Listening Log: Tuesday, February 16th 2010

Warner Bros. 1979

Album of the Day: Thin Lizzy Black Rose: A Rock Legend

It saddens me that more people are not aware of the awesome power Thin Lizzy are capable of presenting, even long after the demise of Phil Lynott. “Black Rose” is complete proof of this. Every song is no less than a bum rush of unrelenting guitar licks and awesome melodies. This is Thin Lizzy’s most commercially successful album as far as pure numbers go, but you won’t find any hits being played on classic rock radio like “The Boys are Back in Town”. What you will find are songs just as good if not better than that one that have been overlooked and underrated for far too long.

The Top 100 Albums of the Decade (part 9)

Sun Kil Moon—Ghosts of the Great Highway
Caldo Verde, 2003

Between the band name and ten song titles on the debut of Mark Kozelek’s post Red House Painters project, the names of four boxers and one Judas Priest guitarist are mentioned. Often sprawling, gorgeous odes to past relationships and experiences, the songs of Ghosts of the Great Highway work like telescopes to memories of old photographs when set among these real life characters of pop culture.