Bad Reputation cover

Bad Reputation

Released

After Fighting made them sound tough, Jailbreak made them feel huge, and Johnny The Fox made them seem ambitious, the fourth amazing album in a row from Thin Lizzy made them out to be survivors. Their last album to feature an on-the-way-out Brian Robertson as part of their legendary twin-guitar attack, Bad Reputation lets Scott Gorham finally rampage solo and attains hard rock perfection in the process — searing and white-knuckle on the title cut; melodically sentimental on “Southbound,” and an uncanny balance of the two on “Soldier of Fortune.” Phil Lynott, meanwhile, has rarely balanced the badass and the wistful this well before or since, as equally at home spinning Golden Harvest-exploitation-flick stories of the heroin trade (“Opium Trail”) and deeply evoking the nervous energy of teenage romance (“Dancing in the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me in the Spotlight)”).

Nate Patrin

Recommended by

Suggestions
Like an Arrow cover

Like an Arrow

Blackberry Smoke
Yeah! cover

Yeah!

Def Leppard
Barn cover

Barn

Crazy Horse, Neil Young
Texas Flood cover

Texas Flood

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Bayou Country cover

Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival