Backstreet Symphony - Thunder

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.
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...to EMI. Not long 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 ... more

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 1989, the newly formed band signed to EMI. Not long 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 carry a sentence of lifelong imprisonment. Sadly, to my knowledge, no-one has ever been charged.

If you ever play this album next to their 1999 release “Giving the Game Away”, a couple of things become immediately apparent. The first is that, in their ten year career, Thunder matured greatly, both as musicians and writers. The second is that, back in 1990, they were clearly in it for the kicks. All they wanted was to have fun. And it shows. Oh, does it ever?

Reading the sleeve of this album only strengthens that belief. The cover has ‘Arry hamming it up as a conductor, complete with white gloves and baton, with an alley as his concert hall, and his orchestra consisting of a drunk, and a lady of the night! The list of thanks includes a mention for “All the pubs in Milton Keynes” as does the message “Great party, how’s the new carpets?” There are even some photos with silly captions, which the notes suggest show the band in their “quieter moments”. Given that one of them is a bare backside sitting on a snooker table with the caption “Pot brown?” I’m glad they didn’t try to put in any of their noisier moments! For the record, I don’t know whose backside it is but, knowing the band, I’d guess it’s ‘Arry!

Apart from their sense of fun and the brilliance of this album, there’s another thing about this album that characterises the band. The swear words. There aren’t any! In fact, over a ten year career, spanning five studio albums, they only ever committed a single swear word to tape. Yes, I’ve heard them swear whilst playing live, but I swore when they announced they were splitting, so I can’t really talk. But that is still a great effort compared to some of today’s bands, such as Limp Bizkit, who not only use the F-word 46 times in a single song, but also boast about it in the lyrics. Not everyone likes swear words in their music, and Thunder are one of very few rock bands around that ever realised this.

Every band has a crowning glory. This is Thunder’s. Put this on, follow the engineer’s recommendation to play it “very, Very, VERY LOUD” and for eleven songs and 50 minutes, you will be transported to the place where great rock bands are born. The album is, to my mind, the best music ever to come out of South London, the best rock music ever to come out of the UK, and the best album to ever come out! I LOVE this album…had you noticed?

“She’s So Fine”

There’s quite a funny story behind my experiences with this song. When I first bought this album, I played it on a personal stereo with one broken earpiece. As a result, for many months I thought this song had a drum intro. When I finally replaced my headphones, I was shocked to discover a guitar intro, which came in before the drum!

If you’re going to release a classic album, you need to start with a classic track. This succeeds, in characteristic Thunder style. That is, pop-rock, at a decent tempo. Once you’ve heard the intro the way it should be played, it’s one you’ll recognise instantly for years to come. The drum work is fairly simple, and Danny’s voice shows some restraint during the verses, cutting loose during the bridge, and nearing a scream at the end of the second chorus. Danny has a very distinctive voice, with a pretty decent range, and it gets a full workout here. As a first introduction to Thunder, this is great!

The song is on a classic Thunder subject, as well. Love at first sight. Well, maybe it’s infatuation, but who cares? You’re standing on a railway platform when the woman of your dreams wanders by. Do you have the nerve to ask her out, or even ask her name? Would she think you’re moving to fast? Will being turned down be worse than never knowing what she might have said?

“And if it takes until forever and a day/I’m gonna make that woman mine/If I don’t tell her then I’ll wish my life away/She’s so fine”

“Dirty Love”

This was where it all began. Not so much happy ever after, as happy right from the word go. You’ll have a very difficult job persuading me that any band’s debut is better than this. Even more impressively, Thunder beat Poison, Motley Crue and Kid Rock to the punch by putting Pamela Anderson and rock music in the same place first, casting her in the video. Sadly, she decided not to fall in love with any of the band during the shoot. According to rumour, ‘Arry was particularly disappointed!

The song starts with the opening line, not the usual Thunder way. But it’s the kind of line that can pack a rock club dancefloor before it’s ended! The guitar comes in at the same time, another catchy riff that plays between vocal pauses. This is one of the best stadium-pop/rock numbers that has ever been written. A rough edge to the guitar, a catchy riff with some nice “fluffy” bits in places, Danny’s voice and a sing-a-long “na, na, na” bit after the chorus that you can’t help but smile along to!

It’s another sad love song, which really shouldn’t sound as joyous as it does. It’s a kind of “cheated upon partner strikes back” song, but does it so well that you don’t mind, really. It’s an old idea that gets a fresh look in Thunder’s eyes. Lyrically it’s perhaps a little naïve, given what follows in later years, but it’s great fun!

