Emerald (Thin Lizzy song)
| "Emerald" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Thin Lizzy | |
| from the album Jailbreak | |
| Released | 26 March 1976 |
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock |
| Length | 4:03 |
| Label | Vertigo, Mercury (US only) |
| Songwriter(s) | Phil Lynott, Brian Robertson, Brian Downey, Scott Gorham |
| Producer(s) | John Alcock |
"Emerald" is a song by the blues rock band Thin Lizzy from the 1976 album Jailbreak.[1]
Scott Gorham (one of the band's lead guitarists) said of the song:
It's got the real sort of Irish-y feel in it. Brian Robertson and I, we came up with the harmony guitars in there. But the main riff came straight out of Phil. It's a song about ancient times in ancient Ireland, talking about the warring clans and all that. It was the first time that Brian Robertson and I did the bounce off lead guitar thing where he starts, I start, he starts, I start... the back and forth. That's the first time we actually got that one together. It felt so good and it felt so right, so we then started to try that out on a couple of other songs. That was kind of a launching pad for that style of writing between the two guitarists.[2]
Reception
Ultimate Classic Rock wrote that "Emerald" had one of Gorham and Robertson's more impressive solos and that it "sends the album off on a high note with a thoroughly satisfying extended guitar duel".[3]
Rockmusic.com, Immusicmag, Blabbermouth and Guitar World called the song a classic.[4][5][6][7]
Covers
Slash and former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley covered the song on the 2016 album Origins, Vol. 1.[8] According to Rolling Stone, Slash and Frehley played the song live together 15 times in order to get the performance right. Frehley said: "It took me three days to pick the best takes, and I think it came out great."[9]
Frehley furthers said: "I loved Thin Lizzy. 'Emerald' was always a song I thought was really challenging with the heavy riffing and the breakdown with the dual leads and stuff. The first person I thought of was Slash."
Slash said: "Why don't we do it live and play back and forth right here in the moment?' The old-school way is the way I always try to do it. Sometimes with modern recording you have to do it more piecemeal but whenever I can do things in a more spontaneous and live setting, I do. Ace is old-school so it was no problem."[10]
References
- ^ "Album Of The Week Club Review: Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous". Classic Rock Magazine. Future Publishing Limited Quay House. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ https://www.songfacts.com/facts/thin-lizzy/emerald
- ^ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/thin-lizzy-emerald-weekend-songs
- ^ https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/ace-frehley-premieres-cover-thin-lizzys-emerald-featuring-slash
- ^ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ace-frehleys-cover-version-of-thin-lizzys-emerald-feat-slash-available-for-streaming
- ^ http://rockmusic.com/acefrehley_emerald
- ^ http://www.immusicmag.com/2016/04/ace-frehley-debuts-emerald-thin-lizzy-cover-featuring-slash
- ^ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/ace-frehley-emerald-thin-lizzy
- ^ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hear-ace-frehley-slash-cover-thin-lizzys-emerald-47255
- ^ http://bravewords.com/news/ace-frehley-and-slash-talk-thin-lizzy-cover-emerald-was-always-a-song-i-thought-was-really-challenging