Renegade
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Album Summary
Renegade came rolling out in November 1981 on Vertigo Records, born from sessions split between the legendary Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin and Good Earth Studios in London. At the helm were Phil Lynott himself and the talented Chris Tsangarides, co-producing a record that found Thin Lizzy at a genuine crossroads — reaching toward something more polished, more melodic, brushing up against the new wave textures that were rewriting the rules of rock radio in the early eighties. The sessions were not without their storms. Internal tensions within the band and Phil Lynott's well-documented personal struggles hung heavy over the making of this record. And yet, somehow, someway, these road-worn warriors dug deep and delivered a cohesive studio statement — proof that even in turbulent times, Thin Lizzy had something real left to say.
Reception
- Renegade made a modest showing on the UK Albums Chart, a commercial step back from the towering heights the band had commanded in the late seventies, reflecting the shifting tides of the early eighties rock marketplace.
- Critical reception landed somewhere in the middle — certain reviewers embraced the album's more atmospheric and experimental textures as a sign of artistic growth, while others mourned the absence of the raw, untamed energy that had made Thin Lizzy legends in the first place.
- The single Hollywood (Down On Your Luck) earned a measure of radio attention but could not recapture the chart magic of the band's classic peak-era singles.
Significance
- Renegade holds a precious place in rock history as one of Thin Lizzy's final studio albums, preserving the image of a band refusing to stand still — stretching their sound and confronting a musical landscape increasingly dominated by synthesizers and new wave without ever losing their identity.
- The album stands as another chapter in Phil Lynott's remarkable songwriting journey, weaving hard rock guitar firepower together with deeply introspective lyrical themes, further burnishing his legacy as one of the most soulful and singular poet-musicians the genre ever produced.
- For those who love Thin Lizzy, Renegade is essential listening precisely because of what it represents — a legendary band navigating decline not with desperation, but with creative dignity and integrity intact, making it an honest and vital entry in one of hard rock's greatest catalogs.
Tracklist
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A1 Angel Of Death 142
6:17
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A2 Renegade 159
6:08
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A3 The Pressure Will Blow 144
3:45
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A4 Leave This Town 187
3:48
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B1 Hollywood (Down On Your Luck) 79
4:10
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B2 No One Told Him 148
3:36
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B3 Fats 151
4:02
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B4 Mexican Blood 133
3:40
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B5 It's Getting Dangerous 142
5:46
Artist Details
Thin Lizzy was a hard rock powerhouse that rolled out of Dublin, Ireland in 1969, led by the magnetic and soulful Phil Lynott, a Black Irish frontman whose deep groove sensibility gave the band a rhythm and blues heartbeat beneath all that electric thunder — and honey, nobody was doing it quite like that. They carved their name in rock history with that signature twin-guitar attack, pioneered by Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson, laying down anthems like The Boys Are Back in Town and Jailbreak that hit the airwaves in the mid-seventies like a freight train wrapped in silk. Thin Lizzy proved to the whole world that hard rock could have swagger, soul, and poetry all at once, and their influence can be heard echoing through decades of rock and roll that came long after their final bow.
