After 'Behind Closed Doors' had come full circle and the band had taken much-needed rest as well as working on other projects, work began on their fourth, as of yet, untitled album. This time around Luke Morley and Harry James were the sole songwriters while Danny Bowes set up the band's own label B Lucky. Bassist Mikael Höglund took a break as he was about to become a father and wasn't involved at all. Not long into the sessions he parted ways with Thunder wanting to focus on parenthood. Instead of bringing in a new four-stringer immediately Luke Morley took on that duty in the studio. Chris Childs would become the new bass player though once tour dates were lined up. This album, which would be titled 'The Thrill Of It All', was also the end of the road with EMI, hence Danny creating B Lucky. They got help to release it from Victor in Japan and Castle Communications in Europe having signed licensing deals.
It all starts with 'Pilot Of My Dreams' which is rocking love song if there ever was one. Well love song in the sense of being single and seeing beautiful women everywhere. A nice thumping bass guitar leads the song into heavy rock territory. 'Living For Today' follows with Luke singing at first. It gradually builds up as the band delivers as Danny is singing about living in the now. Don't wait because you only have one life. 'Love Worth Dying For' is a laidback love song and it stays true to the title. We should once in our lives feel what it is like to have love worth dying for. 'Don't Wait Up' tells the story about how accusations of infidelity actually leads to it, even though the accused was innocent. But the constant slander brings it on. It's kind of funky at first and sticks to that in the verses while the chorus rocks it up. 'Something About You' is slow-paced and emotional highlighted by the vocal harmonies. It does erupt in brief spurts which also helps the feelings coursing through the song. Sometimes life makes necessary decisions for you even though you might not approve at first. In 'Welcome To The Party' Thunder throws down the shackles turning this into a kick-ass rocker. However, looking closer at the lyrics the song is rather political in the sense that especially election times countless promises are made but few, if any, are kept.
The title track, 'The Thrill Of It All', is keeping it slow to mid-tempo and even partially acoustic moving back and forth between them. A relationship song where you have to face the facts and realize you and your partner have come to the end of the road. 'Hotter Than The Sun' is bluesy throughout whether is more upbeat or slower. Lyrically it goes hand in hand with 'Pilot Of My Dreams'. In a way the ballad 'This Forgotten Town' is the follow-up to 'Welcome To The Party' in the sense that brings up the aftermath of broken and ignored political promises. 'Cosmetic Punk' comes flying out of the starting blocks and is one of the fastest songs Thunder ever wrote. Deals about people trying to be someone they're not. 'You Can't Live Your Life In A Day' tells that you need to learn how to be patient and be able to handle disappointments in your life, if not you'll always be down. Musically the song goes through the motions with soft emotional and soulful singing and rocking chorus.
Thunder did really well being out on their own for the first time. Danny Bowes stepped up to sort of manage the band while Luke Morley and Harry James took care of the music. Ben Matthews began to take serious inroads to producing and engineering music. Keeping this in mind it makes the album even better and moved Thunder forward elegantly.
-Swedebeast
Comments