release date: Mar. 10, 1972
format: cd (1988 RE)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,35]
producer: Nick Tauber
label: Decca / Deram Records - nationality: Ireland
Track highlights: 2. "Buffalo Gal" - 5. "Brought Down"
2nd album by Thin Lizzy follows one year after the debut and the line-up remains the same trio of Lynott, Bell and Downey. The strange title refers to two former bands: Eric Bell had started playing in 'Shades of Blue' and Phil Lynott and Brian Downey had both played together in the band 'Orphanage' before founding Thin Lizzy.
Although, the album contains a song originally only titled "Sarah" (track #5), this shouldn't be confused with the later much more famous "Sarah", included on Black Rose: A Rock Legend from 1979, which is why the 1988 cd reissue has labelled this "Sarah - Version I". They are two completely different songs and they pay tribute to two different Sarahs: Lynott's grandmother is the one he pays tribute to on this one., and with the '79-song, he has written a song to his newborn daughter. And the first song here just doesn't come anywhere close to the magnitude of his later song co-composed by Gary Moore.
Shades of a Blue Orphanage is a strange cocktail of styles, and it's still difficult to bond this with the later scope of the band. Some tracks here have psychedelic rock elements, others are influenced by folk rock or funk rock and it's as if there's no common denominator. "I Don't Want to Forget How to Jive" (track #3) is a strange rock & roll and rockabilly composition to put it mildly, which almost derails any coherency intended and you could say the same for the (only) hard rock-styled track "Baby Face" (track #6). "Chatting Today" reminds me more of Van Morrison and Them, and Lynott actually puts on a vocal that comes closer to that of Van the Man without being more than a copy. The following track "Call the Police" (track #8) could instead serve as a mild imitation of Frank Zappa & the Mothers - which of course is something different - and the title end-track is a soft rock, r&b mellow progressive (!) folk ballad, which takes confusion to another level.
No, this is not where you would want to start an intro to this later renowned Irish rock band but that said, the album contains the delicate and personal voice of Lynott, who already proves his worth as a songssmith on several tracks.
Mostly for completionists.
