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TERRAPLANE ‘We Survive’Sanctuary CMEDD1064 (2005)
Terraplane, for their sins, were a forerunner of British rock band Thunder, featuring vocalist Danny Bowes, guitarist Luke Morley and drummer Gary ‘Harry’ James (the latter currently in Magnum).
Originally glam band Nuthin’ Fancy, Terraplane kicked off with a storming Reading appearance in 1982, a single on City Records and their debut album Black And White appearing in 1984 on Epic.
The first disc of this double CD features that album in full, with a plethora of extras (singles, b-sides etc) mixes a pomp like Magnum sound with pop, hard rock and a serious nod at the new wave of the era.
Even the slower chart oriented sing-along songs mix with the heavier tracks, and 'Talking To Myself' features the talents of pianist Jools Holland. And 'You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore' features a galloping bass line Iron Maiden style, despite being a more power-pop number.
A couple of years later and Moving Target continued in a similar vein, on the poppy edge of hard rock with a lot of catchy tunes and a very solid production. Like the first album, the band got a lot of favourable reviews and support slots with major artists as well as full gigs of their own.
The second disc here features that album and 8 extra tracks (totalling 15 on the whole set, really making this the complete Terraplane).
Things would get beefed up later with the formation of Thunder, whose direction was both harder and more channelled.
Again a complete and well annotated set, Terraplane are worth checking out both as the roots of Thunder and as a solid rock/pop group in their own right.
****
Review by Joe Geesin
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