Thunder
Backstreet Symphony
30.4.1990
Parlaphone / EMI

The essence of Seventies hard rock, honed to perfection

1. She's So Fine
2. Dirty Love
3. Don't Wait For Me
4. Higher Ground
5. Until My Dying Day
6. Backstreet Symphony
7. Love Walked In
8. An Englishman On Holiday
9. Girl's Going Out Of Her Head
10. Gimme Some Lovin'
11. Distant Thunder (bonus track on CD and cassette)

That there are still people out there who haven’t heard of Thunder saddens me, but says quite a lot about the support British Rock actually gets and has got over the years. This is classic rock music of a quality that few bands are able to produce consistently. Formed in 1989 and splitting up for the second and final time this year it’s sadly too late now to catch them again.

I first saw Thunder supporting Aerosmith on the Pump Tour of the UK and to be honest I would have paid my money just for the support band. To hear a band for the first time and find yourself speechless is something that has rarely happened to me, normally I hear the CD and can’t wait to catch the band or I’ve heard a few tracks and become interested enough to venture out to see the band, but to actually catch a band you’ve never heard a note from and get a show like that!

‘Backstreet Symphony’ is an album for all those that love classic 70s rock and great music in general. That Thunder would debut with an album of this sheer quality was also a bit of a surprise as I’d heard Terraplane that band from which Luke Morley (guitarist and chief songwriter) and Danny Bowes (vocals) came from and believe me they were nothing special. Andy Taylor (Duran Duran) actually does a great production job on this too.

Listening to the album today it stands up excellently. This sort of music really is timeless. You can hear the Bad Company, the Free, the Zeppelin, and Humble Pie influences clearly but this isn’t a rip-off it’s an interpretation of those classic sounds. It’s hard to pick lowlights as every track deserves its place for one reason or another; but if you look at the singles you see the real cream. The fact that so many of the songs here were part of the live set during their farewell tour this year shows what a great album this was.

‘Dirty Love’ for me is the peak a down and dirty rocker with a great riff that was made to get the crowd singing. By the time Thunder played Donington in 1990 everyone loved them. I had never seen a band go down so well in an opening slot and that day more were packed in the crowd for Thunder than the three bands that followed them! They looked like they would take on the world and actually break the States then came Mr. Cobain with all his angst, his wardrobe of flannel shirts and that riff that ripped off ‘More Than a Feeling’ by Boston. And that effectively was it. Not many bands were done over by grunge as effectively as Thunder who overnight became an anachronism. Their great live following of course kept them a going concern and they continued to produce quality albums but world domination was off the menu.

‘Backstreet Symphony’ shows a remarkable maturity for a first album and I suppose that can be put down to a great partnership between Bowes and Morley and years of practice. Like most first albums this was the culmination of the best of the early days which is always why so many second albums fall over by comparison.
Songs like ‘Higher Ground’ ‘Love Walked In’ and ‘Don’t Wait for Me’ were showcases for Danny’s considerable vocal talents and tour-de-forces for the band to show just how tight they were. The twin guitar sound suited the music beautifully and many of the songs display a beautiful warm tone while Harry on drums and Snake on bass were as solid as solid can be at the back.
There was also the English humor too and whilst it was by no means the best track on the album the lyrics to ‘Englishman on Holiday’s’ raise a laugh. But it’s the sheer class of tracks like “She’s So Fine’ and the epic ‘In My Dying Day’ that round out a thoroughly great debut. Perhaps one of the best blues-based rock debuts of all time. I’d certainly mention it in the same breath as Montrose’ debut and Bad Company’s first.
Play the first few songs you’ll love it

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