Thunder
Wonder Days

The latest work of this charming and tough British hard rock blues band, released in February of this year, is a sort of concept album. The group's leader, Luke Morley, guitarist and composer of all the music and lyrics, has had fun this time unraveling pages of his past alongside the music, stating in the opening song, “...I'm not one to look back much, but when I do, I can't help but smile.”

The central composition, the most exciting of the album, is the ninth track, “When the Music Played”; after a brief instrumental intro, the rhythm begins to be marked by guitar “stops,” and a story that I find particularly touching starts:

I was just a boy in '71, when I found a new place to go

Under the covers and by the moonlight, listening to the radio

And the sound I heard painted pictures and dreams and memories so magical

Here I am looking for the source of some spark to light a fire in my soul

Because it was so long ago but it’s still so strong nothing else gives me the same

So I close my eyes, rewind the time and go back, back to when the music played

I held my vinyls like newborn babies, memorizing every word

Every cover was a window to a distant and special world

In all those summer nights love was biting, the music was there, and I wrapped it around me

And every single track I loved so much is still there, on the shelf

And it was so long ago but it's still so strong, when I didn't know I'd do it every day

I close my eyes, rewind the time and go back, back to when the music played

[here the music breaks and a rock blues riff starts with guitar+bass that's more Led Zeppelin than Zeppelin themselves in "Black Dog," over which the lyrics continue to criticize before returning for one last chorus]:

Hey boy, what do you plan to do now? Music mattered but now it's not anymore...

We need to listen with innocence, protect the kid inside us

Without having a cynical ear... a hard heart will never fly

I'm so glad to be old enough to remember when rock was young

All the joys of discovery when there were still songs to be sung

Because it was so long ago but it’s still so strong nothing else gives me the same

So I close my eyes, rewind the time and go back, back to when the music played

Morley was born in 1960, so when he started indulging in Led Zeppelin and similar bands in his little room with his ear glued to the speaker, he was eleven years old. Today he is a brilliant musician in his fifties, completely out of fashion (what is the current trend in rock? Who knows) and standing tall, which we should call "cult." The page of life he narrates in this song is common to a vast number of people in their fifties, including Italians, who haven't failed to keep up with the latest “trends,” but don't even think about it, as they are quite insubstantial compared to that so sulfurous and wild season regarding music.

The Thunder album is beautiful, straightforward, passionate; there's love, coherence, and dedication. As usual, their songs enjoy a compact quality without peaks and fillers. The sound is big, satisfying, exciting, and the lyrics are moving for those who have a long past as attentive and involved listeners: the five of them are righteous, and it's a pleasure that, after a period of separation, they have stably reunited, producing this excellent tenth studio album as their first fruit.