“I see you, walking by/You’ve got that faraway look in your eye/It was only yesterday/Like a cheap suit you were all over me”

“Don’t Wait For Me”

With a title like that, it could only be a ballad. And it’s either going to be a “I’m leaving you” type ballad, or a “she’s left me, I’m quite upset” type ballad. And after the raucous, “get out of my life” of “Dirty Love” immediately before it, you can see it coming. Poor chap’s just been dumped and is singing his heart out about it. In true 1980’s style, it gets all overblown and loud towards the end. It’s a little clichéd, for sure, but Danny has the kind of voice that can really pull this off, and can switch between “quiet suffering” and “shout to get it out of your system” in an instant, without sounding like he’s putting any pressure on his voice, in a way only decent singers can. And it’s a subject so many of us can relate to, which is why musicians and lyricists return to it so often. Do they have to keep reminding me?

The song starts off slowly, just Danny’s voice and a single guitar, although an electric one, rather than an acoustic, as they’ve used on other ballads, most notably on their second album “Laughing on Judgement Day”. The rest of the band join in at the end of the first chorus, and the ending goes maybe a little over the top, and maybe on for a little too long, but still sounds great!

“When all I want to do is hold you/And all I seem to do is cry/And the last thing that you said and it’s ringing round my head/Was “don’t wait for me, goodbye”.”

“Higher Ground”

Another one that starts like “Dirty Love”, with the vocals interspersed with the guitar. This one’s at a much slower pace, however. Halfway through the first verse, the pace picks up a little, and the rest of the band join in, and they share vocals on the chorus which, it’s sad to say, has never been the smartest move on Thunder’s part. Fortunately, this song has long verses and a short chorus, so you get much more of Danny on his own!

This is another subject that Thunder have returned to several times during their career. This song is about leaving your home town as you don’t feel like you belong there. He’s trying to persuade his girlfriend to come with him, too. I guess there’s always one thing that you can’t bear to leave behind! On later albums, they do songs about going back for a visit, and wondering what it might have been like if you’d stayed. But I’ve said far too much about them elsewhere, so I won’t now! This is the start of it all.

“So give me one good reason why I should stay/I think I’ve got enough money for the lat night train/There’s a world you’ve never seen/But I’ve been there in my dreams/It’s calling out to me”

“Until My Dying Day”

A wonderful ballad, this one. It starts with Danny’s vocals and an acoustic guitar, and the rest of the band kick in during the chorus, which Danny introduces by holding and heightening the last note of the bridge. Six and a half minutes of pure class, that always sends a shiver down my spine.

The song wonders why a partner stay with you. It’s almost neurotic, asking yourself why someone stays with you, when they’re far too good for you. You don’t know why they stay with you, but you know that you’ll be something less if they leave. The chorus is maybe a little standard, being an admiration of the partner, but the slower, softer verses are where this song really moves you, and really stands out.

“There’s a child within the man, and it’s keeping me keeping on/Yet you always understand/The future can’t be planned, but I’m gonna keep fighting on/While I’ve still got two strong hands”

“Back Street Symphony”

Some of the greatest “twiddly” guitar bits ever to appear on record are at the end of some of the lines in the chorus. This is a great up-tempo number, starting with an electric guitar and building up into Danny’s vocals. The riff is again unmistakeable, you know the song and the band immediately within a few bars.

Believe it or not, this is another “infatuation” type song, like “She’s So Fine” but in a situation like no other ever thought of. A guy, taking a short cut down an alleyway on his way to meet the lads for a night of drunkenness, when he hears a guitar riff in a bar, and stops by to have a look. The player is a stunning woman, but it’s her playing he fell in love with first. This is more “love at first riff”, I guess! He doesn’t want to run away with her, he wants her to stay there playing her guitar forever. I don’t know about in real life, but in the song, he never makes it to the meeting place.

“So I watched the show in a state of trance/Stayed ‘til the end waiting for a chance/To meet with her and make her mine/And keep here there ‘til the end of time”

“Love Walked In”

If you think you’ve heard of Thunder, but can’t think where, this is probably the reason. When all else is gone, this song has ensured Thunder’s legacy. It was a Top 40 hit, but never made it any further than that, but has featured on pretty much every soft rock or rock ballad compilation album released in the last ten years.

For six and a half minutes, the best thing you can do, unless you have this on in the car, is close your eyes and drift away. This was the 1980’s style power ballad at it’s very best. From the inevitable (well, it is for Thunder) acoustic guitar and Danny’s vocal intro, through to the chorus where it becomes a proper power ballad with the rest of the band coming in, to the point towards the end where Danny almost seems to be screaming the words, Thunder have picked up “The Book of Power Ballad Cliches”, and gone through it looking for ways to improve upon every one. And, by the time they’re finished, you’re left with the definitive edition. Thunder spent some time trying to better this themselves, and didn’t get terribly close, so no-one else is ever going to stand a chance!

