Customer Reviews

Thunder Seven

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THE BAND: Rik Emmett (guitars, lead vocals), Mike Levine (bass, keyboards), Gil Moore (drums, lead vocals). Hometown - Toronto.

THE DISC: (1984) 10 songs clocking in at approximately 41 minutes. Included with the disc is a minimal 3-page foldout with original album artwork and song titles only. This is the band's 7th studio album. Remastered in 2004 featuring expanded liner notes, but no bonus tracks. Label - MCA Records.

COMMENTS: In my opinion, "Thunder Seven" was Triumph's last classic studio album. It capped a three album run with the band easily at the peak of their success. Three years prior showed the band firing on all cylinders with "Allied Forces" (1981); and a strong follow-up in '83 with "Never Surrender". "Thunder Seven" was followed by "The Sport Of Kings" (1986) and "Surveillance" (1987) - both simply under par albums in the eyes of fans and critics alike (not to mention the band not writing all their own material). "Thunder Seven" gave us two singles ("Spellbound" and "Follow Your Heart") - both surprisingly sung by drummer Gil Moore. The real gems are the deep album cuts that never made it to the FM radio waves - "Rock Out, Roll On" is a solid Rik Emmett rocker; "Time Goes By" hits you in the same vein as Allied Force's "Fight The Good Fight"; "Cool Down" sounds like it could have been written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant; "Time Canon" is a minute-and-a-half vocal (only) piece leading into the beautiful "Killing Time"; and two instrumentals - "Midsummer's Daydream" (receiving numerous guitar composition awards) and the stunning and uncharacteristic bluesy album closer "Little Boy Blues". For me, Triumph is/was always a guitar band first. Drums, bass and vocals were always great, but Rik Emmett's guitar was the show-piece here. Triumph seemed to be labeled Canada's 2nd best power trio (behind Rush), but I always thought they deserved more credit. Staying power with fans - "Thunder Seven" was certified gold in 2003, almost 20 years after its release. This is a great and often overlooked rock album (5 stars).

Triumph,Thunder Seven is a great mix of music styles.I first heard them back in the mid-'80's.These guys have a style all their own.Incredible vocals and great songwriting,not to mention excellent hard-rockin guitar action.Each song on this album is great and unique.I highly recommend lending an ear to this and other Triumph music!!

Easily the best disc from the Canadian power trio that is not Rush. Not a bad tune on here. Interesting lyrics and stellar production. I used the track "Little Boy Blues" as demo tune while working in a stereo shop in the mid-80's. It sold a lot of speakers.

Triumph continued their winning streak with THUNDER SEVEN, their sixth great album in a row. The first four songs- "Spellbound", "Rock Out, Roll On", "Cool Down", and "Follow Your Heart"- are among the best material the group ever did, and several other songs aren't far behind. The group would make one more very good record (THE SPORT OF KINGS), but THUNDER SEVEN was their last real masterpiece.

Rik Emmett had said in an iterview that 'Thunder Seven' was the only Truimph effort that the band actually worked together co-writing the songs. As evident here in TS, the output was absolute magic. Even Mike Levine, who always seemed content to stand in the shadows of Emmets and Moore's flair, showed he was a master of that Thunderbird (put on 'Stranger in a Strange Land", crank up the bass, and enjoy the show." If only Emmett and Moore could have push their differences aside and joined heads instead of butting them, who knows what they could have achieved.

this album was easily Triumph's best work from a catalog of fine albums. this is the one album that does not sound dated in 2005, ironic with the ''time theme'' of this recording. in their day, Triumph was often compared to Rush, although not at that high a level they turned in solid albums and very good concert performances. they also have the very unique use of two lead singers, giving their music variety in its sound. percular how once they left the scene they were completely forgotten, they got alot of radio play at the time. if you are not familiar with them give them a listen!

37 years old now and still love Thunder 7. Probably the best Triumph album next to Just a Game and Allied Forces. But they are all good. I have all but one or two albums that I bought
in the 80's when they were released and will eventually pick up some on CD. I still remember hearing Spellbound on the radio after work and the song still reminds of a girl I really dug in that period (hi Melanie). Enough drivel.

