One Night Only

One Night Only

Thin Lizzy

CMC International Records, 2000

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 12/05/2000

Any time a band goes back out on the road without a key member,I have a hard time calling that group by its well-known moniker.Case in point: Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, who are best knownfor their 1976 hits "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "Jailbreak."Lead vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott died in 1986, another victim ofrock and roll excess, making a Thin Lizzy reunion impossible -- orso I thought.

Enter former members John Sykes, Scott Gorham and DarrenWharton, who picked up the name and reformed the band. One Night Only, culled from their 1999 tour, shows both thattimeless music survives... and that Lynott is sorely missed on thescene.

I'm sorry, gang, but every time I heard one of these songs kickin, I was waiting for Lynott's smooth, soulful vocals to kick inand raise the track to the rafters. Alas, that ain't gonna happen-- and while Sykes's vocals are palatable, he just can't recreatethe magic that was once there. Not that he doesn't try, however,and I will give him credit for singing his lungs out to make thismaterial shine as best as it can.

But there's something else significantly different about ThinLizzy on One Night Only, besides Lynott's absence and the appearanceof bassist Marco Mendoza and drummer Tommy Aldridge. What'sdifferent is that the music is missing a layer of sonic grit thatwas prevalent in the '70s -- a grit which added some real textureto the music. Now, on renditions of old favorites like "BadReputation," "Rosalie," "Cowboy Song" and "Jalbreak," things sounda little too clean (though the band still seemed to be gelling as aunit, playing a little sloppy at times). As much as I appreciatethat music must change with the times, I do miss that raw qualitythe music once had. (Present band members shouldn't take that tooharshly; I wonder what I'd be saying if the album sounded this wayand Lynott were still alive.)