This POLL I brought and bring to you: Thin Lizzy's Vagabonds of the Western World

Side 1

Mama Nature Said - On one level this terrific opener is a Quo boogie, though more schaffel than motorik, but part of its power is in being so bass-led (Phil shines on his instrument throughout the LP), allowing Bell's slightly clipped slides to do their thing and support. Also, the main musical hook (in lieu of a riff or chorus) where the bass goes 'up' and then the instruments lock together momentarily for a downward run: simple but so effective. It matters not that Phil's ecological lyric is a tad heavy-handed or that he sounds oddly like Rod Stewart.

The Hero and the Madman - I know people get stuck on Jensen's narration but it sounds as natural as anything to me now, and also just generally I love when Lynott's thing for sci-fi comes to the fore, plus with all the chanting character voices and studio-as-instrument hoopla and inventive stereo mapping it's easy to see why Kate Bush was a fan (alas, their thing for electronic FX doesn't really return until the 80s). But also, the funk comes really easily to this band even as they build the track on comic book zaps and bams - it's hardly prog.

Slow Blues - It starts like a Sabbath dirge except with kettle drums - a great, stormy combination - but it realises it can't sustain that over six minutes so the rain stops and it instead settles unassumingly in slinky 70s R&B and hell this is such a rhythm section's album. Urbane uncluttured finger-snapping funk that is essayed like second nature, more like Halen's 'Push Comes to Shove' than even the other funky stuff on this album.

The Rocker - The only straightup rocker on here so it is rightly named, and though I (controversially?) feel it's maybe the weakest track it's still badass. I'm surprised the 45 was the only T'in Lizzy record Julian Cope ever bought but it is like a T. Rex single in the way the cool or however you want to put it just comes so effortlessly to Lynott because he's found the role that will never let him down. The acidic solo that anchors the album version is no chopped liver either.

Side 2

Vagabond of the Western World - Cus it'd be odd if their Irish folk side wasn't on display somewhere, but it's another one where they let rip and nimbly sail through a bunch of musical ideas while still nailing down two big hooks in the 'too-ra-loo' and 'bluuue eyes' refrains. The former is great for asking 'what if McCartney's 'Loup' was a jig?', while the harmonising on the latter, its hissing delivery as key as the melody, makes me wish this witty density of production survived onto Nightlife.

Little Girl in Bloom - The two soul ballads are my favourites but this one might be my favourite Thin Lizzy song overall. Phil the storyteller is really coming into his own, heartfelt and sympathetic but also wise with the stillness of miniature details (e.g. the cricket lyric, reminding me of Barry Booth's 'Mole' a bit), keeping a distance like the camera in a good Ken Loach film. But it's the sound of this that first hit me like a ton of bricks. The loping bass figure and chordal centre resemble Wire at their gorgeous best and the relationship between Bell's guitar and the rest of the music is like Fripp on Another Green World (especially 'St. Elmo's Fire'). Fuck this is a special song. I LOVE this song.

Gonna Creep on You - Illustrating again how Thin Lizzy and funk could result in all manner of things; whereas 'Slow Blues' explored one panoramic groove, this is heavier and snakier and although the bass plucking on the intro pulls me right in, man of the match is Brian Downey, already one of the great 70s rock drummers. And this is already classic Thin Lizzy as a lyric, Phil's love of wordy rhymes and love for listing adjectives and verbs in an oddly artful way on full display, and as usual they have a rhythm of their own to wind around the music.

A Song for While I'm Away - My other favourite, so beautiful and tender even as it swells up the layers with Philly orchestration. It's there even in details like the delicate bass figure shaking in the verses behind the strings and oboe and Phil's profound vocal. It's in the way the choruses could leap from the verses but instead the song (and the vocal especially) just falls back besotted into the bed of clouds, it's in the waltzing arpeggio that blows softly and warmly through the song that makes me realise that oh right this is where Blue Mink's 'Stay with Me' meets Cardiacs' 'The Whole World Window'. It's one of the greatest 70s soul records to me, really perfect.

I heard this for the first time a couple of years ago; it is George Starostin's unusual choice of best Thin Lizzy record. I agree that the least interesting song is "The Rocker", they'd do a lot better and more inventive "straight ahead" work later. They're getting better at integrating eclecticism without seeming like they are making left turns every track or two, as sometimes happened on the two previous records.
I'll vote for "Little Girl in Bloom" as well.

i've been really into johnny the fox lately so will use this thread as an excuse to get this one next.

leaning towards the title track. phil really sang his ass off on this album.

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not sure how i missed this. will try to remember to report back

Another thing about the production that really stands out is the vocal layering, e.g. the end of "Vagabond" where all the vocal hooks rain down together but they don't collide, the "blue eyes" bit at the front and the others peeping out from behind, or the verse lines in "Little Girl in Bloom" brushing past each other (it calls to mind George Michael and "Heal the Pain" of all things). Nightlife for one is kinda missing this level of detail.

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