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Are you interested in a band that plays pure '70s English rock blues (Led Zeppelin, Bad Company...), with zero originality but excellent songwriting, great passion and "drive", a voice that rocks and sounds as powerful and dynamic as possible in the digital era? I am very much so. When there's heart, intelligence, cohesion, and grit, the fact that they rely 100% on musical forms synthesized and already developed by others becomes secondary. A song is a good song, and it isn't necessarily so because it smells new. Thunder arrived late by twenty years, no doubt about it, but they make great songs that hit hard and with class, and I love them for this. They're still active, on their seventh album if I'm not mistaken. In Great Britain, where they burst onto the scene in 1990 (first album "Back Street Symphony" sold very well), only to be sacrificed like many others on the altar of rap and grunge, they still have a good following. Here in Italy, unfortunately, hardly anyone noticed them.
The album above, with this horrible cover, is their second, released in 1992. The strengths of Thunder are primarily Danny Bowes' singing, filled with the blues, extremely gritty, powerful, heartfelt, a worthy heir to young Rod Stewart and Paul Rodgers... and then there's the guy behind the drums, whose name is Gary James, known to friends as Harry. You wouldn't bet on him at first sight: he's bald, a bit of a jokester, who loves to open concerts singing "New York New York" to a pre-recorded track, dressed like a fool with a cane and a carnation in his buttonhole. A second after the end of the piece, the roadies strip off his costume, leaving him in shorts and a t-shirt. He walks the five meters to his drums... and explodes with a starting "acciaccatura" at the concert that shakes the stage more than John Bonham! Believe me, there's no Carmine Appice Cozy Powell Denny Carmassi to match; if you miss Bonzo and want a very plausible living substitute, the drummer of Thunder is the right man: same style, bass and snare cannonades and off he goes, with excellent technique and taste to boot. Thunder's music is generated by the classic singer/guitarist synergy; they are the ones who compose the pieces and direct the group. The axeman in question is named Luke Morley and knows his stuff. He's a bit anonymous in style but puts the right notes in the right places with a healthy "feeling" and composes catchy riffs and beautiful melodies. There's a second musician who plays guitar in the group (a quintet) but alternates with keyboards, making the sound fuller and more varied. His name is Ben Matthews. Live and in photos, the two guitarists are easily distinguishable as Morley is left-handed. The lineup is, of course, completed by the bassist, the only figure frequently changing throughout the group's career. Three or four have alternated to date, and in this album, a certain Mark Luckhurst known as "Snake" plays. Thunderous start of "Laughing..." with the first track "Does It Feel Like Love" where an acoustic arpeggio is immediately pierced by Bowes' tense voice and then swallowed by the rhythmic explosion: great music, but the masterpiece is track number three "Low Life In High Places" dynamic in its acoustic development with a dynamite electric interlude. Matthews works well on the Hammond in "Empty City" and Bowes touches the heart reciting beautiful concepts on "A Better Man".... but the entire album maintains a constant level of songwriting, without particular peaks but also no fillers.
If you're rockers and not obsessed with the latest at all costs, this is stuff that's right for you.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Everybody Wants Her (04:30)
Let me tell you 'bout this girl I know
She ain't nothing like any girl you've known before
'Cos everybody wants her
In her dress or her old blue jeans
When you see her you'll be coming apart at the seams
'Cos everybody wants her
She's got everything a man could ask for, she's animal and innocence
She could wrap you 'round her little finger
She's sharp as a knife, you ought to see her dance
Chorus:
(Everybody wants her) Everybody wants her, they make it plain to see
(Everybody needs her) Everybody needs her, she don't know it, but she wants me
The first time that she passed my way
I got so nervous that I couldn't find a thing to say
'Cos everybody wants her
She's told so many guys to sling their hook
But I've been watching her eyes and I've seen her look
She knows everybody wants her
I'm never wrong with my intuition, I'm gonna say what I have to say
I got it worked out to the letter, I know I can make her see it my way
chorus - she wants me
(Solo)
She's got everything a man could ask for, she's animal and innocence
She could wrap you 'round her little finger
She's sharp as a knife, boy you ought to see her dance
You ought to see her dance
chorus
(Everybody wants her) Everybody wants her
I got to tell you that the woman makes it plain to see
(Everybody needs her) Everybody wants her, she don't know
(Everybody wants her) Everybody wants to be her man
(Everybody needs her) Everybody needs her, but she wants me
That's the way it's gotta be, just her and me, together baby
We're together, you and me...
