The Schlock-Wire closes out 2011 on a rock-scholarly note with some belated good news for Thin Lizzy fans.  Martin Popoff, a spe­cial­ist in biogra­phies on hard rock leg­ends, has released the first install­ment of a biog­ra­phy on Irish leg­ends Thin Lizzy.  This tome is enti­tled Fighting My Way Back: Thin Lizzy 69–76 and cov­ers the first half of the group’s career in an album-by-album style, com­plete with inter­view quips from all sur­viv­ing mem­bers of the group.  It was released in November and was down to 170 avail­able copies at the begin­ning of December so if you’re a Lizzy fan, you bet­ter move quickly.  Read on for the leg­endary Lynott details, includ­ing responses from the band and a link to a cool inter­view with Popoff himself…

Fighting My Way Back: Thin Lizzy 69 — 76

As the back cover blurb sez…

Dublin’s Thin Lizzy have become one of the most revered cult acts of all time, stu­dious and dis­cern­ing fans of hard rock the world over rev­el­ing in the sto­ry­telling acu­men of the leg­endary Philip Lynott and the craft and class of his band.

Fighting My Way Back: Thin Lizzy 69 – 76, through numer­ous new inter­views with most of the prin­ci­ples involved and a moun­tain of painstak­ing research, exam­ines the band’s suite of six records cul­mi­nat­ing in 1976’s superla­tive and sparkling Jailbreak, home of such hits as Cowboy Song, Emerald, Jailbreak and The Boys Are Back In Town.

Thin Lizzy, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage, Vagabonds Of The Western World, Nightlife, Fighting and then momen­tously Jailbreak… along the way, alco­hol and drugs wreak havoc between band mem­bers, pro­duc­ers and man­agers, but despite lineup changes and a mostly grind­ing, rockscrab­ble exis­tence, Ireland’s favourite sons per­se­vere to expe­ri­ence, finally, the smash hit record they’d deserved for so long.

Immerse your­self in Popoff’s cel­e­brated record-by-record method­ol­ogy and emerge a reju­ve­nated Lizzy fan, newly appre­cia­tive of the deep album tracks hid­ing within this sin­gu­lar band’s often for­got­ten early years…

The book’s 280 pages include 328 rare, archival black & white pho­tos and mem­o­ra­bilia shots to accom­pany my usual in-depth track-by-track play-by-play type o’ crazy biog.

Fresh new inter­views for this book included (and most a few times), Eric Bell, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Gary Moore and Brian Robertson along with a cou­ple of man­agers in Terry O’Neill and Ted Carroll, pro­duc­ers Nick Tauber and Ron Nevison, Nigel Grange from Vertigo, Frank Murray who kept it all together on the road, cover artist Jim Fitzpatrick, and a range of oth­ers. As well, his­tor­i­cal press inter­views helped bring out the real Phil in all his das­tardly guises.

“RARE” INTERVIEW INFO AND BAND MEMBER RESPONSES:

When I say rare, it’s rare that an inter­view with me is tran­scribed! So hail to George Pacheco. I appre­ci­ate the effort, as I tran­scribe inter­views all the time and I know how long it takes. Our chat was set up around my Fighting My Way Back: Thin Lizzy 69–76, but a lot of it revolves around Thin Lizzy’s music and career moves, good an’ bad.

Anyway, I read the whole thing and it doesn’t look like I said any­thing too stu­pid, so here’s the link:

http://www.examiner.com/rock-music-in-boston/martin-popoff-examines-thin-lizzy-69–76-new-book

Also, some nice things have been said about the book:

“I think it’s the best book about Lizzy that I’ve seen so far. It’s very quirky in a nice way. I like the print and the paper and the way the pho­tos are used. It reminds me of a very thick comic, again in a good way. And the way it’s writ­ten.”
Eric Bell, Thin Lizzy gui­tarist 69–73

“I must say I am very impressed! If you ask me, that’s the best book you did so far. Can’t wait to read part II.”

Matthias Mader, Publisher Iron Pages (Iron Pages have pub­lished German edi­tions of my Dio, UFO, Rainbow and Sabbath books, with Deep Purple out shortly).

“You’ve got lots of pic­tures in there nobody has ever seen and it reads well. It’s got a nice flow to it. You’ve gone into great detail.”

Andy Gee, Thin Lizzy tour­ing gui­tarist 74

ORDERING INFO:

OK, the usual… books will be signed by me to you so let me know if it’s a present.

Price includ­ing shipping:

US orders: $34.00 US funds

Int’l orders (all books go air): $45.00 Cdn. funds

Canadian orders: $38.00 Cdn. funds

PayPal hap­pily accepted!

Ask me if you’d like a PayPal invoice, or just do yer usual and direct funds to martinp@inforamp.net

Or mail pay­ment (per­sonal check in US funds, cash, or INTERNATIONAL money order), to:

Martin Popoff

P.O. Box 65208 , 358 Danforth Ave.

Toronto , Ontario , Canada

M4K 2Z2

Email me at martinp@inforamp.net with any fur­ther ques­tions, and see www.martinpopoff.com for descrip­tions, cover art and order­ing info for my other avail­able 30 or so books. Nice sav­ings on ship­ping can be had if you take a few things, and as you know, I’m always good for swingin’ a deal for two books or more. Just ask.