Live Tonite...Plus!

by Eric Bell

Overview

Thin Lizzy's forgotten guitar hero returns in a bare-bones blues trio format, taped before an appreciative crowd. Curiously, the venue isn't listed, although the album's Swedish-only release in 1996 most likely points there. Angel Air's reissue sweetens the pot with three tracks not on the original release. Straight-ahead blues is the game here. The gig opens with a rampage through "The Stumble," whose 1966 recording featured Eric Clapton on guitar. Bell's style is scrappier, but no less spirited, as he demonstrates on brisk strides through standards like "Baby Please Don't Go," "Oh Pretty Woman," and "Things I Used to Do." Being an Irishman also enables Bell to explore his own roots, as evidenced by a show-stopping slow burn through Van Morrison's epic ballad, "Madame George." Naturally, Bell revisits his Thin Lizzy days with a fiery demolition of the late Phil Lynott's swaggering macho anthem "The Rocker." Bell makes room for Lizzy's rearrangement of the traditional "Whiskey in the Jar" -- a song so radical it didn't include a bass part, yet still graced the U.K. Top Ten in 1973, and soars just as highly here. The real surprise is why Bell includes just three originals, including the lovelorn lament of "Two Ships" and "Just to Get By," a world-weary tally of life's ups and downs. That neither track made the original cut is amazing. But that's a minor point, especially since the music here is so crisp. Bell's guitar is succinct and to the point, while bassist Tony Wooton and drummer Romek Parol lend appropriately unobtrusive support. (The Bell-written anecdotes, "Just a Belfast Boy," are also delightful.) Pure blues fans and Lizzy devotees should find plenty to satisfy them here. ~ Ralph Heibutzki

Product Details

Release Date:	03/17/2009
Label:	Angel Air Records
UPC:	5055011702653
Rank:	199734

Tracks

1. The Stumble
2. Oh Pretty Woman
3. Things I Used To Do
4. Baby Please Don't Go
5. Madame George
6. Walk On Water
7. Three O'Clock Blues
8. Hold That Plane
9. Whiskey In the Jar
10. The Rocker
11. Just To Get By
12. Two Ships
13. Gloria

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Eric Bell   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Peter Clayton   Composer
Eric Bell   Liner Notes,Composer
Andrew Charles Williams, Jr   Composer
Claes Johansen   Liner Notes
Freddie King   Composer
Phil Lynott   Composer
Jules Taub   Composer
Van Morrison   Composer
Chris Thompson   Composer
McKinley Morganfield   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Andy Bell   Composer
B.B. King   Composer
Big Joe Williams   Composer
Bill Dees   Composer
Eddie Jones   Composer
Albert King   Composer
Guitar Slim   Composer
Sonny Thompson   Composer
Tony Williams   Composer
Philly Joe Jones   Composer
Roy Orbison   Composer
Brian Downey   Composer
Buddy Guy   Composer
Bonita Wilson   Mastering