GOODTHUNDER

GoodThunder was a psych / prog / hard rock quintet from Los Angeles, formed in 1972, including James Cahoon Lindsay (vocals and percussion), John Desautels (drums), David Hanson (guitars and vocals), Bill Rhodes (bass), and Wayne Cook (keyboards). Their short existence allowed them to make only one self-titled album in 1972 consisting of eight tracks with the famous producer Paul A. Rothchild (The Doors, Janis Joplin, Rush) behind the console. The eight songs are connected with all the dominant forms of rock at the time, from early metal (lead guitar solos) to symphonic prog (the keyboard arrangements, complex changes of tempo and structure) to psych and folk. The overall sound can be compared with Deep Purple and the early days of Uriah Heep, and you can certainly hear a heavy dose of Yes when Matt Wayne Cook's keyboards are at the forefront. There's lots of interesting interplay going on between the different instruments and there are some cool jams. The proggiest song Barking At the Ants shows their talent to craft wonderful and rich material. After their break up, some members participated in local pop / AOR bands. Cook went on to play with Steppenwolf and Player. Despite the quality of the material, GoodThunder only record unfortunately went unnoticed despite the fact that they released one of the best debuts of 1972.

Practically unknown North-American band GOODTHUNDER ( 6 ratings and only one reviews, until now ) makes a sound between the hard-rock and heavy-prog with influences from Leslie West's MOUNTAIN, DEEP PURPLE and something from URIAH HEEP.The disk in itself presents sime high points. These high points are in the track 1 "I Can't Get Through To You" with a "groovy" rhythm and a very progressive moment which starts about to 1 min 08 sec with an organ "bridge" and end 1min 39 sec with a unison scale played by organ,guitar,bass and drums.,The track 2 "For A Breath" shows a guitar solo that reminds me "Look at Yourself" from Uriah Heep.,The track 6 " P. O . W " starts to a typically oriental theme and progress to a psychedelic flavor and in the track 8 "Barking At The Ants" one of the more progressive moments of whole disk. The other four tracks in the disk isn't bad tracks, but in my vision having a tendency much more to hard rock or blues and are far from the progressive "border lines" . For this balance between the 8 tracks ( 4 close to prog and 4 far from prog ) my rate is the medium note 3 stars !!!

GoodThunder is practically unkown, which is really a shame considering they released one of the best albums of 1972!

I Can't Get Thru to You - Is a short, but powerful, number loaded with heavy guitars and beautiful organ and piano use.

For a Breath - Starts with some wind-sounding effects, then the main guitar riff fades in. Great guitar solos follows not to long after the vocal parts. Other than the powerful guitars, you also get some nice keyboard work. Then the song changes to a nice and slower melodic piece, which only lasts less than 30 seconds before going back to the main riff and a short bass solo. Then the song picks up right where it started.

Moonship - is another short song, but one of my favorites. Opening up with organ and guitar. This song has haunting vocals and lyrics, the keyboards are the key piece to this haunting puzzle. Moonship pretty much describes GoodThunder in a nutshell.

Home Again - is about a man who is misses his home, family, and friends. This song starts out tame, but don't let that mislead you! For you will be treated with a nice lengthy guitar solo!

Sentries - The shortest song from this album. It opens with an oddly placed circus sounding intro...trust me this band wasn't without a great sense of humor! Sentries is a nice hard rock song that sounds like it was made to be the leading single from this album....which it was! As with the rest of the album, this song is full of great guitaring and keyboarding!

P.O.W. - is, in my opinion, their masterpiece (along with Barking at the Ants). Expert guitaring and keyboarding. Starts with a piano and acoustic intro which then opens to a nice guitar part. James Cahoon Lindsay gives his best vocals to this song. As I said before, this is simply a masterpiece. Not much else I can say. You definitely have to hear this.

Rollin' Up My Mind - possibly their heaviest song. Beautiful guitaring and lyrics, also one of my favorites from this amazing album.

Barking at the Ants - don't know what the song title means or is about, but it starts with a great guitar riff. As said above in parenthesis, this is their other masterpiece. The guys give the best vocal harmonies and instrumentation on Barking at the Ants. Lyrics are just suberb!

For a bands that's unknown, there sure as hell made on of the best heavy prog albums of the early 70s that effortlessly stands the test of time.

Oh and did I mention the best vocal harmonies of Heavy Prog? I did? Shame on me for being so redundant.

5 Stars to an that really deserves it!

-AP