The Thunderthief

John Paul Jones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Discipline Us
• ASIN: B00005Y0OM
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,690 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Leafy Meadows

2. Thunderthief

3. Hoediddle

4. Ice Fishing at Night

5. Daphne

6. Angry Angry

7. Down to the River to Pray

8. Shibuya Bop

9. Freedom Song

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The follow-up to his 1999 solo album, Zooma, The Thunderthief is a soaring testimony to former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones's multi-instrumental prowess. His label boss, Robert Fripp, adds his unmistakable anguished guitar to the opening "Leafy Meadows," but mostly Jones steers the album by playing guitars, basses, mandolins, autoharp, koto, ukulele, and keyboards. He covers a wide stylistic range, from the Cockney-voiced punk pastiche "Angry Angry" to the back-to-nature musing of "Ice Fishing at Night." The pulverizing "Shibuya Bop" highlights his mastery as an arranger, and the closing "Freedom Song" is a consummate blend of English and traditional Japanese influences. Led Zep fans and admirers of intelligent prog-rock will find their curiosity handsomely rewarded. --Gavin Martin

Product Description

Japanese reissue of the Led Zeppelin bassist's 2001 soloalbum packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. 2004. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Thunderthief ... stole back the "Hammer of the Gods"?, March 17, 2002

By 

Clyde D. Hoops "thingols" (Back where I started from in Oceanside California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thunderthief (Audio CD)

John Paul Jones... stole back the 'Hammer of the Gods', and put it to work for himself with the making of this his second solo outting, aptly titled - 'The Thunderthief'. This album needs to be played loud.

He is accompanied by Terl Bryant on drums, percussion and tofaran through out the disc, with cameo appearences by Robert Fripp-guitar on 'Leafy Meadows', Adam Bomb-guitar on 'Angry Angry' and Nick Breggs-Chapman Stick on Shibuya Bop and Leafy Meadows.

Otherwise this is a true solo abulm with JPJ playing a list of instruments from the 4,6,10 and 12 stringed basses to the famous triple necked mandolin, from Koto to piano and organ and even does a great variety of vocalizations on the four vocal tracks as well as the producing and mixing duties.

The eclecticism of the nine tracks is truly inspiring. Often the music will take you back to some of Jones' more accomplished moments in his musical career whether it is the groove of 'Daphne' which could have been on either of the first two 'Jeff Beck' albums (which our hero here had played on), or the punkish 'Angry Angry' which comes across as a slight 'Meat Puppets' work-out. The lyrics to 'Angry Angry' reminds one of the commutes drivers may have up and down the I-5 here in sunny Cali.

JPJ for some of you who didn't know has had a long and illustrious career which didn't start with Led Zeppelin, it has just included them along the way. Anyone remember the Donovan single "Mellow Yellow", well JPJ did receive a gold record award for arrangment of that song. He had also played on and arranged the song 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' for Donovan, a good example of pre-LZ JP and JPJ, which coincided with his joining Jimmy Page for 'their' next venture called LZ.

The title track 'The Thunderthief' has one of the most incredibly fast bass lines heard, this in comparison to anything that Primus' Les Claypool, the Whos' John Entwhistle, or Tony Levin have ever laid down in the studio, with no injustice implied to any of them. This track truly deserves the name of 'The Thunderthief' and one listen will convince any who hears and listens. The vocals add greatly to the effect of this track.

This disc has an interesting mix of instrumental and vocal tracks in a smartly arranged running order. And unlike alot of music that is commonly sold as soloist/instrumentalist music/albums, this album just compels you to want to listen. I find it very exciting and catchy with alot of hook laden bass lines and riffing which add incredible drive throughout the instrumental work of the disc, unlike alot of the droll and predictable instrumental music usually offered by the mainstream music industry, but thankfully this is an independent release through DGM records.

'Leafy Meadows' one of the four intense instrumentals, absolutely rocks out, as does 'Shibuya Bop' and 'Daphne' which features JPJ on lead guitar!

The extended instrumental 'Hoediddle' with a running time of 7 min. is one of the most incredible and eclectic songs on the disc, incorporating irish folk melodies and instruments through a frenetic display of metal intensity/playing style with impecable capability and taste.

The live 'Down the river to Pray' is classic folk music that one would hear on a clear bright day, like one would hear at a Medieval Faire, possibly the brightest song on the disc, in the midst of dark feeling songs that 'The Thunderthief' set generally is.

The crashing and bass riffing of Shibuya Bop, follows with a sense of hot middle-eastern flavored urgency reminiscent of King Crimson of the early 80's and the instrumental music they did in songs like Discipline, Thela Hun Gingeet, or even 'The Sheltering Sky' but with a jazzier approach?

JPJ's vocals are to great affect on the Disc. The songs 'The Thunderthief', 'AngryAngry' have convincing vocals but his voice works best on the songs 'Ice Fishing at Night' which is huanting in its spare beauty, and the plaintive elegance of the discs closing title 'Freedom Song', done with just vocals and Koto (a three stringed Japanese instrument), in an irish folk song/Haiku poem rendering, which goes to show how versatile JPJ really is.

