release date: Oct. 10, 1980
format: cd (2011 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Thin Lizzy & Kit Woolven
label: Universal / Mercury - nationality: Ireland
Track highlights: 1. "We Will Be Strong" - 2. "Chinatown" - 3. "Sweetheart" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Sugar Blues" - 5. "Killer on the Loose" - 6. "Having a Good Time" (4 / 5) - 7. "Genocide" - 8. "Didn't I" (4,5 / 5) - 9. "Hey You"
10th studio album by Thin Lizzy follows 1½ years after Black Rose - A Rock Legend (Apr. 1979). The album was released on Vertigo the same year as Phil Lynott released his first solo album Solo in Soho (Apr. 1980), and after a period where the band had been in search of a replacement to Gary Moore who had left in the Summer of '79. Midge Ure (later famous for revitalizing Ultravox) had been touring with the band, but Snowy White [Terence Charles] was chosen as new guitarist. Both Ure and keyboardist Darren Wharton are credited for additional personnel, and Wharton would later be a permanent member.
The album was the first I ever heard with the band, and it has always been one of my favourites. Some consider the album a weaker and more mainstream-oriented album compared to Black Rose and / or Jailbreak (1976) and the band's final and more hard rock / heavy metal-founded Thunder and Lightning (1983); and some think the production side is weak with a noticeable loss of star-producer Tony Visconti. However, Kit Woolven also co-produced Lynott's debut, which has a different, more complex and darker sound that was met by positive reviews,
I really like Chinatown because of its focus on harmonies whether the vocal side of it or the the great twin-guitars, and I really cannot hear a lesser effect on the production side. Actually, I find it lighter and brighter - meaning better - compared to Visconti's dark and heavy production (especially as found) on Black Rose. Perhaps, I just found this more in unison with the more shallow but also more direct productions of the new wave and punk rock scene. Any how, the compositions on Chinatown appear more simple-structured when comparing with the band's more blues-rock-inspired work, which to me seemed somewhat out of sync, at the time. Although, the hard rock tracks are fine and strong, I really associate Phil Lynott's best works with strong ballads, and here there are two great ones. In my mind, this is the band's second best album.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]
