Thin Lizzy. The Acoustic Sessions.
Phil Lynott famously demoed everything he wrote for Thin Lizzy with just him singing over acoustic guitar.
Now Eric Bell, the band’s first guitarist, has reversed the process with great style, reimagining the finished songs as stripped-back acoustic recordings. Yes, the boys are back toned down.
Bell has retained Lynott’s vocals and bass and Brian Downey’s drums, but replaced his electric guitar with multi-tracked acoustic guitar-work.
The results are, in part, majestic, not least on A Song For While I’m Away, the Lynott-penned ballad that closed Lizzy’s third album, Vagabonds Of The Western World.
Always beautiful, it sounds sublime here with an extra layer of poignancy. And there’s a new exuberance to the rejigged Whiskey In The Jar, the rearranged traditional Irish folk-song the trio went Top Ten with in 1973.
This unique collection showcases the other side of West Bromwich-born Irish rocker Lynott – the romantic and idealistic folk poet.
Opener Mama Nature Says, once a boisterous rocker, now has more swing, bringing Phil’s then pioneering eco-conscious message to the fore.
Other re-imagined songs include the wistful and melancholic Dublin, about the aftermath of an affair, blessed with blissful acoustic lead.
The mostly timeless numbers are drawn from the band’s first three albums (recorded before Eric quit).
In the process Belfast-raised Bell, 77, has given a more plaintive feel to numbers like Eire – a history lesson with Lynott’s lyrics reflecting Ireland’s struggle against the Vikings more than 1,000 years ago, and the Tyrone Rebellion, defeated by Tudor forces in 1603.
The rueful, glacially slow over-blown epic Shades Of A Blue Orphanage is less impressive but at least he avoided the temptation to resurrect The Rise And Dear Demise Of The Funky Nomadic Tribes.
Lizzy went on to break big in 1976 and Lynott became the rock god he was always meant to be.
Larkin Poe. Bloom.
The Grammy-winning, genre-bending Lovell sisters mix Southern vibes with sharp lyrics to pen gems ranging from the mesmerising swampy blues of If God Is A Woman to scorching stomper Bluephoria. Opener Mockingbird re-energises old-school rock; the harmonies-enhanced closer Bloom Again is just beautiful. Stars of tomorrow.
Steve Hackett. Live Magic At Trading Boundaries.
The ex-Genesis guitar virtuoso celebrates his career with 19 dreamy, largely acoustic tracks. We get his Bach-inspired piece from Foxtrot, songs from Steve’s classical guitar era, Blood On The Rooftops with an elegant new ending, and Hairless Heart with its guitar/piano interplay. Familiar tracks are lovingly enhanced. Spell-binding.
Pastel. Souls In Motion.
Inspired by the Stone Roses and loved by Liam Gallagher, Pastel open with Heroes Blood, a prowling calling-card of defiance with swirling synths and belligerent guitar. The shoe-gazey Isaiah is prettier, Running On Empty pacier, and Gone Too Fast uncoils like a viper. They’re not channelling Brit-Pop’s let’s-have-it spirit so much as resurrecting it.