{"id":5313,"date":"2022-04-18T18:24:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T18:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5313"},"modified":"2024-02-08T09:38:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T09:38:33","slug":"book-review-cowboy-song-graeme-thomson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=5313","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REViEW: Cowboy Song, Graeme Thomson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve loved Thin Lizzy, and consequently Phil Lynott, ever since I was first introduced to them, somewhere between the ages of 10-12 years old, by a girl I briefly dated. Thanks, Heidi!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cassette of a greatest hits compilation – The Adventures of Thin Lizzy <\/em>– was the way I was introduced to this group. Wild One and Whiskey In The Jar were the first to really take root. Within a year or two I was collecting their albums. And now, almost 40 years later, I still love Lizzy and Lynott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This was my intro\u2019 to all things Lizzy\/Lynott.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My sister got me this book for my 50th (thanks, Hannah!), and I\u2019ve just finished reading it. I\u2019m glad Graeme Thomson and I share a view of Lynott that appreciates his broader sweep. The \u2019rise and dear demise\u2019 of Lynott\u2019s own \u2018funky nomadic tribe\u2019 – that\u2019ll be Lizzy – is shockingly brief, and distressingly riddled with patchy fortunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many biogs on artists in many varied fields, the most enchanting and exciting stuff is kind of front-loaded: childhood, and the \u2018getting into it\u2019 being periods full of promise. Thomson covers all this very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lizzy\u2019s debut is terrific.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t agree with all his judgements on Lizzy\u2019s recordings – we\u2019re probably roughly agreed on the naive and varied charms of the first three albums – but I clearly like and rate Nightlife<\/em> and Fighting<\/em> rather more highly than Thomson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I adore this record. One of my early
acquisitions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m perhaps a little more aligned with his views on the decline of the group, but not entirely. Bad Reputation<\/em> is terrific. For me, and despite Gary Moore (and \u2018Sarah\u2019), Black Rose<\/em> is the start of the decline. Chinatown<\/em>\u2019s not the best. But it\u2019s not so bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that I\u2019m a bit of a Lizzy nut, I confess I hardly know Renegade<\/em>; the fact I\u2019ve had it for decades and almost never listen to it says something!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Possibly my favourite Lizzy album?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even though it arrived when things were already going badly, I actually quite like Thunder And Lightning<\/em>. Although I have to agree with Thomson, and admit that with Sykes on boards it did all get a bit too \u2018eavy metal\u2019. But with Cold Sweat and The Sun Goes Down, it ain\u2019t all bad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynott died the day before I turned 14. I\u2019d really only just discovered him and Thin Lizzy! I was only very dimly aware of it at the time. I was<\/em> sad, I do remember that much, but I had very little knowledge of his truly grim and tragic decline. And for me he was very much alive, via the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mind you, this is a stone classic!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reading about this latter part of Lynott\u2019s life is not much fun. It\u2019s such a clich\u00e9! So sad to see a man of so much talent and such polyglot tendencies gradually reducing themselves to an unpleasant caricature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one always feels a mix of why didn\u2019t folk help more? Along with a realisation that those bent on self destruction might very well be beyond help. So sad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, despite the inevitability of the way the story ends, I\u2019d still thoroughly recommend this book, esp\u2019 for the first two-thirds to three-quarters, which are a rollicking good read, documenting an exciting man and the great music he and his chums made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lynott and Brian Downey, pre Lizzy!*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course I\u2019d also recommend either acquainting yourself with Lynott and Lizzy, if they\u2019re new to you. Or, if you already dig \u2018em, revisiting the terrific musical legacy they left us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a footnote, another area where I think I may well differ from Thomson is regarding Lynott\u2019s two solo records. The first, Solo in Soho<\/em> hasn\u2019t aged particularly well, to my ears. But The Philip Lynott Album<\/em>? It\u2019s a stone cold underground classic!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A terrifically eclectic album.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A recurrent theme (or sub-text, perhaps?) throughout this book takes note of how Lynott was never really the one-dimensional hard man rocker that a part of his own personal mythology might have folk believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Thin Lizzy, from their eponymous debut right up to Jailbreak<\/em>, and perhaps even more so The Philip Lynott Album<\/em>, show the musical magpie or chameleon that gradually faded away from the Lizzy side of the equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lynott with Frank Murray, who\u2019s quoted frequently in the book.*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently there are about 500 unreleased Thin Lizzy tracks, or demos. I\u2019m not sure if this figure includes the many Lynott side projects and\/or misc collab\u2019s? For example at one point it\u2019s noted that he had a bit of a private funk period. I\u2019d love to hear that stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, in conclusion, an excellent biography of an interesting man, talented artist, and, for better or worse, \u2018rock legend\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* These pics are not in Thomson\u2019s book. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve loved Thin Lizzy, and consequently Phil Lynott, ever since I was first introduced to them, somewhere between the ages of 10-12 years old, by a girl I briefly dated. Thanks, Heidi! A cassette of a greatest hits compilation – The Adventures of Thin Lizzy – was the way I was introduced to this group. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “BOOK REViEW: Cowboy Song, Graeme Thomson”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[77,13,58],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1nH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5313"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5313"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11521,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5313\/revisions\/11521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}