Album review : THUNDER – The Complete EMI Recordings 1989-95 (7 CD boxset)

Cherry Red [Release date 27.08.24]

Thunder rose from the ashes of Terraplane, a two album English band who never escaped from label interference.

Singer Danny Bowes and guitarist, Luke Morley, along with Gary “Harry” James, Ben Matthews and Mark “Snake” Luckhurst, went on to form Thunder.

In 1990, this new band was easy to underestimate on first impressions. For those expecting a UK facsimile of American AOR, their debut album, Backstreet Symphony was something of a let down, a disappointment.

Half a dozen plays later you realised that this was a band with its eye on the ball, moreso than any other Brit band in the bluesy, melodic hard rock genre.

The band’s first 3 studio albums are this 7 CD boxset’s core content.

CD1 : Backstreet Symphony (studio album 1990)
CD2 : Backstreet Symphony – Studio and live B-sides
CD3 : Live At Donington (1990)
CD4 : Laughing On Judgement Day (studio album 1992)
CD5 : Laughing On Judgement Day – Bonus tracks and B-sides
CD6 : Behind Closed Doors (studio album 1995)
CD7 : Behind Closed Doors – Bonus tracks, Studio and live

Backstreet Symphony captured the band’s transition from Terraplane’s undistinguished rock to the sound we know today as classic rock, tuned to the wavelength of chart storming British bands like Bad Company and Whitesnake.

The orchestrated energy that the band transmitted on the live circuit easily transferred to the recording studio.

The singles, the hooky arena rock of ‘Dirty Love’ and the archetypal power ballad, ‘Love Walked In’, charted on both sides of the Atlantic.

Three more singles from Backstreet Symphony made the UK Top Forty.

The anglicised delta blues of ‘Until The Night Is Through’ (Dance Dance Dance), a non album single B-side, and the whole Live At The Town And Country Club are the CD2 highlights.

The sheer enthusiasm that energised the debut is more focused on the follow up, Laughing On Judgement Day.

The recording is charged with exciting, electrifying pieces of music, like the brass on ‘Everybody Wants Her’, and the mournful harmonica on the ultimately uplifting ballad, ‘A Better Man’. Both as good as it gets.

The album consolidated the band’s UK popularity without moving them forward. It was 1991, and the Seattle vanguard had established a foothold in most countries.

CD5 is jampacked with bonus tracks, B-sides, acoustic versions, demos and live tracks.

And in common with the live material that fleshes out the band’s sound across this boxset, Live At Donington (CD3) confirms what we already know.

The band’s third and last album on the EMI label, The Thrill of It All, opened with ‘A Moth To A Flame’. This was 1995. As the song title alludes, the charred remains of post-seventies rock bands were thick on the ground. Grunge had invaded and occupied most rock’n’roll territories.

Yet still, Thunder flew the flag, still fighting… down tuned toes in the water, the music heavier, harder, denser.

Had this been a new band, likely it would have enjoyed critical recognition. But it wasn’t, it was Thunder.

The title track, the funky, clanging ‘River Of Pain’, and the magnificent ‘Castles in The Sand’ are heavily metalised rock, end of relationship songs, as relevant to a moment in the rock’n’roll timeline as they are to the songwriter’s personal life.

As a definitive snapshot of Thunder’s first six years in the public eye, this boxset will take some beating. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)