Warren Zevon Excitable Boy Iconic Inner Sleeve

     My parents and aunts and uncles all had large record collections, but there are a few artists that for some reason none of them seemed to listen to. Warren Zevon is one of those artists. Of course I would have recognized "Werewolves of London" if it came on the radio, but most of his other music I never became a fan of until I was in my thirties. 

     Today I procured Zevon's "Excitable Boy" album at Culture Shock here in Rockford. The thing that jumps out at me is the inner sleeve is a really bold concept, whereas the cover seems really boring. The album itself is anything but boring. I'm really happy to have added it to my collection. 

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Thin Lizzy Jailbreak Album Forty Years Later

One of my favorite things in life is when content lives up to design. Thin Lizzy's sixth album, Jailbreak, released in 1976, more than kicks the tail promised by this spectacular album cover. If you were a seven year old and your uncle laid down the needle for the first time on this LP and you heard the opening jabs of guitar and bass on "Jailbreak," that was your ass. Almost forty years later this is one of the albums from my childhood that holds up the best. The two classics that anchor side one and side two are just the beginning. Song three on side one and two are classics, and I mean the kind of classics that transform a good, even great album, into a legendary album. It still sounds modern. As if this style of music will come around again and there will be Phil Lynott leading the way one more time. 

Thin Lizzy Jailbreak

Side one

"Jailbreak" – 4:01

"Angel from the Coast" (Lynott, Brian Robertson) – 3:03

"Running Back" – 3:13

"Romeo and the Lonely Girl" – 3:55

"Warriors" (Lynott, Scott Gorham) – 4:09

Side two

"The Boys Are Back in Town" – 4:27

"Fight or Fall" – 3:45

"Cowboy Song" (Lynott, Brian Downey) – 5:16

"Emerald" (Gorham, Downey, Robertson, Lynott) – 4:03

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