| Nightlife | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Thin Lizzy |
| Cover: | Thin_Lizzy_-_Night_Life.jpg |
| Caption: | Cover art by Jim Fitzpatrick |
| Released: | 8 November 1974[1] |
| Recorded: | April and September 1974[2] |
| Studio: | Saturn, Worthing; Trident and Olympic, London[3] |
| Length: | 37:11 |
| Label: | Vertigo |
| Producer: | Ron Nevison, Phil Lynott |
| Prev Title: | Vagabonds of the Western World |
| Prev Year: | 1973 |
| Next Title: | Fighting |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
Nightlife is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released on 8 November 1974 by Vertigo Records. It was produced by Ron Nevison and bandleader Phil Lynott, and was the first album to feature the band as a quartet with newcomers Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson on guitars.
Some reissue CDs, and occasionally other sources, spell the album title as Night Life, the same as the song title. However the original album title is Nightlife.[2]
The song "Philomena" was written for Lynott's mother.[2]
The album cover, designed by Jim Fitzpatrick, shows a panther-like creature in a city scene. The panther is often thought to be intended to represent Lynott,[2] but Fitzpatrick has confirmed that the panther referred to the Black Panthers and African-American political figures like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.[4]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Nightlife as an "underrated gem of a record", but a "complete anomaly within their catalog"... "a subdued, soulful record, smooth in ways that Thin Lizzy never were before and rarely were afterwards". He singles out "She Knows" as "gently propulsive, [and] utterly addictive", but adds that there are "still moments of tough, primal rock 'n' roll", such as "It's Only Money" and "Sha-La-La". Martin Popoff judged the album "more enigmatic, sincere and philosophically complex than much else rock 'n' roll out there at the time", but also "too distant from the band's heart and soul" and overtly into black music, with Lynott "searching for ways to pay homage to his racial heritage."
The song "Night Life" borrows the title and chorus of Willie Nelson's 1960 song "Night Life", but Nelson is not credited on the album.[9]
On the cassette version, the positions of "She Knows" and "Showdown" were reversed.
A remastered 2-CD set deluxe edition of Nightlife was released on 12 March 2012.