Thunder and Consolation

[Knievel]

I keep reading, and not just in the Dog Wolf thread, '...best album since 'Thunder...'' and I don't know why...for me each album since Thunder has been better than the last one - why do you all like Thunder so much more than Eight or Hopeless or any of 'em?
My fave -I've not heard Dog yet, is Today is a Good Day - Am I missing something?  I mean, sure Thunder was great back in '66 or whenever it was but when I play it these days it doesn't hit me like the records from the last ten years do...why is Thunder still so great - tell me people...

[Brian-DC]

For me, it was my introduction to the band.  That's the big one.

I was heavily into metal at the time and this album completely opened my eyes to a world of great music that I'd never given a chance to before. 

The other reason it's held in such high regard is because it's a timeless classic.  I still think it's one of the best albums of all time, as do many of us here.

It's both accessible and deep at the same time.... something someone can hear once or twice and enjoy it but if they listen to it more, it becomes even better and the true beauty and the craft of masterful songwriting reveals itself.

And it hits me the same today as it did when I first became obsessed with the band. 

Timeless.  Classic.

[Johnz]

Pretty much what Brian said. It elevated the band to a new level and introduced them to a whole new audience. It's easy to forget that it wasn't all that popular with many of the following when it came out. Seen as too commercial and folky. Just goes to show. Ed's support slots on the tour weren't always well received either.

I was blown away by it from the first moment I heard it. Everything just came together on that album; the songs, the sound, the lyrics, the artwork and the artistic growth. BDAW reminds of that.

[lfran]

I would agree with Knievel. Thunder was the first NMA album that didn't hit me on first listen, it took a bit of time to grow on me. I eventually came to love it, but with the passage of time it's probably the NMA album I listen too least. 225, Vagabonds and I Love The World still blow me away live, but even Green and Grey doesn't move me as it once did. Never get bored of listening to Carnival, though. If I have to pick a favourite, that would be it.

[DannySan]

I have a similar story to a couple of the posters on here. I was discovering NMA through friends and going to the clubs in Manchester The Banshee and funnily enough The Ritz on a Monday nights and liked the songs I heard them play in these clubs mainly it was 51st State, Smalltown England & Vengence. A friend had leant me the albums Vengence and No Rest For The Wicked and as time went by owndership gradually transferred to me and they became mine

Thunder & Consolation was the first album that came out when I was already a fan as oppossed to being a fan and working my way through the back catalogue. So I was excited and anticipated it's release. I bought the vinyl from a record shop in Manchester called Eastern Bloc, which used to be in Afflecks Palace, took it home and put it on the turntable and loved it straightaway. I spent a whole afternoon playing it over and over again. I loved the more folky approach and loved the use of the violin.

To me every single track on the original vinyl was excellent (I know that the CD version now has a few additional tracks) Each track seems to sit in exactly the right place on the album and compliments those preceding and following it.

It is an album that I have returned to over and over again in all the ups and downs of my life over the last 24 years.

I believe it is one of the best albums ever written.

[Greboicus]

I'm with Ifran, I don't dislike T & C but it is far from my favourite. Carnival, High and Strange Brotherhood have that honour although BD&W is flying straight in there.

I think it is simply having heard it too many times, when I used to dj I was always playing Vagabonds or Stupid Questions or something else off T & C and it was almost like everything up to that point was wiped out by many people. Older and wiser I realise of course that these weren't fans as such but people who bought the record. having said all that 225 is still possibly my favourite NMA track of all time and actually I adore everything apart from the 4 big ones.

[Guillaume]

why is Thunder still so great - tell me people...

Because ALL the tracks on this album are for the worst good, very good and for the best awesome!

I love the world
225
Green and grey
Ballad of Bodmin Pill
Family
Family Life
Vagabonds

Because the lyrics of this album are great, because the sound of the album is great too.

I never skip one song when i listen to "Thunder and consolation" ( same for "The Ghost of Cain"), unlike most of NMA's last albums. 

Green and Grey doesn't move me as it once did.

I've listened to this album hundreds and hundreds of times but each time i hear the thunder/rain/voice/guitar intro of "Green and Grey" it gets me everytime...

[Johnz]

Every NMA album has songs on it that I skip. Sometimes because I don't like them but mostly because they don't fit the mood I'm in.

