Unfortunately, the grunge era was also traces on Thunder. Do not worry, not that the band would be really bent, but "Behind Closed Doors" is already clearly influenced by the then Zeigeist. Much Quiet and Gloomy (which had already indicated with the ingenious "Empty City" from its predecessor), and lyrically it showed significantly more serious than before. Most clearly the era but is exemplified by the production, the drums sound not to steamroller, but emphasized acoustically, the guitars less distorted and brachial played less - Bon Jovi, it had led the way with "Keep the Faith" a few years earlier, and Thunder gladly followed, away from the Hard Rock to Normalo Rock Sound.
That would, in principle, no reason for concern (the fifth album 'Giving The Game Away "was again much calmer and melancholy - and still better), but unfortunately it hooked this time also occasionally a bit on songwriting. Clear, highlights such as the funky "Fly on the Wall" with hammer chorus, the soul ballad "I'll Be Waiting", the very reminiscent of Bon Jovi to "KTF" times "River of Pain" and the classic power ballad "Castles in the Sand" are class, but a few songs like "Preaching From A Chair" or "Too Scared To Live" simply do not come into the aisles, quite well from the relatively thin sound favored. And "Stand Up" is only in his acoustic skiffle version really great, not least because some unnecessary Bridge section was cut out here freezing. A really lousy song can Luke Morley although probably not write Fremdschämen is not popular here, but Thunder ratios much means Stately is represented here.
That there still are four stars, especially the excellent bonus disc is thanks to them because there is a great mix of demos, live and acoustic tracks and exclusive tracks that topped the original album some with links.
