Vinyl Record

Thin Lizzy - Johnny The Fox

Thin Lizzy - Johnny The Fox on LP vinyl. A 1976 record currently sold out at Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

LP · 1976

Sold out at Kilmorna Collection, retained online as part of the catalogue archive.

Johnny The Fox is Thin Lizzy in the same breakthrough year as Jailbreak, but it carries a different kind of charge. Released in 1976, it arrived after The Boys Are Back In Town had pushed the band into a larger public arena, and it shows Phil Lynott turning that momentum into a looser, more character-driven record. The classic Gorham-Robertson guitar partnership is still central, Brian Downey remains one of hard rock's most musical drummers, and Lynott writes like a novelist of street corners, hustlers, lovers and doomed bravado. Don't Believe A Word is the immortal single, all compression and wounded wit, but Johnny, Rocky, Borderline and Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed give the album its narrative colour. It is less universally streamlined than Jailbreak, which is part of its appeal: funky in places, soulful in others, and full of the rogue storytelling that made Lizzy feel like a gang with a literature habit.

It matters because Johnny The Fox proves Thin Lizzy's 1976 was not a one-album miracle. Coming after Jailbreak, it deepened the band's streetwise mythology and gave the catalogue Don't Believe A Word, one of Lynott's sharpest compact songs.

For collectors, Johnny The Fox is a classic-lineup necessity and a key 1976 companion to Jailbreak. The brick red vinyl wording belongs to this title's edition name, while the album's real pull is the Gorham-Robertson era and Lynott's character writing.

Melodic hard rock with twin-guitar harmonies, funk touches, soulful bass-led grooves, compact riffs, street-story lyrics, warm swagger and Phil Lynott's blend of bravado, humour and heartbreak.

Recommended for: Collectors pairing Jailbreak with Thin Lizzy's other 1976 studio statement; Fans of Don't Believe A Word and the Gorham-Robertson guitar era; Listeners who like hard rock with character sketches and rhythmic looseness.

When was Johnny The Fox released? Johnny The Fox was released in 1976, the same year as Jailbreak. What is the best-known song from Johnny The Fox? Don't Believe A Word is the album's most famous song and one of Thin Lizzy's classic singles. Why is Johnny The Fox important for Thin Lizzy collectors? It captures the classic Lynott, Downey, Gorham and Robertson era at a high point, with a looser storytelling feel than Jailbreak.