UK during October and November, supported by American band Clover, led by Huey Lewis. The tour was successful enough that an extra date was added at the Hammersmith Odeon in November. There was also a successful appearance on Rod Stewart's BBC TV show in the UK, where Thin Lizzy upstaged their host by playing live, whereas Stewart mimed.

Harry Doherty of Melody Maker, praised the album, comparing it to Jailbreak, writing there is "more subtlety, the melodies are stronger, and, most importantly, the scope of the material is much wider than the hard rock associated with Lizzy", showing a band more versatile than on the previous recording. To the contrary, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that Johnny the Fox fell short in comparison to the previous album, Jailbreak, suggesting that the album veers towards "an odd, half-baked concept album", despite showing the same strengths as its predecessor, i.e. Lynott's lyrics and the group's musical power. Praising "Don't Believe a Word" and "Borderline" as great moments, he said that the album "never falls flat", but is "never quite as gripping as Jailbreak".Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considered Johnny the Fox Thin Lizzy's first real masterpiece and described it as "a rich textural work of melodic, soft-edged metal, lyrically soulful, melancholy, in many places tragic". Stuart Bailie, reviewing the 2011 reissue for Classic Rock, described the album as "an exercise in tight, rousing tunes with the chiming Les Paul guitars and Phil's patented blarney", but wrote that the bonus tracks were "less revealing" than on other Thin Lizzy expanded editions.

People video clips by cottonbro from Pexels

[Lyrics]
There's a girl I'll remember
Oh for such a long, long time
This girl I'll remember
She was an old flame of mine
Beneath the stars just sipping wine
Young lovers then in summertime
I'll always remember
That old flame of mine
Love, she comes and goes
True love, she hides then shows
My love, may I propose
That love she comes and goes
Two hearts together two hearts alight
To keep us warm on winter nights
With each dying ember
I remember that old flame of mine
Once this flame it did brightly blaze
Among the ashes there still remains
A glowing spark in my heart
For that old flame of mine

Видео Old Flame - Thin Lizzy (1976) канала MetalGuruMessiah