Recorded in 1968 these 3 demos
PHIL LYNOTT: three lost songs from a 1968
What are believed to be the first recordings made by Phil Lynott have been rediscovered nearly 40 years after they were first made.
Lynott sings on two tracks and harmonises on a third in a demo recorded by Skid Row, a band he had joined but later left.
The recordings were made in a studio in Dominick Street in Dublin in 1968 when he was 19. Lynott sings "Notion and Motion" and "Living in the Shadow of a Shady Neighbour" - two songs written by former friend and musical mentor Brush Shiels who founded Skid Row.
The demo was never paid for and remained in the studio for more than 20 years. The studio sound engineer, Ciarán Breathnach, took them home. They were found by his son, Kevin, who was looking for them for the past eight years.
"We always knew we had them, but we couldn't find them," Kevin told The Irish Times. "I spent ages in his house trying to find them. We've been hearing for years that such and such was the first recording by Phil Lynott and we reckoned that we had it.
"It was pretty good musicianship for a first demo . . . Some of the music is quite technical . . . There's a lot of blues influences on it and tricky guitar chords. It was complex enough.
"The master tapes are ours because they were never paid for, but we don't own any of the songs," he explained.
Phil's mother, Philomena Lynott, said: "I think it is absolutely wonderful news. I can't wait to hear them. It is very exciting when these things happen. When Philip was a teenager, he tried to record himself, but this is the first I heard of something like this being recorded in the studio. We're hoping that more recordings like this turn up. They really are treasure troves."
Brush Shiels said he had forgotten about the recordings which were made by the Skid Row line-up of himself, Lynott, drummer Noel Bridgeman and guitarist Gary Moore. Moore, who went on to considerable success with Thin Lizzy and later as a solo artist, was only 15 when the recording was made. The music is very heavily influenced by bands of the time like The Byrds and The Who and is quite unlike anything done by Thin Lizzy. "It would have been the earliest stuff we ever did," Shiels says. "Some of the tracks we rearranged and were on the Skid Row albums later on.
"The only reason he was there was because he looked good and he was a pal of mine. He did attract all the girls.
"He was only really starting off and wasn't that confident at that time. He was only getting to know himself, whereas we were fairly aggressive and confident in our abilities," he said.
"We were basically a three-piece. Phil's voice wasn't great. He only came into his own when he was singing his own songs. You can see him in his embryonic state and that's basically where he started."
Shiels decided to drop Lynott from the line-up in 1969 and concentrate on Skid Row as a three-piece, but the two had an amicable parting and he taught Lynott how to play the bass.
Lynott went on to found the band Orphanage and Thin Lizzy in 1970, while Skid Row released their first album the same year.
The 21st anniversary of the death of Lynott will be marked tonight with the annual "Vibe for Philo" at Vicar Street which features two Thin Lizzy tribute bands and a number of local acts.
Event organiser Smiley Bolger said: "Phil Lynott fans are always interested in anything he recorded. For them, this will be like finding a new Samuel Beckett manuscript or a Mozart composition."
Last year, Hot Pressmagazine released Lost Recordings, five songs which Lynott recorded in 1970 in the early days of Thin Lizzy. Skid Row's first two albums were re-released by Hook Records last year.
SOURCE: IRISH TIMES --- here
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