Many years ago I remember reading a review in a popular music mag of the day dismissing the new album from one of the top hard rock bands of the era. The scribe used a ‘checklist’ in which he systematically ticked off every trick they used and gave it the most condescending, sneery slating. That album was ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC and it went on to sell millions, thus proving that it’s a futile – and less lucrative – exercise to be making music for critics rather than for your own fans. They gave their fans what they wanted and were rewarded many times over. The magazine? Long defunct, and the music scribe has returned to richly-deserved obscurity.
That might or might not happen with this new Thunder album, but it’s definitely a return to the style for which they are best known. All the regular riffs are present and correct, the drums cut through with that familiar, satisfying ‘snap’ and the voice – oh that voice – is in as good shape now as it was over 30 years ago when singer Danny Bowes wowed everyone at Donington. I can’t damn this band for doing what they do best, especially after they actually did take a diversion last time out with the ‘Please Remain Seated’ album; a collection of old songs radically rearranged from the rock originals. I’d wanted them to do something like that for a while; I did feel ‘Rip It Up’ reinvented the wheel once too often. Although the playing and performing was top-notch, I could tell a mile off exactly which way the chords were going.
The band had promised that after the pared-back styling of ‘PRS’ this album was going to rock once again and they deliver in fine style with opener ‘Last One Out Turn Off The Lights’. More pacy than your usual mid-paced Thunder rocker, it is built on a Zeppelin riff accompanied by a lyric which hits as hard as the guitar riff, slamming the whole agenda which led to ‘Brexit’. Musicians are going to be particularly hard-hit by this, and guitarist/songwriter Luke Morley has not held back in his contempt for those who drove that movement. The guitarist has much to say on this record; left both angry and frustrated by the antics of the likes of Donald Trump, Morley has made his contempt clear on songs like ‘The Smoking Gun’ (‘And we all let the Devil in, cos no-one believed he could win‘) and ‘Force of Nature’ (‘I’m gonna make us great again, you can take me at my word; I’ll tell you what you want to hear even if it sounds absurd‘) whereas on ‘St George’s Day’ he has a swipe at the sort of jingoism which led to Brexit (‘If you can’t see beyond your hate, in a changing world it’s true, one day it might be you… You’d better wise up before it’s too late – for St George’s Day‘). They say good music comes from bad governments, and if true I suspect there’s much more to come from Mr Morley’s pen yet.
Not all of this material is so dark; there are lighter moments such as ‘Going To Sin City’ all about Las Vegas and its surface glitz and glamour, while on ‘You’re Gonna Be My Girl’ the band go decidedly Rod and the Faces with a fun rock ‘n’ roll number that will go over well on stage – whenever it might be that we actually get to see these guys on a stage! ‘Don’t Forget To Live Before You Die’ is a song similar in lyrical content to ‘Living for Today’ from the much earlier ‘Giving The Game Away’ album; it reminds the listener not to let life pass them by while they’re busy working or even just whiling away their time on a screen.
No Thunder album is complete without the obligatory ballad; ‘I’ll Be The One’ has been hailed as ‘the next Love Walked In’ by some listeners. As usual, Bowes delivers it with such passion that you’d swear blind he’d written every word from his heart. He has admitted that he found this one hard to sing, so much so that it took him until the final sessions for the album that he got a take he was happy with. For Bowes, one of the very best rock singers this country has produced, to admit that – the song must have been tricky indeed!
The thing with this album that I take away is, that although the melodies, chord progressions, and song structures are arguably as familiar as they were on ‘Rip it Up’, there’s a freshness, a sense of renewed energy I pick up on here. I can’t put my finger on why that is, other than having made a left turn last time out they’ve perhaps come back with a renewed determination to show their own fans that they still have ‘it’.
At the end of the day it’s another quality product from the British rockers, you do know what you’re getting by now but there are a couple of slight variations to the overall theme this time around. For instance, the use of female backing singers is rather more prominent on here than on previous offerings (guest performers include Beth Blade of the Beautiful Disasters once again, and also Julie ‘The Duchess’ Maguire of Space Elevator, whose true identity has been outed on the credits of this album!)
The record is available in the usual myriad of different formats; from a regular CD or double vinyl to a deluxe CD with bonus tracks and live material, or even a limited-edition QUADRUPLE vinyl set with a gatefold sleeve that features a pop-up version of the cover art (a photo of the Singing Ringing Tree in Lancashire, chosen since it reminded Luke Morley of the kind of artwork produced by Storm Thorgerson in years gone by) and including all the bonus tracks and live renditions of the deluxe CD. If you’re a real retro geek, you can even have this album on cassette! Personally I went for the 4-disc vinyl set, of which I’m awaiting delivery at the time of this post, but I’d probably recommend the deluxe CD if you’re not quite as much of a Loonie as me!
Thunder fans can buy this album with confidence, safe in the knowledge they’re back firing on all cylinders.
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