"Ladyflash" Released: 22 November 2004 (2004-11-22)[4]
"Bottle Rocket" Released: 26 September 2005 (2005-09-26)[5]
Thunder, Lightning, Strike is the debut studio album by English band The Go! Team. It was initially released on label Memphis Industries on 13 September 2004, but was reworked to avoid legal issues with samples, and re-released in October 2005.
Background
The album was the project of founder member Ian Parton, who over the course of 2003 recorded demos and musical ideas after work, onto many dozens of cassettes using a lo-fi 4-track recorder, and titled each tape with a potential song name idea.[6] Each track on the album was created by combining five or six different ideas from this large assortment of tapes,[7] trying out different chorus sections from one with the verse section of another, to give the music an overall feeling of constantly switching radio channels.[8][9] 'Get It Together' was the first track Parton created where he felt he'd got the juxtaposition of differing styles within one song right, giving him the template and direction for the rest of the album.[10]
Recording
Recording took place in both the garage and kitchen of Parton's parents' house in Swansea while they were away on holiday,[11] with him playing all live instruments himself (as at that time there were no other members of the band).[12] The album was co-produced by his sound engineer brother Gareth Parton, who helped Ian set up the makeshift home recording facility in Wales, and later mixed the tracks at The Fortress Studios and Bluestone in London.[12][13]
'Legal' and 'Illegal' versions
The original 2004 Memphis Industries release of the album (sometimes referred to as the 'Illegal version') had none of its many samples cleared, as Parton didn't expect the album to attract much attention.[14] However Thunder, Lightning, Strike received wide critical acclaim and was later nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. Thereupon a 'legally clean' version of the album was painstakingly recreated by the Parton brothers, containing only cleared or interpolated samples, and rewritten, resung lyrics, all under the guidance of a legal musicologist.[15][12] Junior Kickstart, Bottle Rocket and Ladyflash were among the most heavily reworked tracks, whilst Get It Together was one of a few tracks that remained untouched.[16] This revised 'legal' version of the album was re-released in the United Kingdom and the United States by Columbia Records in October 2005, with two additional bonus tracks. The album peaked at number 48 on the UK Albums Chart in February 2006, some 18 months after its original release.
Reception to Thunder, Lightning, Strike was very positive. On review aggregator site Metacritic, the album has a score of 86, indicating "universal acclaim".[17]
Pitchfork placed Thunder, Lightning, Strike at number eight in their list of the top albums of 2004[28] and at number 171 on their list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s.[29]
Concluding the review for AllMusic, Tim Sendra claimed that, "The Go! Team is widescreen in a pan-and-scan world, a sparkling rejoinder to purists and spoilsports everywhere and more fun than recess on the last day of school. Cinematic, fantastic, and essential to all who want their music larger than life and rambunctious, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is the kind of record that makes you glad to be alive. What could be better than that?"[18]
Anniversary Release and Tour
The band reissued the record and launched a Fall 2024 tour in the UK and US to celebrate the LP's 20th anniversary. The new album edition appeared on 13 September from Memphis Industries and included a bonus disc of Parton's original CD-R versions of the songs.[30]
Track listing
All tracks are written by The Go! Team, except where noted
^"The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s". Pitchfork. 2 October 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2023. At the end of the decade, lo-fi had become a fashionable option...[but] there is still allure and aesthetic purpose in giving music a grainy feel...See government exhibit labeled the Go! Team, whose 2004 debut used less than ideal recording conditions...
^"The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike". Mojo: 98. Cunning juxtapositions such as the haunting harmonica that chisels blissful melodies from chest-beating samba horns on opener 'Panther Dash' seem more purposeful than perverse.