I agree with a lot of the reviewers that this is a really good album and every track is enjoyable. Even the semi-cheesy Follow Your Heart, which featured some of Triumph's great inspirartional, almost religious lyrics, which is one of the things I alway liked about the band. Ricky's songs were always the hits but Gil has one of the best pure rock voices and probably the best singing drummer in all of rock.

Rik soars with his maastery of all styles of music.
A great semi-overlooked guitarist and his voice is phenominal.
To the reviewer who said his voice does not stand the test of time, must think Aretha Franklin is irrelevant too.

Triumph is one of the bands a I grew up on and they take me back to a happy, somwewhat stoned, period of my life. Great in concert. Hard to believe bands like this use to be played on MTV. I still have my 1983 Never Surrender concert shirt in the top drawer of my dresser. Had the pleasure of seeing Rik
at a guitar clinic here in Atlanta some come 14 years ago and he was as nice as he is talented. A lot respect for the man, father and musician. Later that evening there was an impromptu jam at a local club that featured Rik, Vivian Campbell and local musicians including Atlanta guitar god Barry Richman. Rocky Mountain Way had the place rockin'!

In late 1984 I was a major Rush fan, but then I heard Time Goes By being played on Rockline one Monday night..... I said to myself "My god!! Who is this?" I then found out that it was Triumph, and soon after, Thunder Seven went right to the top of my personal playlist. In fact, during the summer of 1985 T7, Allied Forces and Progressions of Power ruled our nighly gatherings down at Oakwood Beach. Rush was actually second to Triumph for a while there....

Enough about me, T7 is an awesome album. From the Zeppelin-like Cool Down to the acoustic majesty of A Midsummer's Daydream T7 shows Triumph at their Progressive Metal best. The music is hard to describe, it's a mix Metal, Blues, and Classical Guitar with very slick production. Did I mention the cool syntho stuff? Emmett and Moore's harmonies are at their best, especially on Time Goes By. The lyrics to every song are powerful, and 15 years later I'm still singing along. The album hasn't aged.

Triumph are one of the few bands from the 80's who's CD's havent been moved into the back of the closet. If you were a Rock fan back then and didn't get to listen to them, then T7 is a great place to start.

In late 1984, Canada's other great power trio Triumph released their first album since the Gold almost Platinum selling Never Surrender entitled Thunder Seven.
The album was over a year and a half in the making because they toured for Never Surrender (which was documented on the Live at the US Festival CD and DVD released in 2003) then got into a dispute with their label at the time RCA whom were cheating the band from royalties and wanted the band to do things when they want and how they wanted. As all hope looked bad for Triumph, Eagles manager (and then MCA Records president) Irving Azoff signed Triumph to MCA Records (owned by Universal). Then, Irving paid RCA for Triumph's master tapes and bought the band out of their contract to eventually switch the rights of the music to the band after the band would record five albums and license the albums for ten years).
After the problems were sorted out, guitarist/singer Rik Emmett, drummer/singer Gil Moore and bass player Mike Levine got together with legendary producer Eddie Kramer (fame for his work with KISS, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix) and went to Triumph's studio in Toronto called Metalworks to record Thunder Seven.
When released, Thunder Seven was another hit for the band.
The album kicked off with the rock radio gem "Spellbound" which featured Gil on vocals and is a killer rocker. "Follow Your Heart" was the album's biggest hit.
Other highlights are "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Killing Time" and the Zeppelin sounding "Cool Down" among others.
Also are two great instrumentals from Rik with the classical guitar piece "Midsummer's Daydream" and the closing "Little Boy Blues".
Thunder Seven is still the best of the band's MCA albums.
The album was then re-released in 1995 on the band's own label TRC Records with better sound courtesy of Bob Ludwig who did a killer job with the mastering (he did the mastering on the original album) and then the 2004 re-master is just as good as the original CD.
This album is highly recommended!

This is the best work from these Canadian rockers. I would compare them to Rush and Zebra because of their excellent skills as musicians. It is a shame these guys aren't together anymore. Check out their other albums as well except for their last one without Rik Emmit- that one is God awful.