don't let the song title scare 'ya

Vagabonds of the Western World is viewed by many hardcore fans as Thin Lizzy’s finest album. I think the album is pretty patchy myself, though it’s worth the price of admission for tonight’s song alone. But let’s get something out of the way immediately: Little Girl in Bloom is an absolutely awful title for a song and an awful refrain in a song. It sounds like 70s porn, the kind starring Jamie Gillis and set in a girl’s summer camp. Don’t ask me how I’m able to come up with such a specific evocation. I have a certain amount of familiarity with the genre and let’s just leave it at that. Back to the song. The whole thing strikes me as being Irish Catholic in the extreme. See if you agree with me. It’s also pretty haunting stuff, sort of uncomfortable listening in some ways, even though the girl at the center of the narrative is overjoyed with her situation and sees it as ‘something sacred.’ And Eric Bell’s guitar playing, and especially the sound he coaxes from his instrument, are as superb as ever. He seems to drift slightly off key in spots, but this only gives his weepy solo more urgency. This is music that’s really hard to categorize. I’ve been referring to it as progressive rock but it’s only kinda sorta prog. It doesn’t have the same delusions of grandeur as, say, Genesis, nor does it make a fetish of technical virtuosity in the manner of King Crimson or Yes. The Liz were really very unique during their early period. They became much more conventional after Vagabonds, not in a bad way, but definitely in a way that would eventually get them stadium gigs, co-headlining summer tours with the likes of ZZ Top. Ah, to have been a beer drinking and hell raising hesher in the mid 70s…