Year: 2020
Director: Emer Reynolds
I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a film about Phil Lynott made before now. There are a fair few documentaries on Thin Lizzy but there was certainly room for the story to be told. In ‘Songs For While I’m Away’ we hear of the struggles of growing up in Dublin after Phillip is brought to live with his grandparents by his mother who has had to make the awful decision to leave her son and return to England to work. Phillip does indeed learn to look after himself from an early age. He turns to music and soon meets Brian Downey(Thin Lizzy drummer). Eric Bell(guitarist) introduces himself to the pair and Thin Lizzy(version one) is on the road.
The film mixes the words and music of Phillip with interviews that include one of his ex-girlfriends, his ex-wife, and his daughters all of whom have remained away from the spotlight in the years since Phillip died. There are also interviews with Brush Shiels/Brian Downey/Scot Gorham/Adam Clayton/James Hetfield/Suzi Quatro/Midge Ure and others. The film paints a portrait of Phillip the poet, boyfriend, husband, father. The Phil Lynott that’s not always portrayed or remembered when we think of him. There’s a piece in the film that shows Phillip with his shirt collars ‘down’ which certainly isn’t the Phillip I remember. Thin Lizzy broke down so many boundaries of religion/race/musical genres. Thin Lizzy were one of the few bands that punks kept onside when they came to mop up the old guard in 1976. This film doesn’t mention it at all. There are so many faces missing from this story. Genuine fans for starters. Every year on the anniversary of his death fans get together in Dublin for ‘The Vibe for Philo’. Many fans travel from all over the world to attend and celebrate the life and music of Philo’. This doesn’t get a mention. I was looking forward to seeing Philo and Lizzy on the big screen and maybe hearing some new tales or even some old ones told by those who were there. Top of the missing list are Brian Robertson, Tony Visconti, Bob Geldof, Steve Jones, Shane McGowan & Bono just for starters.
I cannot help thinking that if there was a film to be made about Phillip Lynott there would have to be an exceedingly good reason why it wouldn’t be called ’The Rocker’. This film is a missed opportunity to capture the legend that was Phil Lynott. I was looking forward to coming away from this film full of life and my heart beating a little faster. I was left feeling slightly cheated. It’s not a bad film by any means but it’s just not ‘The Rocker’ I was expecting.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
Dinos bar & grill, Rockers in rose-tinted glasses
Freddy Steady says
@lunaman
This has been a long time in the making I believe? Shame it doesn’t appear to be as good as it could have been . Will look out for it though.
Colin H says
There has definitely always been a side to Phil other than the feet-on-monitors cartoon rocker thing. It’s always seemed to me that since his death, ‘the rocker’ aspect has been nurtured/promoted/curated at the expense of the poetry, the real-life person, the collaborations with folkies, electro pop people, etc.
Here’s Phil’s first appearance on record – nothing to do with the 70s fist-clenched persona:
deramdaze says
I might go and see this as I’ve got a considerable amount of time for Phil Lynott.
The early three-man Lizzy, especially, are great … debut L.P., ‘New Day” E.P. etc.
Smiles Diles says
Up to a point I agree, however I might go a bit further. He never quite broke through to the first division in any of his personas when he was still with us, and I’d argue that aerie-faerie Phil has been equally exaggerated since his passing. I was always a fan and saw him as someone who was broadminded and quite self-aware, but also completely unable to commit to being successful.
Hawkfall says
I think Lizzy were a successful band, but to break into the upper reaches of the First Division, they’d have had to have turned into a Queen or a Fleetwood Mac, and I don’t think they’d have been willing or able to do that. Apart from anything else, unlike those other two, Lizzy only had one songwriter.
What I think is a shame is that Gary Moore only made one album with them, Black Rose. It’s their best, and could have been the platform for being more successful. But he left, and Phil got distracted with the solo albums, and the Snowy White albums are disappointing.
Slug says
I’d suggest that if any aspect of his character has been over-emphasised, and rather sadly celebrated (both while he was alive and probably moreso since), it’s surely his general Jack-the-Laddery. The industrial quantities of booze/drugs/sex is what made him an attractive figure to a lot of people in the first place (that, and possibly the tight leather trousers…) and not the sixth-form poetry or the romantic Celtic history stuff.
Freddy Steady says
@slug
Agree. That was his image to most of us.
Rigid Digit says
Phil Lynott would welcome every Irish band new to that London with sage advice and several drinks. He was the welcoming party for U2, the Rats, SLF, and any others making their way across the Irish Sea. And that friendship continued, he was genuinely interested in making sure his Irish mates were in a good place.
Colin H says
Indeed. Horslips were grateful that he added them to the bill at Wembley Arena in 1978, and he toured as bassist/backing vocalist with (60s crony) Gay Woods’ Auto Da Fe in 1983. People who see Phil solely through the prism of hard rock are missing lots of other stuff – but he honed the Thin Lizzy fist-clenched ‘Milton Keynes, are you ready?’ persona so well for media consumption, so in a way he is, posthumously, a victim of his success in that sense.
hubert rawlinson says
In his early days along with Gary Moore he would be a frequent visitor to the Orphanages in Dublin (so nicknamed by its residents Dr StrangelyStrange).
Possibly he was continuing the tradition by welcoming new Irish bands to London.
Colin H says