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Thundertrain |
 There is a good 90% chance that I actually heard this when it was
originally broadcast, in February of ’79, on local rock radio institution
WCOZ (94.5- “Kick Ass Rock n’ Roll”!). Seems like something I’d be
listening to in my pre-teen Sleaze days. Either way, it sure the fuck is
good to hear it now, in all it’s ragged, long-haired, stack-heeled,
denim-demon glory. Straight off the airwaves, this is a great and terrible
blast of the mighty ‘Train, live from the Summit Club, in Peabody, Ma.
Live as fuck, even. Retro-reviewers often liken the be-scarved,
satin-abusing Thundertrain to the NY Dolls and
Aerosmith, which is largely
a cosmetic issue. Musically, they had more in common with 70’s arena
boogie giants like Thin Lizzy and UFO, preferring the scorched-Earth
theory of pummeling hard rock with dashes of bloozy raunch, and on this
blistering set, they are ON, banging out one stupendously dumb cock-rockin’
hit after another. The proto Dixie-stoner rock riff n’ roll of “Forever
and Ever”, loaded to the tits with ham-fisted slide guitar and a whole Roadsaw album’s worth of cowbell, is a particularly sleazy highlight, but
the nearly retarded Slade rip-offs, “Readin’ Riotin’ Rock n’ Roll” and
“Afterschool” (to say nothing of their booze-fueled cover of “Mama Weer
All Crazee Now”) are also pretty goddamn amazing slices of 70’s
glam-damaged fuck rawk. Hell, besides the tepid cover of “Dirty Water” (a
song that blows anyway), it’s ALL flash and fire, even the gratuitous
blasts of harmonica and jivey-jivey between-song banter like, “This song
is gonna separate the rock n’ rollers from the disco plague!” Listen, I
only really like two kinds of music – the kind you can fuck to, and the
kind you can fight to. Thundertrain, in case yer mama never told you, were
both kinds. So come get some. Unless you like disco. Listen: I Gotta Rock ___________________________________________________ |
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-Sleazegrinder |