''Thunder and Lightning'' is the twelfth and final studio album by Irish

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...

, released on 4 March 1983. Guitarist

John Sykes John James Sykes (born 29 July 1959) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He has also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums. Following a stint in ...

was hired to replace

Snowy White Terence Charles "Snowy" White (born 3 March 1948, Barnstaple, Devon) is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy (permanent member from 1980 to 1982) and with Pink Floyd (as a backing guitarist; he was first invited to tour ...

after 1981's ''

Renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *'' Comman ...

'', and Sykes helped to provide a heavier sound and guitar tone than Thin Lizzy had used on previous albums. However, the bulk of the songwriting (except for "Cold Sweat") was completed before he joined the band. Keyboard player

Darren Wharton Darren Leigh Wharton (born 25 December 1961) is a British keyboardist, singer and songwriter. He has fronted his own band, Dare, since 1985, but first came to attention as a member of Thin Lizzy. His son, Paris, is also a musician. Biography Wh ...

also offered a stronger musical influence to Thin Lizzy's final studio album, co-writing many of the tracks including "Some Day She Is Going to Hit Back", and the final single " The Sun Goes Down". A farewell tour followed the album's release, followed by the live album ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

''. The group's co-founder, frontman and bass player

Phil Lynott Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, bassist, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and ba ...

died in 1986.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

s Greg Prato proclaimed ''Thunder and Lightning'' "a definite improvement" compared to much of their other output in the 1980s, but remarked that the record was not the "best release" by the band.

Track listings

The limited edition double LP and cassette version of the album adds four tracks, recorded live in Britain while Snowy White was still a member of the band.

2013 Deluxe Edition

In 2013, a deluxe edition of the album was released. It consisted of two discs: disc one included the original release, and disc two contained live recordings from a 1981 Hammersmith Odeon show and a number of demos. *Tracks 1–6 recorded live in 1981 at the

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

, London, 27 November 1981. **Tracks 1–2 originally issued as B-sides on the "Cold Sweat" single. **Tracks 3–6 originally included as bonus tracks on double LP and cassette versions of the album. *Tracks 7–15 are original album demo versions.

Singles

*"Cold Sweat" / "Bad Habits" – 4 February 1983 :A double single pack and 12" were also released, the other tracks being "Angel of Death" (live) / "Don't Believe a Word" (live). *"Thunder and Lightning" / "Still in Love with You" (live) – April 1983 :A 12" was also released, featuring the same two tracks and a poster. *"The Sun Goes Down" / "Baby Please Don't Go" – July 1983 :The B-side in the Netherlands was "Bad Habits". * "The Sun Goes Down (Remix)" / "The Sun Goes Down (Extended)" / "Baby Please Don't Go" – 12" (1983)

Personnel

Thin Lizzy

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Scott Gorham William Scott Gorham (born March 17, 1951) is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, backing vocals *

– guitar, backing vocals *

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, backing vocals * Brian Downey –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Production

Chris Tsangarides Christopher Andrew Tsangarides (17 August 1956 – 6 January 2018) was a British Grammy-nominated record producer, sound engineer, and mixer of Greek Cypriot origin. He was best known for his work with many heavy metal artists, including G ...

– producer, engineer, mixing *Andrew Warwick – engineer *Chris Ludwinski – tape op, assistant engineer *Ian Cooper – mastering at

Townhouse Studios The Town House (also known as Townhouse Studios) was a recording studio located at 150 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush in London, built in 1978 under the direction of Richard Branson for Virgin Records. The studios changed ownership and eventuall ...

, London

Charts

Album

Singles

Cold Sweat "Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a No. 1 R&B hit, and rea ...

Thunder and Lightning The Sun Goes Down

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Thin Lizzy albums 1983 albums Albums produced by Chris Tsangarides Vertigo Records albums Warner Records albums