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Phil Lynott must be shaking in his grave. Not in disgust, but elated to see Thin Lizzy cover bands of songs he never wrote. He maybe tapping, finger-snapping and his soul may be dancing to the beat of “Rosalie”. But it could be so many others, gosh, Thin Lizzy had so many great tunes. It took a while for people to notice. I don’t know why it was that their influence laid dormant for a couple of decades but in recent memories we have seen individual spin-worthy homages panning out in isolated fashion. First there was Metallica covering Thin Lizzy’s version of the Irish classic “Whisky in the Jar”. Then, those into more underground stuff could notice that Bible of the Devil’s Freedom Metal album included a song called “Ol’ Girl”, which was pure TL worship. And now, on more shameless but equally enjoyable mode, we get the debut by California’s Gypsyhawk, where the band has actually crafted from scratch an OK Thin Lizzy record.
If there is a disadvantage to writing songs on the same cloth of a classic band is that your material will always be measured against theirs. And in the case of Thin Lizzy there is no way to compete. Still, Gypsyhawk has just released a debut they can be proud of. At least for its first half. In the case of “Eyes of Ibad”, “Rebellion On the Western Shore” and even on the come-clean moment of “For Those Who Love the Liz”, the record is actually pretty great. Gorgeous harmonies, flawless musicianship, memorable arrangements, inspired solos. It all falls on the right place.
Unfortunately, all this goes away once we get to the seventh song. The tunes that follow are not bad per se, but they lack the hooks and the grace of those in the first half. It doesn’t help that at 1 hour and five minutes Gypsyhawk outstays its welcome by at least twenty minutes.
Listening to Patience and Perseverance is pretty difficult not to imagine the moment when this band was birthed. Perhaps they were all assessing their strengths and their likes. It must have been hard not to feel tempted by the prospect of becoming a Thin Lizzy tribute band. After all, the members of Gypsyhawk have it all. From the powerful one octave lower (or something like that) than Lynott’s pipes of Eric Harris, to the fantastic dual chops of Scotty Conant and Andrew Packer, all the elements are right there to create music of the same caliber. So for now the members of Gypsyhawk can rest content. There are least three or four tunes here that Lynott himself would have been proud to have written.
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