Tomorrow, January 4th 2013, marks the 27th anniversary of the death of Thin Lizzy front-man Phil Lynott who died from complications of an apparent drug overdose at age 36. It also marks the 27th year back in the artist's Dublin hometown that the beloved legendary Irish rocker will be honored again with the big Vibe For Philo celebration. Begun as a humble, heartfelt low-key gathering by fans and friends to mourn his tragic passing in the days following his January 1986 death, Vibe For Philo morphed into an annual event that has steadily grown over the years. It is now a three-day, mini festival like celebration with a slew of Thin Lizzy tribute acts that draws Lynott and Lizzy fans from all over to the Irish capital of Dublin. Coincidentally the theme of this year's Vibe For Philo, which begins today (Jan 3rd), is "Dublin."

According to Vibe For Philo organizer Smiley Bolger this Lynott-hometown named theme was inspired from the song "Dublin" off the 1971 New Day 7" EP on UK Decca. "Philip got it spot on when he wrote: How can I leave this town that brings me down, Has no jobs, is blessed by God and makes me cry. Dublin." Indeed considering the current dire economic state of the recession era Ireland (one that makes today's US economy look almost robust) this 2013 Vibe For Philo theme is most fitting.  

Like the early 1970's era Dublin with "no jobs" that Lynott sang about the current dismal Irish economy is back at that same unfortunate place. The once boisterous Irish economy took a double whammy of a blow when it crashed and burned about five years ago. After enjoying the almost surreal dozen plus years of the bubble that was Ireland's so-called "Celtic Tiger" (1994 - 2007) it crashed hard and fast. To make a bad situation worse this economic collapse coincided with the global banking scandals that brought down other countries. Currently Ireland, which during its Celtic Tiger years was for the first time experiencing an influx of immigrants, is now back to its old status when emigration (usually to the US, UK, or Australia) was the only option for survival for many Irish. So high were those numbers (76,000 for the 12 months leading up to April 2012) that they are now at the highest point since the devastating Irish potato famine of the 1800's.

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Well, here we are. We weren't thrust into a new dark age oblivion, the world didn't end and neither did my workaday quest for the best music for the day. This year was rife with records that just had to be snatched -- reissues, compilations, and a fair few newbies too.

Here follows my personal, "show and tell" style best-of list for 2012:  the year that didn't stop the big wheel a-turnin'. Rather than just dicing up a list of cold-cut favorites, I've included personal events and trends herein that shaped the music I sought and gravitated towards within the past year.


BEST NEW ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Jessica Pratt - JP. No contest. I have naught but the best of things to say about this disc of spun gold and I'm not alone. It seems every Barry, Rob, and Maurice in the blogosphere has been falling all over this record like autumn leaves in the rain. If you really want to know my take check out my real talk review of JP here, otherwise please do enjoy the album's opening track, "Night Faces" below.

      

Rock music has way too many incredibly memorable guitar riffs to limit a best of list to just one hundred, but the 100 riffs that guitarist Alex Chadwick of The Chicago Music Exchange came up with for the above video performance ain't half bad, and it is a nice informal overview of the history of rock n' roll. Sure it's a subjective selection that includes a lot of mega hits of the genre, and no doubt every rock fan could come up with their own unique list of a hundred best guitar riffs. But I like what Alex has done: from his playing to his choices of riffs, and from how he segues from song to song, to how he plays it on his 1958 Fender Strat all in chronological order. Below is that list of songs and artists in order with the artist names that are blue highlighted linking back to the Amoeba Online Store. where you can find their respective music (CDs, LPs, DVDs) including (in near all cases) the song played by Alex.

2 "Folsom Prison Blues" Johnny Cash
3 "Words of Love"  Buddy Holly
4 "Johnny B Goode"  Chuck Berry
5 "Rumble"  Link Wray

Tremendous news for Thin Lizzy addicts announced today! According to the Belfast Telegraph a cache of up to 700 Thin Lizzy songs found among 'a treasure trove of tapes stashed away by Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott' have been slated for release later this year as a box set via Universal Music.

Apparently, shortly before the Dublin rocker's death in 1986, the then 36 year old Lynott gave a heap of 150 tapes to a third party for safe keeping - here's hoping the good folks at Universal treat the twenty-six year old find kind.

"In every group there's a member who lovingly collects their recordings and in Thin Lizzy that was Phil Lynott, because Lizzy was his baby and his band."

"There are out-takes, unheard versions of Thin Lizzy hits and, most exciting of all, material which was recorded but never released at the time," said Mr Hammonds.

The scheduled June release won't be the first collection in the last few years to feature archive work by the band as it follows on last year's Live At The BBC release, not to mention all those long-awaited deluxe remastered editions of Lizzy's back catalog. [and while we're on the subject, powers that be, howsabout getting around to taking the TBD out of the promised 2CD/DVD edish of Live and Dangerous equation already]