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03 Low Life in High Places (04:09)
Mama, tell your children not to go
Down to the city, where the desperate people go
And mama, don't let them stray
They won't find, peace of mind, in such a lonely place
Wannabes and losers, all trying to get a break
They don't give a damn, they'll do whatever it takes
If they climb the ladder, they get to play for higher stakes
That's why there's low life in high places
Mama, things have changed since you were young
When you scream, in the dead of night
Now no one ever comes
And a poor man, he's cast as the villan and a thief
See him down on the street, begging for enough to eat
Waiting on the corner, I saw her waiting for the man
When the limo pulled up I saw what was changing hands
I should've tried to warn her, and make her understand
There is low life in high places
There is low life, like you never even knew
There is low life, and it lives in me and you
But we don't all let it through
Don't let 'em go, you've got to have some pity
Don't you let 'em go
You've got to keep 'em away, from the big bad city
(SOLO)
Waiting on the corner, I saw her waiting for the man
When the limo pulled up I saw what was changing hands
I should've tried to warn her, and make her understand
Mama, tell your children not to go
Down to the city, where the desperate people go
And mama, don't you let them stray
They won't find, peace of mind in such a lonely place
05 Empty City (07:00)
Empty city, it's calling your name
Wheel of fortune, sucking you into the game
It's a fatal attraction, that pulls you like a moth to the flame
Empty city, sitting waiting in the hills
Babylonian, promising all kinds of thrills
Here they all know what they want
And they chase it with a passion that kills
Empty city, what's easy come don't let it go
Count your money, every day it seems to grow
Build a wall around your dream, get a gun, don't let nobody close
Are you happy with the life that you chose?
She came in from the desert and the dust
And now she's trying to stay afloat on a crazy sea of lust
It's hard to love a city when that city has no heart
It'll rape your mind and sell your body
It'll tear your soul apart, tear it apart
'Cos when you scratch through the surface
You won't find a damn thing underneath
And everybody's moving on, that's why I believe
It's an empty city, it's an empty city
(Solo)
Empty city, it's calling your name
Wheel of fortune, sucking you into the game
It's a fatal attraction that pulls you like a moth to the flame
'Til you've forgotten your name, where the streets are lined with pain
But I can't stay away
It's an empty city, empty city
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07 Long Way From Home (06:02)
Standing in this place I used to know so well
I came here looking for my past
Doesn't seem like long ago since I was here
I never thought I'd ever change
Looking for my future in a glass
The water must have flowed so fast under the bridge
But I don't feel like I belong here anymore
Like coming back to read a book when someone's turned the page
And I wonder who's to blame?
I guess I was wrong when I thought that everything would be the same
Chorus:
Oh it's like someone changed the lock upon my door
From the moment I stepped out alone
And I don't think that I'll be back no more
On the street I was born in, I'm a long way from home
I guess I'm a long way from home
And as the days grow by I feel the distance grow
I know it's no good looking back
I'm not complaining but I know that it's a fact
But this isolation's like the cold wind in my face
I've done a lot of things in my life that people never get to do
But I'm feeling so removed
And I don't think I'm welcome here no more
On the street I was born in, I'm a long way from home
Oh it's like someone changed the lock upon my door
From the moment I stepped out alone
(Solo)
I guess I'm a long way from home
I guess I was wrong when I thought that everything would be the same
So can you tell me who's to blame?
chorus
I'm a long way from home, I guess I'm a long way from home
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10 A Better Man (03:40)
Once in a while, I drift in time
To a place in my memory, that it still hurts to find
I was taking on the world with a see-through smile
But dying on the inside all the while
I was, dying on the inside all the while
Like a martyr that don't want sympathy
I locked away my feelings, and threw away the key
It was gonna take a miracle to pierce my pride
And you were the tower of strength to try
When your loving washed right over me like the tide
And now I believe in love (I believe in love)
I believe in love (I believe in love)
You're the reason why I can
Cos when I look, at myself, in the mirror
I see a better man
A better man
Yes its hard finding words that can say how I feel about you
I don't care if it sounds like another old cliche
But I can't stand the thought of living my life without you
For even a day
Oh baby
And now I believe in love (I believe in love)
Yes I believe in love (I believe in love)
You're the reason why I can
Cos when I look, at myself, in the mirror
Oh baby
When I look at myself in the mirror
When I'm looking at myself in the mirror
I see a better man
13 Like a Satellite (04:48)
In the quiet of evening, I start to drift away
imagining in a place where you'd be starting off your day
I fight the distance with a picture in my head
but I don't know when I'll see you
I guess I'll have to dream instead
You're so far away
If I could be, I'd be with you, even if, for just one day
'Cause if i close my eyes, and dream on
I can fool myself in sound and vision
Like a satellite, reaching out through the night
I can almost be touching you
Oh, when we're talking, long distance on the phone
you know it makes me feel like I'm not so alone
The situation never causes me pain
the communication that we have
is on another plane
All the waiting makes me stronger
and the time between us flys
Whenever I close my eyes, and dream on
I can fool myself in sound and vision
Like a satellite, reaching out thru the night
I can almost be touching you
If I could be, I'd be with you, even if, for just one day
Those miles between us, they just start fading away
Whenever I close my eyes, and dream on
I can fool myself in sound and vision
Like a satellite, reaching out thru the night
I can almost be touching you
Like a satellite
Uh, like a satellite
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