'This one suffers from the familiar Lizzy studio trait: lack of any real energy or aggression.' The following month I went to see Lizzy live… About halfway through the show, Phil went into a bit of a diatribe against rock critics and I wondered if he knew I was in the audience. 'The band's second LP with their new twin-guitar line-up is an adequate rock album, no more,' I wrote. "I was a Lizzy fan," recalled Sounds writer and future Kerrang! founder Geoff Barton, "but Fighting just didn't cut it for me at the time. In his Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal Martin Popoff called Fighting a "soulful, stirring hard rock classic", where "Robertson and Gorham's fluid guitar harmonies become an integral part of the Lizzy sound, woven in the very fabric of the arrangements" and "the tales of outlaws and outcasts" reach "a fairly grandiose, history-encompassing, tragic scale." Highlighting Gorham and Robertson's twin-guitar interplay, he described this line-up as "vital and visceral", and added that Lynott had made a leap forward as a songwriter, "fully flourishing as a rock & roll poet". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Fighting as a "tense, coiled, vicious rock & roll album", with which Thin Lizzy began their classic era. Reception Professional ratings Review scores Īlthough the distinctive Thin Lizzy logo (designed by Jim Fitzpatrick) was frequently used on compilation albums, merchandise and as stage scenery at the band's gigs over the years, this was the only Thin Lizzy studio album to feature it on the cover. Europe covered "Suicide" on their 2008 live album Almost Unplugged. Bell wrote "Ray Gun" on the debut, and Robertson and Gorham wrote "Silver Dollar" and "Ballad of a Hard Man", respectively.Įurope guitarist John Norum covered "Wild One" on his 1987 debut solo album Total Control. Another track recorded at the Fighting sessions was "Try a Little Harder", which was eventually released on the Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels boxed set in 2002.įighting is the only other Thin Lizzy album aside from their 1971 debut where band members other than Phil Lynott receive sole songwriting credits for certain tracks. The non-album track "Half-Caste" was released on the B-Side of the original "Rosalie" single. It was first performed with different lyrics under the title "Baby's Been Messing", and lacked the middle section that appears on Fighting. In October, Lizzy aired some of their new material on a UK club and college tour, before unveiling Nightlife.The track "Suicide" was originally performed by Thin Lizzy when guitarist Eric Bell was still in the band, including on a BBC broadcast recorded in July 1973. Misspelt on the poster as Thin Lizzie, they shared the bill with Traffic, Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, and others. They signed a new deal with Vertigo Records and debuted at the 1974 Reading Festival. The American auditioned for Lizzy at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, Bob Benberg of Supertramp.īy summer, the new quartet, with the constant presence of drummer Brian Downey, were cooking up a storm. Glaswegian Brian Robertson joined the line-up at the same time as Santa Monica native Scott Gorham, the latter from the ranks of Fast Buck. With a tour of West Germany contracted for May, guitarists Andy Gee and John Cann were recruited, before the arrival in June of not one but two new guitar heroes to augment Phil Lynott’s helmsmanship. Early in 1974, after the departure of guitarist Eric Bell, Gary Moore joined, but stayed for only four months before moving on to Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum.
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