Yes, it’s another “boy meets girl and falls in love in about five seconds” song. Nothing else matters afterwards, and the lonely life you had before seems a million miles away. Where this really stands out is in the verses, where the writing, combined with Danny’s plaintive voice, almost pleading, seems to make the loneliness seem even more desolate. You could fall in love to this song, and you can fall in love with this song. Should it ever happen to me, and always assuming I marry a rock fan (and quite possibly even if I don’t!), this will be the first dance at the reception. And I’m pretty sure I knew that instantly, way back in 1990.

“So tired of waiting, I walked an empty land/I was looking for something to help me understand/But bad luck kept turning my dreams into sand/I didn’t want pity, I had my share of friends/I wanted somebody more special than the rest/I was aching inside, like I was approaching the end”

“An Englishman on Holiday”

On every album, Thunder have tried to cut loose and include at least one track full of complete silliness, at least lyrically. It’s often on a subject that no-one has really dared approach, and nearly always up-tempo and riotous. This song is where it all began. It’s the theme tune to a million Club 18-30 holidays, it’s what happens when a bunch of mates from football or the pub decide to all go away together. A Balearic island and a week of drinking, fighting, loving, and hangovers. Which are cured by drinking…, you get the idea!

Danny gets a couple of words in before the drums kick in, with a loud insistent beat, much like a hangover, actually, and the guitars with another catchy riff that you’ll know from a mile away. It’s mad, it shouldn’t be as good as it is, but you want to laugh along!

“Laying down in this Spanish bar/That last slammer hit me like a car/I’ve got the 6am Balearic blues/Can’t even focus on my own tattoos/I had a fight with this German guy/I saw him give my little girl the eye/While he was trying hard to be so cool/I hit him with a stool”

Followed by singing football songs, storming the beaches, hangovers and getting arrested. This song sets a dreadful example, but you still have to love it!

“Girl’s Going out of her Head”

This one has another guitar riff behind Danny’s vocals that you’ll know anywhere after a couple of plays. Again this is how the song starts, and the guitars keep it going at a fairly furious pace all the way through. Up-tempo and rocking out! And Danny’s scream at the end of the chorus leading into the guitar solo is way more impressive than anything Mariah Carey ever produced.

This is about a good girl gone bad. A spoilt little rich girl who has everything she needs, and more than she knows what to do with, and has gone a little crazy with it all. Lyrically it doesn’t do anything terribly interesting, except for the description of the girl being addicted to drugs, which is as good an image as been presented anywhere on record, in my opinion.

“She was burning up with that white-line fever/She said “tie me up”, but I couldn’t get near here/She was walking that fine line/Stumbling al over the edge”

“Gimme Some Lovin’”

Yes, the old classic, as performed by the Blues Brothers. When you combine my favourite band with a song from my favourite film, I’m always going to like it. Apparently, when Ray Davies from the Kinks first heard the intro to Wet Wet Wet’s version of “Love is All Around” he thought, “wow, that’s loud!” I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Dan Ackroyd heard this and thought the same thing. It stays fairly true to the original, with Ben and his organ largely taking the place of the horn section, and the guitars being cranked up that little bit louder. It starts with the familiar bass line and the band shouting the “hey”. I’m a firm believer that cover versions shouldn’t be allowed unless they are going to be different from the original, but don’t walk roughshod all over it. This is “Gimme Some Lovin’” with a rock, instead of a soul edge, and with the volume all the way up! Unlike with some cover versions, you can like the original and like the cover.

“Distant Thunder”

Which came first, the band name or the song title? It’s OK, I don’t know either, it was a rhetorical question. This goes back to the electric guitar intro, with the vocals entering before the rest of the band, giving the song quite a laid back, toned down bluesy feel to it that the subject matter doesn’t really deserve. Maybe that’s what makes this so effective.

It’s a lament on the way the world’s going on a downward spiral. I don’t think I can say any more about it than that.

“As we race towards the future/We’re not learning from the past/From the minefields of excess/you can hear the devil laugh”

Quite simply put, this is a great album. Yes, it’s steeped in 1980’s soft rock clichés, lyrically and musically. Even Danny’s hair in 1990 had a bit of Jon Bon Jovi about it! But Thunder have taken the clichés and made them their own. You’ve heard it all before, except you haven’t. The guitar work is bluesy and familiar, with a nod towards AC/DC perhaps, but only a nod. The lyrics are about love gone right, love gone wrong, love starting and love ending, a little like Bon Jovi, but with a unique twist that I’m sure Jon would have loved to have managed. But the band’s sense of fun is ever present, their joy of making music evident. I don’t think they intended to make millions from this album, and it is rough justice that they didn’t achieve that. But in British rock circles, Thunder will always be remembered with affection and if you ask any fan what their favourite Thunder song is, it will almost certainly be one of the eleven listed above.

If you ever wanted to listen to Thunder, this is the album to buy. If you ever wanted to hear the best of British rock music, this is the album to buy.  

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