Rare The Raw And The Rest, The - Thunder

...put out a collection of rare material. It’s not a greatest hits, as there aren’t often any hits on there. Although some of the material may have already appeared in other countries, or hidden away on the B-Sides of singles, the album-focussed UK public will probably not own them.

Both Anthrax (“Attack of the Killer B’s”) and Def Leppard (“Retroactive”) used this idea in 1994. Giving new insights into the bands concerned and, in Def ...
...hoping there will be more rare and raw to follow. It's quite a heavy track by Thunder's standards; definitely more towards the more rock end of the pop-rock spectrum, with a heavy blues feel to it and Danny stretching his vocals to the limit. The backing vocals sound a little better this time around, too!

Things get a lot rawer and a lot rarer with the next track, a cover of the Faces classic "Stay With Me". Featuring Andy ... more

Let’s face it, most Greatest Hits and other compilation albums are a bit of a rip off for those who are already a fan of the band in question. Sure, they may prove a useful way to easily recommend a band to a friend, and may even increase a band’s exposure to new converts, but if that is the sole aim, no extra tracks are required.

A lot of the time, even the albums which don’t have all these extra tracks have a career retrospective of the band, written from a point of view the fan may not have heard of before. These days, even albums which are re-released on CD have extra tracks to encourage the existing fan to part with more of their hard earned cash. Generally, too, the most dedicated among us all fall for it. Despite what record companies may claim, this is their aim. They rely on us to keep sales up.

Sometimes, though, a band will put out a collection of rare material. It’s not a greatest hits, as there aren’t often any hits on there. Although some of the material may have already appeared in other countries, or hidden away on the B-Sides of singles, the album-focussed UK public will probably not own them.

Both Anthrax (“Attack of the Killer B’s”) and Def Leppard (“Retroactive”) used this idea in 1994. Giving new insights into the bands concerned and, in Def Leppard’s case, providing fans with a better album than some previous studio efforts, this was truly music for the fans. And then, in 1999, came Thunder’s “The Rare, The Raw and the Rest”. Beating both albums mentioned before out of sight, it's a great example of Thunder's work, and a fine pop-rock album with a distinctive blues influence. And with eleven tracks that had never been available on an album up to that point and six of those not available anywhere else at the time of release, although most have since become available, this is value for the fan as well as the casual listener.

Disappointingly, the album opens with "Girl's Going Out of Her Head". Whilst not a bad song, it's neither rare, having appeared on their 1990 debut album "Backstreet Symphony", nor raw being the studio version. So it's one of the rest. It's still a fairly decent pop-rock tune, and does have a decent guitar riff running through it, but it was one of the weaker tracks on Thunder's debut and it's one of the weaker tracks here as well.

Things get a little more exclusive with "Another Shot of Love (Live)". Only available on a limited special edition of the band's debut album, it gets a well deserved airing here. The crowd reaction to an immediately recognisable intro suggests it was a favourite in 1990, and will be a favourite for years to come. Danny has such a good voice that he sounds much the same live as he does in the studio, and this harks back to the best days of Thunder when they were producing sublime rock-op tunes with a slightly bluesy undertone. This track would have fitted in perfectly on any of their albums. As with a lot of early Thunder material, though, the backing vocals suggest that Danny is the best singer in the band by a LONG way.

Another freely available album track, this time from "Laughing on Judgement Day" follows, leaving the fan hoping there will be more rare and raw to follow. It's quite a heavy track by Thunder's standards; definitely more towards the more rock end of the pop-rock spectrum, with a heavy blues feel to it and Danny stretching his vocals to the limit. The backing vocals sound a little better this time around, too!

Things get a lot rawer and a lot rarer with the next track, a cover of the Faces classic "Stay With Me". Featuring Andy Taylor, formerly of Duran Duran who was producing the band at the time, this is a blues-rock infusion which was, apparently recorded after a heavy night's drinking. You suspect The Faces would approve. It does take on the feel of a bit of a loose jam at points, but it's generally pretty true to the original, and it sounds like all the musicians are having a lot of fun. Danny even manages to sound a bit like Rod Stewart at points, which is no mean feat considering Danny's a much better singer.

"She's Like Ice" certainly has a raw feel to it and, being previously unreleased, it's one of the rarer tracks on display. What it also has is a catchy bassy riff running through it, turning what could be a standard mid-tempo pop-rock track into something with a bluesy funky edge you want to groove along to. This is another track that would have been a welcome addition to any of Thunder's albums, and would have improved on most of the "Behind Closed Doors" album, which it was originally written for. It was about then that the band were getting the hang of tuneful backing vocals, a talent they use to good effect here.

The tempo increases for "Bigger Than Both of Us", not just from the previous song, but from pretty much anything else Thunder have done before. Apart from this, there's not a great deal to be said - the words seem to stumble into each other and rather than being the raw suggested by the album title, the whole track feels unfinished, with little cohesion behind it. This is the first of the new (to me, anyway) tracks that you can understand why it hasn't been used elsewhere.

