Turn That Noise Down - Thunder

So many well-known albums turn 30 this year and Steve Taylor-Bryant and Susan Omand travel back to 1992 to revisit some of the sounds of their youth that made parents shout "Turn that noise down!" This week, Steve is Laughing on Judgement Day ...

In 1990 British rock group Thunder burst onto the scene from the remnants of Terraplane with the album Backstreet Symphony which was a very solid rock record with competent musicianship and a bluesy swagger to singer Danny Bowes. I bought that album and loved it, saw Thunder play live about 5 times between the records release and the end of 1991 and, whilst I thought Thunder were great, I worried they’d be a one album wonder. Around that time not many British rock bands were breaking out, grunge had changed the musical landscape, and second album syndrome is a very real thing. Topping a solid debut is so difficult, you have to be exactly the same but very different and please new people and old fans alike, all whilst staying relevant in changing times without changing at all. In all honesty, if I was in Thunder’s shoes, I’d have just retired on my royalties and not risked damaging my reputation. Luckily I’m not Thunder though because Laughing on Judgement Day is not just a good follow up, it is significantly better than its predecessor, in that across 14 tracks there is not one weak tune.

The Thunder sound is still very prominent and, with Bowes' distinctive vocals, even slightly new styled songs have that Thunder stamp. It’s that familiarity that’s so comfortable, it allows very late 80’s and early 90’s sounding radio rock to stand out from the crowd. It adds a deeper resonance to the ballads, makes them soulful and sincere rather than corporate grabs for airtime. There is a slightly raunchier and harder edge to some songs but, in the main, it’s very much "if you like Thunder then you’ll love Laughing on Judgement Day, if you don’t it’s probably a bit safe for you." There’s absolutely nothing wrong with safe sometimes though and, whilst I’ve not listened to the album for probably 25 years before today, I still smiled when it started and wanted to listen again when it was done. Album highlights include The Moment of Truth and Today the World Stopped Turning, alongside Better Man and the title track but I’ll leave you with my all-time favourite Thunder track and that is this one…

Image - Amazon