AMG Review of Remembering, Part 1

Doug Stone
All Music Guide

Pick up Remembering Part 1. Sold at a budget price, this comp may be worth owning just for Jim Fitzpatrick's way-cool Judge Dredd-ed cover art. And inside wait many non-album almighties, each displaying the tremendous versatility of shining star Phil Lynott. The Irish renegade named his poetry collection after the beautiful "Song for While I'm Away." He weaves Van Morrison into the tangled web of "Honesty Is No Excuse." And maybe no other songwriter wrote better songs about being a rocker (á la "Little Darling") and living the life (i.e. "The Rocker"). Lynott gets in your face right off the bat with the super-heavy "Black Boys on the Corner," which is the fly B-side of dusty pearl "Whisky in the Jar," also included. "Sitamoia" is an astounding track written by drummer Brian Downey, and another unheralded masterpiece. Gathering the remains of the band's early Decca years, Remembering, Part 1 flows silky smooth, a rare trait for an odds and sods piece. The vinyl sleeve annotates Lizzy's tangled history, but all that matters is these songs surviving on CD. Very close in content to latter edition Vagabonds of the Western World, but, again, Remembering, Part 1 is downright affordable and, like the late, lamented Lynott, deeply affecting.