If JPJ continues in this vein I can see that there will be a mass commercial vindication for a musician that has been overlooked or ignored for far too long.

This is an incredible work. Buy it.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Thunderthief, March 25, 2002

By 

Mr. S. St Thomas "suckerfly" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thunderthief (Audio CD)

There'll always be people that tell you Lennon & McCartney were the Beatles, Jagger & Richards are the Stones and that Page & Plant were Led Zeppelin. Experience and individual thinking has taught me that it's the quiet ones you watch out for, because their influence is much wider than you expect. For me, the most individualistic member and influential on the music of The Beatles was George Harrison, and the most talented, grand in scope and vision of Led Zeppelin was John Paul Jones. Maybe I just think the underrated go undersung, but I know George knew alot more about the world than John ever did, and John Paul was the true shaper of the sonic world Zeppelin inhabited.

Don't take my word for it. Buy "Zooma" first, then buy "The Thunderthief". Then compare it, if you like to just about anything Page or Plant have done in the past 20 years. You tell me afterward what you think.

To me, John Paul Jones has been in the music business for 40 years, and he doesn't sound like it. He sounds fresh, original and prepared to take new steps to replace the old. His music is very real, and makes for an absolute turn your stereo way way up to hear it all.
The Thunderthief even improves on Zooma by encompassing even more instruments that this man can play pretty flawlessly. But what matters is the material that he comes up with, which makes alot of other stuff look rather, lame.
So don't believe the hype --- Lennon at times an egotistical ..., McCartney a man who would do anything for publicity, Page a sometimes very very sloppy guitarist live, Plant more interested in sounding like your cat on a hot summer night. Listen to the guys who don't get much of the glory, you'll find they have a lot more to say worthwhile than those that say it all - all the time to anyone who'll listen.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars While we sleep he steals our Thunder, February 5, 2002

By 

Mark Wieczorek (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Thunderthief (Audio CD)

Thunderthief marks a definite progression in Jonesy's solo work. His latest career as a solo musician (his fourth career in as many decades?) basically started with (or because of) his collaboration with Diamanada Galas in the early 90's. She suggested that "if you're going to put that much energy into music, it might as well be your own" and there was no looking back from there.

Thunderthief, while maintaining the same elements and many of the same musicians from Zooma is a definite progression. From songs that incorporate Banjo, Mandolin, and driving, blistering bass & drum work (Hoediddle), to a song my girlfriend compared to Tori Amos (Ice Fishing at Night), this album exposes more sides of Jonesy's multi fasceted personality.

Even the artwork seems more and more "Jonesy" and seems to hearken back to the Dream Sequence of the Song remains the Same where cloaked riders with hideous faces were revealed to be friendly faces when they returned home. This album too, I think, is in many ways a coming home. More confident and comfortable than Zooma, this is yet another glimpse into the man with multiple faces.

The Tori Amos conversation, by the way, went something like this. "That song sounds very Tori Amos influenced." "Well, Tori Amos was a big Led Zeppelin fan, and who played keyboard for Led Zeppelin?"

I'm not quite sure what to do with any of the lyrics on this album, but I never really processed lyrics well anyway. Yes, that's right, Jonesy sings on this album. As far as the lyrics go, are they tongue in cheek? Maybe they're allegorical and I'm supposed to read something into them. Didn't they call Entwhistle "Thunder Fingers" and doesn't an 8 string bassist who also plays mandolin, piano, and a list of instruments as long as my arm "steal the soprano?" as the title track's lyrics suggest.

In my review for Zooma I said that between the latest Page/Plant stuff & the latest John Paul Jones stuff you begin to gain an understanding of "just who did what in Led Zeppelin." This album makes me seriously think about Jonesy's contribution as multi instrumentalist and arranger/composer. Perhaps he did even MORE than I had thought.

As a fan of John Paul Jones, I'm sure you've heard about "Angry Angry" the "punk" song by now, but I think it deserves mention again. The first time I heard it it had me laughing out loud. Very tongue-in cheek, and kinda makes me think twice about this mild mannered British man that drove one of the most bombastic bands in the history of the world.

Of course, it's tempered by the rather beautiful traditional song "Down to the River to Pray" an acoustic instrumental gem, which immediately follows.

One song, Daphne, starts with a scratchy LP sound, and has extended synth parts, and contains what seems to be a nod to Radiohead, but I won't say anything more here, you'll have to listen to this song to 'get' it.

Shibuya Bop is more blistering than anything Zooma had to offer. The story of how B. Fingers was a melody he had come up with and had a difficult time learning comes to my head when hearing this song.

Freedom Song, the ender, sounds like a traditional Irish tune, and I think is the only one that features Jonesy solo (mandolin and vocals) without any overdubs or extra instruments.

At the end, one statement stands out in my mind. In an interview with Jonesy I read he said that people had been imitating Led Zeppelin, but they were one sided because they had only one influence. Led Zeppelin listened to all kinds of music and where multi dimensional. If you were only listening to Led Zeppelin, you were going to sound like a pale imitation.

This album then, stands out as a symbol of an individual, both influenced by and an influence on musicians worldwide.