An apt title for one of rock’s most fierce and formidable concert albums.   With Live and Dangerous, the crushing aggregate of drummer Brian Downey, singer/ bassist Phil Lynott, and lead guitarist/ vocalists Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham delivered one of the great albums in rock ’n’ roll history. The double live record, which U2, Metallica, and a host of other major artists have cited as influential, captures a band that’s hungry, relentlessly musical, and tighter than a snare drum from constant touring. Though the album includes performances from the Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation tours of 1977 and ’78, the majority of the material was recorded during one show at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London, that was also filmed for later release. Throughout, Downey is powerful, dynamic, technical, and tasteful, seamlessly switching from sensitively supporting ballads to shuffling, soloing, and grooving on the hardest of Lizzy’s […]

February 2013 Issue