Thunder è stato un gruppo londinese di blues-rock classico settantiano, profondamente ispirato dalla cordata Cream/Led Zeppelin/Free/Bad Company/Whitesnake che ha marchiato a fuoco la stagione più feconda del British Blues, dalla quale questo quintetto ha inteso pescare senza remore stilemi e soluzioni musicali, senza preoccuparsi troppo di essere originale preferendo piuttosto curare compattezza, energia, freschezza, entusiasmo, equilibrio, grinta, potenza, divertimento e feeling.
Non hanno in altre parole inventato niente, ma hanno messo insieme (a mio gusto) grandi ed esemplari dischi e rivelato cospicue doti personali in materia di prestazione vocale (a merito del frontman Danny Bowes), di lucidità ed efficienza compositiva (ad onore del chitarrista Luke Morley), di tonitruanza strumentale unita a simpatia e comunicativa (appannaggio del batterista/umorista Gary James, effigiato in copertina travestito da direttore d'orchestra) e per ultimo pure un sensazionale rendimento negli show dal vivo, spumeggianti e trascinanti.
Il tutto senza tirarsela minimamente, badando al sodo, alla musica e dandoci dentro di brutto con dischi e concerti per venti lunghi, generosi anni, prima di gettare la spugna nel 2009 e disperdersi in altri progetti (salvo ripensarci... le ultime notizie danno per già fissato un nuovo tour di concerti per questa estate).
Il disco in questione rappresenta il loro esordio, datato 1989, sulla scena rock al tempo intasata di AOR e di class metal, i cui eccessivi e tamarri parrucconi ossigenati e i sempre più inespressivi assoli di chitarra a mitraglia fornivano ragioni sempre più plausibili ai detrattori. Al contempo la scena grunge, destinata a soppiantare fuseaux e pose da stallone di lì a qualche anno, scorreva ancora nell'ignoto underground.
I Thunder allora se ne uscirono con questo bel platter di hard rock tradizionale, schietto e diretto, strasentito ma brillante e contagioso: l'Inghilterra sembrava al tempo non aspettare altro, ci si buttò a pesce e "Back Street Symphony" finì per smerciare più di due milioni di copie tra patria e resto del mondo, rimanendo il più grande successo in carriera.
La mia opinione è che i dischi che lo hanno seguito siano ancora migliori: qui la personalità del gruppo (come già detto non certo debordante di suo, stante la tendenza derivativa) si sta ancora formando, un certo tipo di suono Thunder (che vi sarà eccome, anche se probabilmente bisogna essere degli appassionati del genere per "isolarlo") deve ancora focalizzarsi, la produzione migliorare. Resta il fatto che questo è di gran lunga l'album più conosciuto del quintetto, come molto spesso accade alle opere prime.
I brani più affermati, assurti a classici per i fans della formazione e quasi sempre riproposti dal vivo, sono in ordine di apparizione "Dirty Love", poi la title-track e soprattutto "Love Walked in", tutti rocckaccioni senza fronzoli, per i primi due dei quali il compositore unico Morley si fa aiutare dal produttore del disco Andy Taylor... proprio lui, il chitarrista dei Duran Duran, un rocchettaro lungamente prestato alla scena fighetta new-romantic ma che appena ha potuto si è mosso, con molta meno celebrità ma più intima soddisfazione, nell'ambito dell'hard rock classico.
Ultra conservatrice pure la scelta dell'unica cover dell'album: la classicissima "Gimme Some Lovin'" di Steve Winwood e compagni dello Spencer Davis Group. Danny Bowes, col suo stupendo timbro a là Paul Rodgers, la reinterpreta da par suo, la sezione ritmica la appesantisce adeguandola al genere ed agli intenti della formazione, Morley e l'altro chitarrista Ben Matthews (anche organista) picchiano sicuri su Gibson e Hammond.
Per chi ha, dopo attenta osservazione oppure istintivamente, espresso il suo "No grazie, non fumo" a parecchi o forse tutti gli sviluppi della scena musicale fra anni novanta e duemila (grunge, indie, post-rock, rap, industrial, techno, nu-metal, alternative, brit-pop...) immergersi nell'onesto e vigoroso rock classico bluesato dei Thunder dovrebbe essere un toccasana.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
03 An Englishman on Holiday (05:12)
Laying down in this Spanish bar, that last slammer hit me like a car
I've got the 6 a.m. 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
Oh yes, alright, I'll be going all night
Gonna drink 'til they take me away, I'm an Englishman on holiday
Every year I get to do the same, I meet the boys and get on the plane
We like to sing and shout out "here we go"
'Cos they're the only words that we all know
We've got the loudest shirts you've ever seen
We're gonna take the beaches like a team
We've got so much duty free to drink, enough to float a ship
Oh yeah alright, I'll be going all night
So light the paper, get out of the way, I'm an Englishman on holiday
We never look for trouble at the start, but it always comes our way
We've got our pride and we just can't walk away
(Solo)
This morning I woke up inside a cell
They dragged me screaming out of my hotel
I don't remember what it was I did
But I've got this drummer banging in my head
I've got to get out 'fore I miss the plane, next summer I'll be back again
I'll be fighting for the Union Jack, if they let me back
Oh yes, alright, I'll be going all night
Gonna drink 'til they take me away, I'm an Englishman on holiday...
