JASON & THE SCORCHERS

Thunder And Fire (A&M AMA 5264)

ANDY GILL, The Independent
July 28 1989

Copyright 1989-2004 Newspaper Publishing PLC

JASON & The Scorchers’ sad decline mirrors the entropic progress of the American guitar band wave of three or four years back. Their original Fervor mini- album was a streak of sheer energy which perhaps raised expectations; but unreasonably - since then they’ve transformed themselves into a drably efficient stadium rock band.
The dictates of the stadium determine the material on Thunder and Fire more firmly than ever before, from the anthemic ‘When The Angels Cry’ to the basic boogie of ‘Lights Out’. Phil Ochs’ ‘My Kingdom For A Car’ gets rammed into overdrive quite effectively, but for the most part the LP is just grimly mainstream. It’s better than the average Aerosmith album but what kind of ballpark is that to play in?

© 1989-2004 — Newspaper Publishing PLC — All Rights Reserved