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THUNDER
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Thunder Introduction
THUNDERThunder Ticket Stub

These are the Thunder pages (with Terraplane, The Union, Bowes/Morley and Luke Morley solo items etc thrown in for good measure). Thunder were one of Britain's best, but underrated hard rock bands of the 1990's. Anyone who saw their live shows would testify to their energy and great talent with the ability to give the audience a great night out. After the band split in 2000, apparently due to "market conditions", there was a welcome return a couple of years later and most recent releases have been on the bands SPC label, including the "Magnificent Seventh" and "Bang!" CDs which are highly recommended! Sadly, 2009 saw the band call it a day (supposedly) for good - but not without a couple of "Concert Live" recordings of the final shows.

2010 bought a 5CD live set from EMI and the debut releases from Luke Morley's new band, "The Union". There are some nice special editions and promos from them listed on this site. 2013 bought great news for fans everywhere with the band reforming for some live support slots and festivals. If that was good, even better was the 2014 news that the band was back in the studio to record a new album and playing live dates. The excellent "Wonder Days" album, followed by "All You Can Eat" and 2017's "Rip It Up" were the subsequent result. All of these releases have very nice Japanese editions and promo discs to seek out.

Thunder were very popular in Japan and the Japanese items are nice additions to your collection as they nearly all feature extra tracks and nice OBI strips. There are a wealth of reissues to search for with different catalogue numbers and OBIs. Behind Closed Doors JAP For my money, the highlight of their recorded career still remains the debut album, "Backstreet Symphony" from 1990 - recommended to anyone who likes classic hard rock ("Wonder Days" is the pick of the recent material).

For the collector, singles and promos from this period are very collectable. Before they were Thunder. 3/5 of the band were in "Terraplane" - a good band with a slightly softer, AOR feel. Nuthin' Fancy LabelBefore that, Danny Bowes (Vocals) and Luke Morley (Guitar) had teamed up for what is now the ultimate "Thunder" collectable, "Lookin' For A Good Time" under the name of "Nuthin' Fancy" on the "Dynamic Cat" label (recently advertised on the web for over £300!!).

Many additional Promos (mainly on CD) have followed. There are also a couple of Japanese-only live CD albums which are certainly worth tracking down. For the dedicated collector - look out for promotional stuff from both Luke Morley's solo career and the Bowes/Morley collaborations. Also Harry James (Drums) and Chris Childs (Bass) feature on some releases by "Bad Influence". The "Danny & Ben" CDs are also nice items.

Arguably the most sort after items for fans are the series of "attendee-only" CDs from the annual Christmas shows the band performed in London, Manchester, Wolverhampton and most often, Nottingham Rock City. Note that many shows had 2 CDs issued - one on general release via the Thunder website and the other (rarer one) for ticket holders only. These can go for big money on auction sites. 29 Minutes LaterThe band have also released a couple of limited edition vinyl items for Record Store Day / Black Friday, including the "29 Minutes Later" live mini-album shown on the left.

2016/17 also saw the release of some live vinyl albums - some were signed by the band as limited releases.

2019 bought some more Record Store Day action with the vinyl release of the bonus tracks from the deluxe edition of the "Please Remain Seated" CD - re-workings of earlier Thunder classics. As RSD pressings go, for now, this is relatively easy to find, but that may well change.

2020's "All the Right Noises" bought a wide selection of collectables to find - on various flavours of vinyl and CD.

Also, look out for US items - quite rare as the band never quite made it big in the States. The sleeves are almost all different from the UK issues and there is a mix of "Geffen" and "Capitol" labels. "Townsend Records" are a good UK source of material for most of the standard Thunder items - indeed they run the official band store. I tend to batch items to buy there together so that the relatively high postage costs can be mitigated.

Thanks are due to David Ulke, Robert Peck & Dietmar Weber for some great information and images - cheers guys!

Here's a text link for all items by THUNDER, just in case the drop down menus don't work in your browser.