THE THUNDERTHIEF
John Paul Jones
•Heavy Prog
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3.44
| 52 ratings | 6 reviews | 15% 5 stars
Good, but non-essential |
Studio Album, released in 2001 Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Leafy Meadows (5:11) - John Paul Jones / basses (lap steel, 4-, 6-, 10- & 12-string), mandolins & mandola, acoustic & electric guitars, koto, ukulele, autoharp, organ, piano, synth, Kyma software, vocals, composer (excl. 7), production & mixing
Artwork: Peter Blegvad and to projeKct for the last updates Edit this entry |
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JOHN PAUL JONES The Thunderthief ratings distribution
(52 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(15%)Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(48%)Good, but non-essential (37%)Collectors/fans only (0%)Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
JOHN PAUL JONES The Thunderthief reviews
Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings
Collaborators/Experts Reviews
COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
Jones' third solo album is a rather eclectic affair. After the all instrumental Zooma he decided to add some vocals into the mix, his own. As you might expect the style is nothing like Robert Plant's, but not bad to my ears. Jones also plays diverse collection of instruments, including oddly enough 4, 6, 10, and 12 string basses. Maniac. Yeah, he's pretty much a string freak though he does do keyboards, too. John is also supplemented by a percussionist and three guests including Robert Fripp doing a guitar solo on Leafy Meadows. This album is on Fripp's label, by the way.
The afore mentioned Leafy Meadows is nice heavy prog instrumental. John's kind of fond of slide guitar. The Thunderthief is the first vocal, a weird, dark little tune. Hoediddle has a little hoedown/celtic jig flavoring to it. Ice Fishing At Night, the second vocal (both were written by Peter Blegvad) is a nice mellow piece. John takes a break from the strings to do solo piano with vocals, very mellow. Back to the bayou flavor with instrumental Daphne. Angry Angry is another quirky little vocal. Kinda punky. Don't let it get to you. Down To The River To Pray is a bit folksy/gospel flavored and thankfully instrumental, as I don't think I'd like to hear him try to sing a gospel style tune. Shibuya Bop kicks things back into heavy overdrive. Freedom Song wraps it all up with folksy with John on guitar and singing once again in probably his best style for the whole album.
As a bonus, I ordered this one used and it came autographed. I don't know what that says about it, but this might be a hard one to enjoy for the average Led Zeppelin fan. They'll probably take better to Zooma.
Epilogue: after a few hours the storms have passed. Maybe this damn thing actually works. Unfortunately, now I've got to try and get some sleep.
"The Thunderthief, he puts us under. While we sleep he steals our thunder."
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
It's great that Jones Paul Jones pushes things forward by trying new ideas but I believe that he should instead improve on the things he is good at and not try to succeed where other artists can do a much better job with less effort.
Having said that I still consider this release to be highly enjoyable and overall it's a great successor to Zooma. Jones increased the ante by exchanging Trey Gunn's Crimsonesque guitar solos with the real deal. Yes, I'm talking about the legendary Robert Fripp performing on an ex-Led Zeppelin members solo album. The whole concept just blows my mind especially considering what an amazing performance Mr.Fripp gives on Leafy Meadows!
The Thunderthief might not be the follow-up I way expecting from John Paul Jones but it's great to know that he can still surprise the listeners and it's truly a pity that Jones still haven't released a follow-up to this album.
***** star songs: Leafy Meadows (5:10) Daphne (4:50) Shibuya Bop (5:56)
**** star songs: Hoediddle (7:00) Ice Fishing At Night (4:31) Down To The River To Pray (4:17)
*** star songs: The Thunderthief (5:58) Angry Angry (5:54) Freedom Song (2:37)
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
Second song has vocals (JP Jones himself), I am not sure that was good idea. John also plays all string (big list) and all keys. In fact, all the musicians team is duo (JP Jones plus drummer Terl Bryant ) with three guest guitarist , each just played on one or two tracks.
The music is complex and muddy, but with real lack of composition. It looks JP enjoy playing so many instruments, mixing the sound in one final product. But too often it is more attractive to himself, than to listener.
"Ice Fishing at Night" ( how many of you know what does it means? I love it!) is a ballade, intention was good, but the musical result is very limited.
"Daphne" has it's roots somewhere in Led Zeppelin's vaults."Angry Angry" shows JP going punky. Plenty of dirty energy in sound, but the result is too faceless again ( or it was the initial idea - just to record real punk opus, which should be faceless, dirty and full of energy).
"Down to the River to Pray " is bluegrass song played acoustic with some eastern scent, sounds better than you can expect. "Shibuya Bop" is a hard fast instrumental with Nick Beggs on Chapman Stick. Sounds as LZ goes KC.
The final song "Freedom Song" (real song - with JP singing) is acoustic Eastern ballade.
Overall, the album is interesting work for LZ,KC and JP Jones heavy fans. Far from masterpiece, it brings some interesting moments from music and musicians we love. Don't think it has any attraction for newcomers .
PROG REVIEWER
PROG REVIEWER
"Leafy Meadows" is my favourite, I mean it just grooves heavily with Beggs and Jones creating a powerful rhythm section with the drummer. Fripp arrives before 40 seconds and just impresses like he usually does the rest of the way. The title track is a top four opening with thunder and rain before we get this uptempo sound with vocals which is unfortunate. "Daphne" is also a top four as we get some power on display here in this mid-paced mostly instrumental. "Shibuya Bop" is the final top four and man these four songs are so good. Check out Beggs and Jones on this one! An uptempo barn burner with some organ later.
The biggest letdown for me is "Angry Angry" a punk inspired tune with terrible vocals and lyrics. Just blows me away that people like this style of music. A lame track that I actually despise(haha). "Down To The River To Pray" and "Freedom Song" are both bluesy and laid back, stripped down tunes. "Ice Fishing At Night" sounds like a bad idea but the song is kind of cool. Reserved vocals and piano mostly. "Hoediddle" is a good one and the longest at 7 minutes. Mandolin dominates late but early on the guitar arrangements really impress.
This is a good one with a very unfortunate 6 minute track called "Angry Angry".
Latest members reviews
People who have come across JPJ in their lifes usually realize that he is the most versatile musician in the rock scene, with only Mike Oldfield trailing behind. Funny how two musicians with similar talent end up in different roads. To understand JPJ's versatility I must recall a question usuall ... (read more)
Report this review (#1510933) | Posted by Emiliano | Tuesday, January 12, 2016 | Review Permanlink
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