Thin Lizzy "Mama and Papa"

Thin Lizzy The Lost Recordings CD EP (HotPress, 2006)

Well, Decca finally got off their asses and issued the deluxe remasters of Thin Lizzy's first three albums: Thin Lizzy, Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and Vagabonds of the Western World. Back in those days (the very early 1970s) they were a trio with Eric Bell on guitar, rather than the twin guitar attack of Scott Gorham plus another guy (there were several of 'em over the years). These darn things were initially announced as forthcoming close to a decade ago, so it's about darn time! Today's song, therefore, is a tune that predates those records, even. I'm well aware that the cover of this thing says Philip Lynott in huge letters, and features a pic of just him. That doesn't stop the fact the five songs on this release are very early, somewhat informal recordings of Thin Lizzy, when they were a quartet with keyboardist Eric Wrixon, who left the group after the release of their first single, "The Farmer," which was released only in their native Ireland in a pressing of only 500 copies. I have a pirate copy of it, but I'd love to have the real thing. I don't think our mortgage company would take kindly to me skipping a bunch of payments so I could afford a copy, however. This EP accompanied the 25th August 2006 issue of the Irish music magazine, HotPress. One song, "Dublin," was later re-recorded for Thin Lizzy's New Day maxi-single, a four track 7" that followed the release of their eponymous debut LP. "The Saga of the Aging Orphan," was re-recorded for that debut album, but it wasn't significantly different. "The Friendly Ranger of Clontarf Castle," however, shares lyrics with the redone LP version, but has completely different music. The remaining two songs have never been available in any form, and today's jukebox pick is the better of the two, in my opinion, "Mama and Papa." The other one is "It's Really Worthwhile," a sort of country rock thing.