Backstreet Symphony - Thunder

Advantages: The best of British rock
Disadvantages: Maybe a little cliched

Back in the 1980’s, a wonderful band called Terraplane decided to call it a day, after producing a couple of brilliant albums which no-one bought. Fortunately for rock lovers, three of the band, vocalist Danny Bowes, guitarist and main songwriter Luke Morley and drummer ‘Arry “H” James enjoyed making music and each other’s company far too much to let it end there. So they stayed together, started another band, and called themselves Thunder. In August ...
...afterwards, a bassist (Mark Luckhurst) and a guitarist/keyboard player (Ben Matthews) were added, and the recording of one of British rock music’s greatest ever albums started. In February 1990, Thunder burst onto the scene with their first single “Dirty Love”, which was followed in late April 1990 by their debut album, “Backstreet Symphony”. That this album is not owned by everyone in the country is a crime of such great magnitude that it should ... Read review

Advantages: umm lovely
Disadvantages: they are no more

Thunder was formed in 1989 and consisted of a group of lads from London. They were formally known as Terroplane and although they had released two albums, they had only very limited success. The band started all over in 1989 as Thunder and were enjoying small time success when they was asked to open the Monsters of Rock Festival at Castle Donnington in 1990. What a huge honour this was for a band that had only been together for a year and only had ...
...the first act on stage has a very hard time. Not many people have heard of them and not many people are interested. Thunder burst on the stage and soon many people were asking who they were and that was the turning point for the band. The band back then consisted of Danny Bowes on vocals, Luke Morley on guiter, Harry James (real name Gary!) on drums, Ben Matthews on guiter and keyboard and Snake (real name Mark Lukehurst) on Bass. This bunch of thirty ... Read review

Advantages: Great Album
Disadvantages:

Back street symphony was the debut album for the brit rock band thunder. They went on to produce many fine albums but nothing really come close to this. This albums contains several rock hyms the title track love walked in - shes so fine along with some of the irreverent fun that made thunder an excellent band to see live - an english man on holiday with the immortal lines "laying down in this spanish bar - the last slammer hit me like a car - I've ...
...my own tatoos - I had a fight with a german guy - I saw him give my little girl the eye - while he was trying to act so cool - I hit him with a stool. The band has unfortunatley gone there seperate ways now and will be missed on the smaller venue rock scene in the UK. ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant and British
Disadvantages: None

Thunder were undoubtedly one of the best British Rock bands on the scene during the early nineties, and this first offering from the Thunder camp is excellent. The whole album is brilliant - from the wonderful ballad type tracks like "Love Walked in" and "Don't wait for me" to Gimme Some Lovin and Dirty Love. An Englishman on Holiday is brilliant too - a very true song of what Brits are like on holiday - drinking , fighting and falling over! Very ...
...as they were on vinyl (old style records to you younger peeps!) Danny Bowers has a powerful voice that can easily do justice to ballads or rock-your-socks-off tracks, and the guitar work of Luke Morely, whilst not the best in the world, is certainly deservy of credit. A brilliant band, an excellent album and the best live shows I've seen as far as atmosphere and quality go. They will be sadly missed. ... Read review

Advantages: Awesome vocals
Disadvantages: None

I'm a person that LOVES vocalists with amazingly powerful voices, and Danny Bowes has just that. From the remnants of Terraplane, Thunder came along and blew everyone away. The screamish, deep vocals and the heavy guitar are something that set Thunder apart from other bands. This has to be my favourite album from them because I love every single song on the album, and that really doesn't happen often. Firstly, 'She's So Fine' comes on and it is definately ...
...great guitar opening and then you're hit with the insane vocals. 'Dirty Love' appears after this and has to be my favourite, it has a line-dancing kind of beat to it which would normally put me off, but this just makes it easier to get in to. The ballad of the album has to be, 'Don't Wait For Me' it's a powerful ballad that adds a different tone to the album. 'Backstreet Symphony' is definately a great track, really keeps the high standard of work ... Read review

Advantages: You can see how the band evolved into Thunder
Disadvantages: Moe pop and AOR influenced than Thunder are

...of Terraplane comes with the bluesy rock-pop intro to "Don't Walk Away", which sounds a little like the opening to Thunder's cover of the Faces' "Stay With Me". This track, however, is a far more pop-rock number once it gets going and very reminiscent of some of the material on Thunder's "The Raw, the Raw and the Rest" album or some very early Bon Jovi material, if only in that it feels a little under produced and Danny's vocals are a little buried in the mix. There's a 1980s style AOR opening to "When You're Hot", before it expands into a catchy pop-rock tune, very much in the Thunder style. You can hear how songs like this could easily evolve into "Backstreet Symphony" era Thunder, as this has all the hallmarks of that style, although there is a minor Def Leppard style break part way through and it's more of a pop-rock tune than the rock... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: There's some great tracks
Disadvantages: But they have done better

...” that you’re not about to get a happy number. Well, no surprises here, you don’t. Another slower number, largely based around Luke’s acoustic guitar. It’s about living in a town that’s died, with a family who have pretty much given up on any hopes they had of improving their situation, but the son (?) still has enough fight left to cry for help. This would almost work as a prelude to “Higher Ground”, again from Thunder’s debut album, “Backstreet Symphony”. Coming from a small village such as I do, this song is almost a symbol of where my future could have ended up, if I hadn’t moved to London. “Cosmetic Punk” Another song with a driven beat, which is the heaviest that Thunder have ever done to the best of my recollection, and is a great song. It’s a rant against the privileged child who decides to rebel against her family, become a “punk... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Thunder's sound with a more soulful influence
Disadvantages: Thunder fans may not enjoy the difference

...feel to "Moving Swiftly Along" than to Thunder's work. I suspect that may be why the album was released as Bowes and Morley, as it's quite close in parts to Luke Morley's more blues led solo work, with the main difference being Danny Bowes' far superior vocals. That's not to say that Thunder fans won't enjoy the album, as there are a number of tracks that certainly wouldn't be out of place on some of their most recent albums, and this is the sort of direction Thunder's sound is evolving towards, although it hasn't got quite this far as yet. Fans of Thunder's older music might be a little upset as there's not much you can compare to the songs from "Backstreet Symphony". It's very much an album that showcases the preferences of the men behind the band, rather than being an album by the band. It's not a blues or a soul album; it's a pop... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful