release date: Nov. 20, 1981
format: cd (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Thin Lizzy, Chris Tsangarides
label: Vertigo - nationality: Ireland
Track highlights: 1. "Angel of Death" - 2. "Renegade" - 5. "Hollywood (Down on Your Luck) - 6. "No One Told Him" - 9. "It's Getting Dangerous"
11th studio album by Thin Lizzy following one year after Chinatown (Oct. 1980) is again made with a new co-producer - a sound engineer for Judas Priest, who later co-produced Gary Moore's debut on which Phil Lynott co-wrote the fine "Parisienne Walkways". The album is the first with keyboardist Darren Wharton as official member.
The album is not renowned as one of Thin Lizzy's best, and I do understand that. In total, the band ended up with 12 studio albums and their final three are mostly left out of what is considered the band's best. Chinatown may be one of my favourites but as I have come to understand, fans of the band saw it as a detour, or: an album a bit off, but Renegade appears to be less loved - in fact, it's claimed that the band themselves have regarded this as their worst. Imo, it's not entirely that but it really lacks great songs - generally, that is, 'cause Lynott and Scott Gorham still knows what it takes to make a great tune - the real problem is that there are just too many fillers on this one to make it a good album. And then the production sound doesn't help much as it feels shallow and thin compared to the bolder arrangements on the band's earlier releases. On the hard rock forum Metalmusicarchives.com the album takes position as the band's tenth best (or 3rd worst) with only the debut (1971) (as eleventh) and second album Shades of a Blue Orphanage (1972) as its worst.
Not recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 2 / 5
