Renegade (Thin Lizzy album)

Renegade is the eleventh studio album by Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1981. Though not his first appearance, this was the first album in which keyboard player Darren Wharton was credited as a permanent member, becoming the fifth member of the line-up. As such, he made a contribution as a songwriter on the opening track "Angel of Death". However, even though he had officially joined the band, his picture was omitted from the album sleeve.

Departure of Snowy White
Renegade was the second and final album to feature guitarist Snowy White. By his own admission, White was more suited to playing blues than heavy rock and he quit by mutual agreement the following year. He went on to have a hit single with "Bird of Paradise" in 1983.

Reception
Greg Prato of AllMusic claimed that Renegade is Thin Lizzy's worst album, with "blatant pop leanings and a production too similar to British heavy metal bands of the early '80s", blaming Snowy White's incompatibility with the group, Lynott's "flat vocals" and the band's drug problems. Prato named "The Pressure Will Blow", "Leave This Town" and "Hollywood (Down on Your Luck)" as the album's better songs. David Fricke in his review for Rolling Stone stated his disappointment for Lynott's performance as singer and songwriter on the album, writing that "only the rousing chorus of "Hollywood (Down on Your Luck)" and the poignant sense of loss in "It's Getting Dangerous" hint at the sensitive yet anthemic writing and hard-rock smarts that usually separate Thin Lizzy from the lunkheads". On the contrary, Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised the album for its superb production and the professional state-of-the-art sound, calling Renegade "an absolute masterpiece of deeply soulful and richly textured hard rock", whose "fullness and maturity tend to emerge only when played repeatedly".

Track listing
A remastered and expanded edition of Renegade was released on 23 September 2013 and includes five bonus tracks:

Singles

 * "Trouble Boys" / "Memory Pain" – 31 July 1981
 * "Hollywood" / "The Pressure Will Blow"
 * A picture disc single was also released.
 * In the Netherlands, the B-side was "Mexican Blood". In Canada, the B-side was the Phil Lynott solo track, "Girls".

Thin Lizzy

 * Phil Lynott – bass guitar, vocals
 * Scott Gorham – guitars, backing vocals
 * Snowy White – guitars, backing vocals
 * Darren Wharton – keyboards, organ, Minimoog, backing vocals
 * Brian Downey – drums, percussion

Production

 * Chris Tsangarides – producer, engineer
 * Kit Woolven, Andrew Warwick – engineers
 * Ian Cooper – mastering at Townhouse Studios, London