My recent review of ‘Never Surrender’ proved slightly scathing, no such luck with Triumph’s seventh release, the obviously titled ‘Thunder Seven’.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Triumph
ALBUM: Thunder Seven
LABEL: MCA
SERIAL: MCA-5537
YEAR: 1984
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Rik Emmett – vocals, guitars * Gil Moore – vocals, drums * Mike Levine – bass, keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Spellbound * 02 Rock Out, Roll On * 03 Cool Down * 04 Time Goes By * 05 Time Canon * 06 Killing Time * 07 Midsummers Daydream * 08 Little Boy Blues * 09 Stranger In A Strange Land * 10 Follow Your Heart
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
My recent review of ‘Never Surrender’ proved slightly scathing, no such luck with Triumph’s seventh release, the obviously titled ‘Thunder Seven’. The term ‘thunder’ is quite appropriate in this case, as this album is a return to form, some blistering rockers which is what we expect from this (err hmm) thunderous three-piece. for this 1984 effort, a couple of things are apparent.
The production is much better, spacious, good use of synths to add layers and drama, the vocals sound a lot more cohesive, plus the songs are consistently good across the record. It was a pleasure re-acquainting myself with this LP again. Released in November 1984 and produced by Eddie Kramer, the album would eventually go gold years later.
The Songs
‘Spellbound’ is one of Triumph’s signature tunes, and can be found on their 1985 live album along with many others. ‘Rock Out Roll On’ has a neat riff and an increased use of synths. I really liked ‘Cool Down’, which fuses some delta blues with a big brash 70’s flavouring of Led Zeppelin. Aah very cool!
‘Time Goes By’ is another of those brilliant mini-epic’s, you can’t help but compare this to ‘Fight The Good Fight’, this one is like the baby brother thereof. The mini prelude ‘Time Canon’ reminds me of an Alan Parsons Project ditty, the vocal acapella heading into outer space.
It shifts directly into the quite beautiful ‘Killing Time’, where Emmett and Moore share vocal duties, the song migrating from acoustic origins to an all out electric affair by songs end. For me this is a Triumph classic. ‘Little Boy Blues’ – an instrumental, used to be one of my guitar practice songs back in the day, a fantastic track in the vein of Neal Schon‘s solo material.
‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ combines all of Triumph’s musical attributes in the space of five minutes: blues orientation, epic styled arrangement, Led Zep influences, and a heavy-handed sound. ‘Follow Your Heart’ was the obvious single off the album, quite commercial.. check out the video below.
In Summary
‘Thunder Seven’ ranks in my top 5 Triumph albums of all time, and though not as successful as their other albums up until then, sonically this had a great production, all thanks to Eddie Kramer no doubt. If you’ve ignored this album in the past, get re-acquainted with it once more.
Video
Follow Your Heart
Spellbound
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
