With Thunder on indefinite hiatus for some while during Danny Bowes’ long road to recovery, their guitarist and songwriter Luke Morley has been keeping himself extremely busy. In between touring with the Quireboys he has now trebled his solo output in the space of two years with a couple of albums, most recently ‘Walking on Water’, which he is now touring.

Having really enjoyed the first time he dipped his toe into solo live action at Islington Academy early last year, this was something to look forward to and especially so as after rave reviews I was keen to check out Bobbie Dazzle. Sadly, she pulled out sick so there was just the one support in Willie Dowling, also a recruit to Spike’s current line up of the Quireboys. Dressed in a harlequin suit and with a seventies ‘shag’ haircut, he was an engagingly eccentric character with a touch of vaudeville in songs like the Sparks-esque opener ‘I Killed My Imaginary Friend’. The pianist led a trio though the band format did somewhat drown out his lyrical messages.

Many of those songs had an edge to them with his bile directed at greedy capitalists (‘Gravy Train’ and ‘Rats In The Maze’) or politicians (‘Long Drop Down’ and ‘F— You, Goodbye’. In the week the US President was given the fawning red carpet treatment at Windsor Castle, he was the target of some well-timed satire prior to the title track of the album ‘The Simpleton’. On a lighter note, as a fan of his original band The Grip I did enjoy their old song ‘The Ballad Of Vera Daydream’ which ended the set. An original and unique character though not I suspect to the taste of everyone present.

Luke Morley came on stage accompanied by a very similar band to that last tour and indeed opened with a song from previous solo album ‘Songs From The Blue Room’ in the heartland rock-ish ‘I Wanna See The Light. All that was missing from the recorded version was the female backing vocals, but bassist and Thunder bandmate Chris Childs and keyboardist Sam Tanner provided admirable vocal support all night.

Luke’s solo material is largely stripped of those trademark blues rock riffs we are used to in Thunder, but makes best use of his voice and wears the influences of the classic era of rock and pop on its sleeve. This meant that I found it easy to make inadvertent comparisons regularly. The title track of the new album reminded me of the verses of The Hollies ‘Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress’ and as it went into the instrumental section my partner and I were wondering which of a number of John Fogerty/Creedence numbers it could be, while the sixties garage rock feel of ‘Snakeskin Parachute’ was cut from the same cloth as John Mellencamp’s ‘R.O.C.K. in the USA’.

There was less chat than I recalled from last time, but he did dryly describe that ‘Errol Flynn’, his song about coming to terms with no longer being youthful, had been written about his father but he increasingly realised was about him. That was one of a number of songs where he swapped his Stratocaster for a pink Spanish-style acoustic guitar and indeed even on the electric solos he shared the spotlight with old mate and current Cats In Space guitarist Dean Howard, sporting a dapper trilby.

This was never going to be a night focused on Thunder songs and there is only one man who could do them justice. Nevertheless Luke is more than entitled to play the songs he wrote and chose wisely with ‘River Of Pain’, rearranged with a slower jazzier swing which he joked was bossa nova, though he delivered a more familiar guitar solo in the second part of the song.

Among the new songs ‘Always A Saturday Night’ was an agreeable listen and ‘Natural High’ a solid rocker that at a stretch might have been a suitable Thunder song. ‘Gun To Your Head’ was far removed though from the day job with some old-style country rock guitar playing from Dean.

The wryly told tale of Thunder’s abortive attempt to crack the States, ‘Killed By Cobain’ came over like a jaunty cross between the Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset and the Travelling Wilburys but was eclipsed by ‘Breathe’ which was a truly superb piece of pop rock with great melodies. ‘Watch The Sun Go Down’ rocked things up a bit and Luke encouraged a singalong, but surprisingly after well under an hour that was the end of the main set.

Fortunately there was an encore of more generous length, beginning with his recounting writing a song in his hotel room in LA in 1991 which was a second Thunder classic in ‘Like A Satellite’, but again neatly rearranged and given a more stripped down feel.

‘I’m The One You Want’ owed a little to the Black Crowes and then developed into a funky and impossibly tight jam. That showed off the pedigree of the players who during closer ‘Go With The Flow’ (the sole survivor in the set off his first solo album El Gringo Retro’ from the early 2000s) they were all given solo slots as they were introduced, he and Dean having something of a call-and-response guitar contest.

This was all quality stuff, the only downside being that some of the rock edge was taken off by being in an all-seated theatre, which itself was not full, making it harder to create an atmosphere. It was instead a chance to appreciate another side of his prolific songwriting and enjoy some great melodies and a uniformly high standard of musicianship.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions,

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 16 November 2025.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This 600th show was first broadcast on 18 November 2025

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings. The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.