Jailbreak is arguably the only Lizzy album that's genuinely great all the way through (though some would argue for Bad Reputation or Live And Dangerous--but that's cheating), and it's surely their most exciting record; tough and touching, simultaneously barbarous and balletic. But then it'd be a great album just for "The Boys Are Back In Town", surely the finest and funniest song of its kind. It's Phil Lynott's infectious grin transmuted into sound, cheeky and totally irresistible--emerging unannounced from a jukebox, it can still make a whole room smile, and its brusque poignancy can't fail to touch the middle of the heart. But the rest of Jailbreak lives up to it, especially the riotous title track ("Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town"--yeah well, the jail seems a likely place). If Lynott's poetic pretensions sometimes seep through, most of the album shows off his effortless command of power and economy; if heavy rock has a tendency to wrestle each song to the ground with brute force, Thin Lizzy were uniquely capable of the quick kill, the knockout punch, graceful as a boxer or bullfighter. Jailbreak is sexy testament to that. --Taylor Parkes