Description
Label Review.
2017 album.
Our Overview.
Legendary guitarist Eric Bell was a founder member of Thin Lizzy, playing guitar on their first three albums. In Belfast, Eric had previously progressed through bands such as The Bluebeats, The Earth Dwellers, The Atlantics and The Jaguars until he formed Thin Lizzy and to make ends meet, until the band became renowned, he also had stints as a street gas lamplighter, and as a worker in a pickle factory and a shirt factory. During January 1970 the newly formed Thin Lizzy rehearsed and made their first official live performance at St. Anthony's Hall, Dublin. In June of the same year, EMI Ireland expressed an interest in signing up the four-piece. By July the deal had been done and their first single entitled ‘The Farmer’ was released and you could say the rest is history.
Eric’s new album ‘Standing At A Bus Stop’ is the eagerly anticipated follow up to 2016’s Exile - Eric’s first studio recording for more than ten years - Standing at a Bus Stop gives fans more of what Eric does best - bitter sweet lyrics, gorgeous melodies and fantastic guitar riffs.
Featuring nine brand new tracks written by Eric - plus two wonderful covers of Howlin Wolf's ‘Back Door Man’, and Elvis’ Mystery Train - this latest album showcases Bell’s talent for song writing and his desire to keep moving forward with his music. “It would have been very easy to become Thin Lizzy part II,” says Eric, “but I’ve always gone my own way. You shouldn’t be scared to take a chance and experiment. Whatever talent I possess, I want to use it and you can’t do that if you’re always looking to the past.”
Once again, Eric draws heavily on his own life for inspiration on this record (and his extraordinary life has certainly produced plenty of song writing material!), crafting songs that are highly personal yet completely universal - songs of love and loss, dreams and memories, good times and bad.
Some are recent creations, reflecting Eric’s thoughts on the modern world; some were written years ago, forgotten and rediscovered for this album. “You get a free razor blade with every copy!” laughs Eric.
“The songs on this album might be a bit melancholic but they’re not miserable. They are honest, they’re about real people and places and capture certain points in my life that meant something and made me who I am. “I was never really considered a songwriter until Exile,” he adds, “so it’s amazing to have the chance to do another record. It feels like a natural progression for me. Like maybe I can write after all.”