"The Fire is Gone" adds a lot of blues to proceedings, with a guitar riff that sounds almost exactly like Free's "Mr. Big" over the verses, although the chorus struggles free (sorry!) from these confines and sounds a little more pop-rock and a little more like Thunder's usual sound. It's another track that should have gone on "Behind Closed Doors" as it would have improved the album, although the bluesy feel would have allowed it to slip into "Laughing on Judgement Day" a little better.

Thunder have always been a band who have had a lot of fun with their music. The live acoustic version of "Stand Up" indicates this as well as anything they've ever done. The track was a highlight of "Behind Closed Doors" as it was a fun track at a time when the band's mood had seemingly turned a little darker. It's played at a higher tempo than the album version, and almost has a kind of "skiffle" feel to it, which sounds silly but works quite well. It's not often you hear the shout for a harmonica solo in a rock track, but you do here. Sometimes the words don't quite seem to fit the tempo, but the whole point of the track is fun, and it has that in abundance.

It's back to that Thunder standard pop-rock with a bluesy edge for "She's My Inspiration". Danny stretches his vocals all the way up to the top end of his range and you get a track which, like many on the album, could have settled in happily amongst any other Thunder songs.

"Move On" is the third track here that was recorded for "Behind Closed Doors", but didn't make it onto the album. It's a bit depressing for the fan, as you realise how good an album that could potentially have been listening to them, when what was actually released was a little lacking by Thunder's standards. There's a heavy blues influence appearing again and Danny's dirty laugh in the intro, almost sounding like Scooby Doo at one point, leads you into a lively up-tempo blues-rock tune.

It's another cover version and another live track. I'm not a great fan of The Who, so "5:15" was a new track to me, although it reminds me of the Little Angels, who were themselves greatly influenced by The Who. It's perhaps a bit more up-tempo than Thunder's usual material, and the inclusion of a horn section isn't something they commonly use, but it's a superb rock-pop track that's almost enough to get me hunting out The Who's material to see what else they might have produced.

From here on, the album descends totally into "rare" category, with none of the final five tracks having been released anywhere previously. The first of these, "Future Train" was originally a track from the "Laughing on Judgement Day" album, but this is a completely different version. The intro sounds more like Aerosmith's "Living on the Edge" than a Thunder track and some of the backing vocals throughout the song keep this feeling going, but this is essentially a blues-rock track, which would do either Thunder or Aerosmith proud, although it's perhaps a little lower tempo than a lot of Aerosmith's material.

"Can't Get By On Love" is a mid-tempo pop-rock track which would again fit in anywhere alongside Thunder's back catalogue. There's less of a blues feel here, but the guitar riff does pick up a slightly bluesy edge in parts. Danny's vocal runs up and down his whole range, although the band's backing vocals do let him down a little, but this has often been true of Thunder's older work. This could quite easily become a favourite track from the whole of the band's career, not just from this album.

"Hand in a Glove" is a faster track, although still in Thunder's pop-rock vein. The vocals seem to be a little drowned out by the guitar at points, giving the track a raw feel, as suggested by the album title. Although it passes by nicely enough, this isn't one of the bands' better efforts.

One of the band's better efforts follows, however. There haven't been too many slower tracks on this album, but when you get down to one, it's a superb effort. It has the acoustic intro favoured by Thunder, before turning into a typical power ballad when the first chorus kicks in. The chorus is one of their best, nearly on a par with "Numb" (from 1999's Giving the Game Away") and this is very close to being the best ballad Thunder have produced, and would be if "Love Walked In" wasn't such a wonderful song. This is probably as close as they've come to matching that track.

"Now you've seen the worst I can do, I don't wanna keep hurting you/Can you find it in yourself to forgive me/Now you know what I am, do you think you can stand it/Cause I know that it's true/I've got history in the making with you"

The album closes out with "Between the Covers", which has a filthy lyric that even Whitesnake might have been proud of. It's a mid-tempo pop-rock track, with a funky guitar riff running through it, which almost drags you out of your chair to dance. After the seeming maturity of the previous lyric, though, the lyrics here do seem to leave a lot to be desired.

I wouldn't normally consider sleeve notes worthy of a mention, but with this album they're special. The album has been put together by guitarist Luke Morley, and he has added comments to all the songs, giving insight into some of the tracks and some little known snippets of information about the band. While this will mean little to a newcomer, for someone who is already a fan of Thunder, they turn the album from "really should own" to "essential" and, for me, this instantly became a firm favourite.

Overall, this is an album any Thunder fan should have in their collection. For the non-fan, it's not the best way to get into the band. Anyone with a liking for good guitar led pop-rock should certainly consider adding this to their collection and won't regret it for a second, but the purchase of "Their Finest Hour (and a Bit)" and/or "Backstreet Symphony" should come first.

For anyone, much less one of this quality, a CD of 16 tracks and a 70 minute playing time is great value by anyone’s standards. Even more so when you can pick it up for as little as £7.45 at musica.co.uk, or as part of play247.com's 2 for £11.99 deal. It's cheapest to buy at £6.99 at townsend-records.co.uk, but the addition of £2 postage to this price suggests you should look elsewhere. Given the age of the album, this may appear in high street stores' sales, and I would recommend grabbing it, sitting back, and enjoying, especially as it would be the perfect CD for playing in the car as you drive home afterwards. 

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