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THIN LIZZYLive And Dangerous

A landmark year for legendary American record produc-er Tony Visconti, 1977 saw him help to create two of David Bowie’s greatest works, Low and “Heroes”, before applying his skills to Irish rockers Thin Lizzy and guiding them towards their golden period. Hot on the heels of the Visconti-produced Bad Reputation, Lizzy’s eighth studio album, the band embarked on a 40-date North American tour, before ending the year with a run of UK shows. It was during this tour that Live And Dangerous – a double album claimed by many to be one of the best live collections of all-time – was recorded. Featuringdefinitiveversionsof‘Still In Love With You’ and ‘Rosa-lie’/‘Cowgirl’s Song’, along with ‘Jailbreak’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ and other recent chart hits, Live And Dangerous represented a major peak forthe‘definitive’line-up:PhilLynott,BrianDowney,ScottGorham and Brian Robertson. DespitetheloftystatusofLive And Dangerous, however, like so many other albums of its genre, it relied only partly on the live recordings taken from the U.S. and London shows, when Lizzy’s crew included tour manager Frank Murray and FOHsoundengineerPeterEustace. With a full diary, Visconti (above far right) could not im-mediately commit to a follow-up to Bad Reputation, and so Lynott persuaded the producer to quickly compile the best recordings from the recent tours. This he did, alongside the geniusfrontman,attheformer’sownGoodEarthStudiosinLondon(latertobecomeDeanStreetStudios). Viscontitakesupthestory:“Welistenedtoatleast30hoursoftape.Wedefinitelyhadsomething,butthetaskofchoos-ingtherighttakeswasawesome.Whenwedid,Philaskedifhe could touch up some vocals. There was no harm in that –– this is commonly done for live albums because of techni-cal faults, like microphone wire buzz and other gremlins. The trick to getting a studio vocal to sound like a convincing live

vocal is to sing the song in the same way. Otherwise the live voice will poke through if the new voice is not in sync. “Wespentafewdaysre-recordingafewvocals.Itwentvery well. Once we established a sound and a system to do this,Philsuggestedthatwere-doallthevocals.Sowedid. “ThenwenoticedthatGorhamandRobertsonwerenoton mic for backing vocals half the time. If you listen closely youcanhearPhildoublingthebackingvocalsatthesametimehewassinginglead!ThenPhilrealisedthathe’dmissed

a few notes on the bass when he was singing live. Could we replace some? ‘Of course!’ “Thebasswasharderandmoreprecise and so all the bass parts were replaced. In walked Gorham

andRobertson.SinceitwassoeasytoreplacePhil’sparts,couldtheyre-dotheirs?“Ofcourse!”Butnowitwasobviousthat this was not completely live anymore. The guitars, bass andvocalswerereplaced–justBrianDowney’sdrumsandtheaudiencereactionwereleft!Fortunately,Downeylikedhis playing and we kept all the drums. “Iwillstandbythefactthatmuchofitisoverdubbedinthe studio for the reasons I have already stated. One more detail is that, whereas the bass, lead vocals, backing vocals were replaced, the live guitars were used, but they were double-tracked in the studio, giving them a much fuller sound. So, you are hearing a bit of the live guitar perfor-mances.I’velistenedtotheremasteredCDsrecentlyandIcan clearly hear the sound of double-tracked guitars. “Despitethenecessarytrickerythisalbumisveryreal.Itrepresents electrifying moments before an audience and fabuloussecondchancestogetitrightinthestudio.” The reformed Thin Lizzy are now active as Black Star Riders, whileVisconti’srelationshipwithDavidBowiewasrenewedwiththeacclaimed2013‘comeback’album,The Next Day.

tonyvisconti.com • thinlizzy.org • blackstarriders.com

Released:June21978onVertigoRecordsRecorded:inPhiladelphia,London&Toronto

Producedby:ThinLizzy&TonyVisconti

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