“I wanted to say, ‘There’s nobody out there. We gotta walk away from this.’ But I couldn’t. He was a great player”: The guitarist who saved Thin Lizzy – and made their last album hit like a “sledgehammer”

Scott Gorham and John Sykes.

Scott Gorham has reflected on how the late John Sykes helped saved Thin Lizzy for one final studio album – and brought a little heavy metal guitar thunder to Thunder and Lightning.

In the early ’80s, Gorham recognized Thin Lizzy was a band in decline. After two bluesy albums with Snowy White – China Town (1980) and Renegade (1981) – and some unfavorable off-stage habits, the guitarist told vocalist Phil Lynott something needed to change.