04 Until My Dying Day (07:06)
I can see the fading sun, sinking at the edge of town
And it's one more day that's gone
I'm thinking 'bout the past, and the time that slipped away
But I can't change what I've done
Chasing after foolish dreams, I should've let go but I just can't seem to stop
I don't deserve your loving baby, I don't know why you stay
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
Maybe I'll change someday, maybe I'll chase those dreams away
I need you by my side now baby, 'cos you're the price that I won't pay
Girl you're the only one to light a fire inside me
You're the only woman that can make me feel this way
I want to stay with you forever, I'll never let you go until my dying day
(Solo)
Chasing after foolish dreams, I should've let go but I just can't seem to stop
I don't deserve your loving baby, and I don't know why you stay
Hey baby you're the only one to light a fire inside me
You're the only woman that can make me feel this way
I want to stay with you forever, I'll never let you go until my dying day
Until my dying day
I don't deserve your loving baby, I don't know why you stay
I need you by my side now baby, 'cos you're the price that I won't pay
I don't deserve your loving baby, I don't know why you stay
I need you by my side now baby, I don't know, I don't know
07 She's So Fine (06:33)
It was early in the evening, I was waiting for a train
I was thinking to myself as I watched the pouring rain
I need love, but I don't know where to get it
Then underneath this big umbrella she walked in the waiting room
I just had to tell her though it might have been too soon
I need love and I think I might have found it
She was some kind of priestess with a black dress on
With her film star kind of features, she really turned me on
And if it takes until forever and a day, I've gotta make that woman mine
If I don't tell her then I'll wish my life away, she's so fine, she's so fine
I said don't misunderstand me, I didn't mean to make you blush
But when I got this feeling, I knew I had to rush
I need love, and you know I want to give it
I've been waiting for a lifetime for a woman like you
I know I'm walking on a fine line, but I've got to see it through
If I should pass away tonight while I'm asleep
At least I'll know I spoke my mind
I'm being driven by some other force that won't be denied, she's so fine
(Solo)
She's so fine
I've been waiting for a lifetime for a woman like you
I know I'm walking on a fine line, but I've got to see it through, through
She's so fine, she's so fine, she's so fine
Ooh, I took one look at you baby, babe it feels so good inside
She's so fine, makes me feel good...
08 Backstreet Symphony (04:43)
I was running late for a night downtown
Me and the boys gonna tie one down
So I took a short cut through an alleyway
And this sound just took my breath away
There she stood with just one guitar
Looking much too good to be in this bar
I tried to leave but my feet were lead
And the song she played just filled my head
'Cos when she sang out that melody, I heard a sound like a backstreet symphony
My senses sung my head was spun, as I walked through the door
I gotta hear some more
So I watched the show in a state of trance
Staying 'til the end waiting for a chance
To meet with her and make her mine
And keep her there 'til the end of time
When she unfolded that melody, I heard a sound like a backstreet symphony
My destiny had guided me through the bar room door
I got to hear some more, I wanna hear some more
(Solo)
'Cos when she sang out that melody, I heard a sound like a backstreet symphony
My destiny had guided me through the bar room door, through the door
I gotta hear some more, I got to got to got to got to hear some more
Backstreet love...
09 Higher Ground (05:37)
I feel the wind blow on the corner
And I'm looking down along this dead end street
All the people are getting older
But they don't give a damn their lives are incomplete
It don't look no better than it did before
And I know what's happening behind each door
If I don't get out today, I'm gonna waste my life away
And that's a part that I can't play
Chorus:
I don't wanna spend my whole life in this town, I can feel it driving me away
Baby you and me were meant for higher ground, we've got to steal away
As a young boy I didn't fit in, and I knew it then I wouldn't be the same
But that was only in the beginning
And as the time rolled on deeper grew the pain
So give me one good reason why I should stay
I think I've got enough money for the late night train
There's a world you've never seen, but I've been there in my dreams
It's calling out to me
chorus
(Solo)
If I don't get out today, I'm gonna waste my life away
I'm gonna waste my life away, and that's a part that I can't play
chorus repeats 2x
You and me baby, we've got to steal away, turn it on, turn it on
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 Don't Wait for Me (07:26)
Now I look out my window
To the street so far below
And I pray I'll see you approaching
Don't know why you had to go
It's been so long but I feel no better
I've gotta say I'm still so alone
Will I ever get used to this feeling
And the nights so long and cold
When all I want to do is hold you
But all I see to do is cry
And all you had to say the day you walked away
Was Don't wait for me, goodbye
All my friends they smile when they see me
I guess they know what I'm going through
They don't mention your name to protect me
Now what am I supposed to do?
When all I want to do is hold you
But all I see 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
How can I replace you?
How am I gonna get through every night?
All the time I wasted
All the pain I tasted for you
I'm losing my mind.....
(Solo)
All I want to do is hold you
But all I see to do is cry
And all you had to say the day you walked away
Was Don't wait for me, goodbye
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