Album Review

Thin Lizzy – Live and Dangerous DVD

• 19th Nov 2007

No matter how you look at it, live releases always feel a little cheap. A lazy option for bands if you will, a stop gap between new material or a quick cash-in for record execs looking to exploit desperate fans. Take Iron Maiden; does a week go by without a live album getting put out to drain even more money from the most devoted of fans?

It is with this certain degree of scepticism, then, that one approaches Live and Dangerous. Originally released as a live album back in 1978, this DVD release of the same show seems oddly timed. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to be awestruck as the band seamlessly changes from ‘Cowboy Song’ into ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’. Other highlights include stunning renditions of ‘Emerald’ and ‘Suicide’, but in truth the show is as close to perfection from start to finish as any fan could wish to watch. The DVD is hardly lacking in extras either; various other live recordings from a plethora of performances are thrown in to the mix, assuring that any fan will view this release as a dream.

If nothing else Live and Dangerous serves as a timely reminder of just how brilliant Phil Lynott was and just how big a loss to his untimely death was to music. But, putting aside tearful nostalgia, you still can’t help feeling that this is yet another live music cash cow.