Friday, November 29, 2013

Teenage Suicide by Thundertrain

Thundertrain was one of Boston's punk stars of the 70's. They toured for five years and shared the stage with The Cars, The David Johansen Group, The Runaways and many other bands. This album was released in 1977 and is the only studio album that they recorded.
It opens with their hit song,"Hot For Teacher", it is fast paced and makes for an excellent start to the album. It is followed by, "Let 'er Rip" and it is a foot stomper with a boogie beat that changes in the end, reminds me of early Aerosmith. Next up is "Modern Girls" and it just keeps the beat going, with a nice walk down in the chorus. "Cheater" then slows the beat with some face ripping lead guitar. The first side closes with "Love The Way" and it brings the beat back up with a killer ending.
Side B starts with "Hell Tonite" and it is a solid rocker with some good riffs. The second tune, "Frustration", has a moderate beat and several changes and is followed by, "Forever and Ever" which has the same moderate beat but is more straight forward and does not have the changes as the previous song. The album ends with "I Gotta Rock", I think it is a live cut or just people in the studio to give the illusion of it being recorded in a small venue. It is a good rocker with good guitar, good bass, and is an excellent song to end the album.
This albums shows a band that had great potential and they deserved a second shot in a studio that would accentuate their sound. In 2002 Gulcher Records re-issued, Teenage Suicide, and the band re-united for several shows. In 2004 Gulcher released, Hell Tonight, a Thundertrain show from 1979.

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