Your new car jam: One hour and twelve minute megamix of JUST THE GUITAR SOLOS from Thin Lizzy





I can’t think of a better way to spend an hour and twelve minutes than listening to roughly a hundred Thin Lizzy guitar solos (and two keyboard solos), spanning twelve albums, meticulously edited together into a nice, tidy package of unbridled awesomeness. Truly, this is one of those “this is what the internet was made for” cases—a gift for all mankind!

I’ve just played this thing through in its entirety three times in a row and am currently in the process of burning it to a CD for every road trip I ever make EVER, and I’ll be damned if I don’t plan a party just to have this as the soundtrack.



In one fell swoop, we get all of the epic Thin Lizzy soloing, 1971 to 1983, from guitarists Eric Bell, Scott Gorham, Brian Roberston, Gary Moore, Snowy White, and John Sykes, as well as two keyboard solos by Darren Wharton.





...And of course the bass playing of Phil Lynott, pictured here in a DEVO costume, because whynott?



This mix is not presented in chronological order, but rather in a manner aesthetically chosen for maximum flow. From the upload’s “liner notes,” we see that the mix is laid out to start with a bang, and then take the listener through three more crucial periods of the band’s playing:

00:00 Peak Period 1979 - 1980 (maybe not the best LPs, but the best solos)

12:36 Early Years 1971-1973 kinda Psych Prog Power Trio-ish

36:13 Twin Guitar Harmony Attack Developments 1974-1977

1:00:44 Heavy Metal End Phase 1981-1983

Perhaps as interesting as the megamix itself, is the fact that it was put together by none other than former 4AD label artist, His Name Is Alive‘s Warren Defever. The bedroom dreampop experimentalist began in the late ‘80s, was signed to the 4AD label in 1989, and remained on that label for 13 years. Since parting ways with 4AD in 2002, Defever has worked as a producer, mastering engineer and remixer for artists including Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, Iggy and the Stooges, The Gories, Destroy All Monsters, Low, and Ida. He has recorded His Name is Alive records since 2006 for his own Silver Mountain label. The Thin Lizzy solo superedit was constructed by Defever as a method for inspiring the playing on 2014’s His Name Is Alive album, Tecuciztecatl. According to Defever in a recent chat with Dangerous Minds:

Me and Dusty were attempting some harmony guitar solos while recording our new album, Tecuciztecatl, and put it together as a study guide to practice along with.





Warren Defever of His Name Is Alive and Thin Lizzy megamix fame.



We asked Defever about the layout of the edit, which does not follow a chronological order. According to Defever:

I spent more time trying to figure out how to arrange it conceptually than actually editing. It quickly became clear that going in chronological order or reverse chronological order would leave the most familiar solos buried in the middle of the seventy minute piece. It also became clear that just presenting every solo in the order they occurred on the records would not flow well, but presenting the solos within each record together would be easy because of the consistent sound quality, style and era. I broke them down roughly into four eras - peak period, psychedelic early years, twin guitar developments and heavy metal end phase.

I was a big fan of His Name Is Alive in the ‘90’s and I have to admit I’d kind of forgotten about them until now. Thankfully, this Thin Lizzy mix also reintroduced me to Defever’s work and their excellent new album, Tecuciztecatl, which is totally worth your attention.

But for right now, you’ve got the next hour and twelve minutes of your life planned out.

The solo megamix is available on soundcloud or via Defever’s Youtube upload here:

