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After Thin Lizzy’s hit-and-miss early career, where they found 1973’s freak success Whiskey In The Jar tricky to follow despite having songs as great as The Rocker, and suffered the departure of guitarist Eric Bell and the short tenure of his replacement Gary Moore, Phil Lynott expanded the band’s line-up to two guitarists so he wouldn’t get caught short again.
Once they settled on Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham, and got over their disappointment with 1974’s Nightlife album, they delivered with the marvellous Fighting, their first to chart in the UK. Then in 1976 it all came together with two classics that belong in every record collection: Jailbreak, which included worldwide hit The Boys Are Back In Town, and Johnny The Fox, heralded by the robust Don’t Believe A Word, which was very nearly as good.