T & C is probably the album I would consider their best overall. However, it's not the one I listen to the most. Carnival, TIAGD and NBTS are my most played albums followed by High and Eight. Many of the later songs seem more relevant to my life than the old ones. That's why I'm not too nostalgic about the early NMA period. I'm happy that I got to experience it but I'm excited about the present and the future.

 

[Guillaume]

Carnival, TIAGD and NBTS are my most played albums followed by High and Eight.

For me it's "Thunder", "Navigating by the stars" and 'Ghost of Cain"...i never skip songs of these albums, they seem to me very coherent, accomplished albums from start to end.
I skip very few songs on "High" ( "Nothing dies easy", "Breathing" at times) and "Eight" ( "Stranger", "Paekakariki Beach") both of these albums are IMO near the top of NMA's career with the albums quoted above.   

[Guillaume]

Many of the later songs seem more relevant to my life than the old ones. That's why I'm not too nostalgic about the early NMA period.

A bit the same for me (even if i still listen regularly "Thunder"...), some of NMA's most recent work like "Eight", "High" or "Between dog and wolf" (and of course "Navigating by the stars"...) reveal somewhat more mature and subtle songwriting from JS.

Showing my age here, I suspect, but....I'm pretty stunned nobody's mentioned No Rest.

Very good album with very good songs on it but i don't like too much its sound production, very 80's..

[Johnz]

Showing my age here, I suspect, but....I'm pretty stunned nobody's mentioned No Rest.

To me No Rest was a bit of a letdown after Vengeance very much like Impurity was after T&C. I'm not a muso but I think it may have been the sound or the production. Individually I love just about all the songs but as an album it never really fired for me.

[luckyjack]

I was a bit of a sullen youngster in a screwed up house who had just discovered the Clash and the Pistols.
On a late night t.v. video show Vagabonds came on- I was transfixed. Straight down to Moondance in Peterborough (Canada) the next day to grab the cassette (an early audio recording format). From that moment on no other music has ever spoken to me as deeply. The combination of cerebral poetry, punk anger and the bravery to use whatever musical form necessary regardless of "scene"  and sheer beauty I've not heard elsewhere.

[Master Ray]

I love 'Thunder'... but I do prefer 'Impurity'.  That probably comes from the fact that my first NMA gig was on the Impurity tour... a true life-changer.

That and I also think that Impurity is a bit deeper and darker than Thunder... the music is quite a bit more diverse, throwing the band into new musical territories.  'Eleven Years', 'Before I Get Old' and 'Space' are three of my favourite NMA songs ever.

But still, Thunder is still an amazing album...

[Barty]

Showing my age here, I suspect, but....I'm pretty stunned nobody's mentioned No Rest.
Maybe it's just that it was very much of its time, dark and angry, and even the quieter moments were outward-looking rather than personal, but - holy hell - what a record.

I totally agree....it's my fave album but I suspect BD&W will change that.....10 or so listens and it's revealing its true majesty. There's nothing between any of the other NMA albums for me....just always loved NRftW especially!

[Knievel]

Ah, thanks for all the replies - sure I get it that it might have been the first for some folk - in a way it was a second first for me - I was/am a vegan activist/anarchist anti corporate beast - these days I buy my boxers from TK Maxx and I have 'become what we despise' but don't let that spoil my spiel here - There was something wrong for me with NMA signing to EMI and so I missed No Rest and Ghost and it was only after an intensely incredible performance at the 1989 Reading fest ( where I'd gone purely for the Pogues who were magnificent - Spider Spider Spider!!!) that I realised I could not live without NMA and that they have reasons for signing with EMI which are none of my business and so I got down the Morrissons tunnel near the Bus Station in Preston and busked enough money for Thunder and, yeah, me too, I was blown away.  Great Lp

It's a great LP from a time when LP's were 40 minutes long. 

And what I'm hearing here is that it's a record that doesn't have tracks that maybe you'd skip - ok ok ok, I don't want to ruffle feathers, it's all cool but please let me quite heavily and drunkenly say that if Strange Brotherhood were released in 1989 it would not have one track on it that you could skip.  All pre 90's records were either 40 minutes or a double Lp of 80 minutes long. On these terms, Dog would be 40 minutes long - it wouldn't have Kneievel on it and I'd be here nameless...

Like I said - I'm not just hearing it here: this 'best since Thunder' - It's been journalistic speak for years and me I stick with the truth that New Model Army's finest LP was released yesterday not twentysomething years ago

Love on yas brothers and sisters