McCoy - The Sound Of Thunder!

Although primarily known as a bassist, John McCoy got his start in the mid-sixties as lead guitarist for the beat group The Drovers.  Over the ensuing years he worked as a session musician with a multitude of big names, played with the likes of folk rockers Curtiss Maldoon, jazz rockers Zzebra and Atomic Rooster, and also worked as a producer for many artists including Samson and UK Subs.  From the band’s inception in 1978 until its dissolution in 1982, he was a member of former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan’s band Gillan, where in addition to playing bass, he also contributed a lot to the songwriting, arranging and producing.  When Gillan decided to end the band, he said it was because he had to have vocal surgery, but two months later he announced he was joining Black Sabbath.  This was a blow to the band, but about a year later McCoy, Gillan keyboard player Colin Towns and guitarist Paul Samson, along with vocalist T-Bone Rees and drummers Ron ‘Rebel’ Matthews and Liam Genockey, formed the band McCoy and in 1983 they released an eponymous EP followed by their full-length debut Hard Thinking in 1984.  When the band decided to tour following the album’s release things went awry.  Before their first show Rees got drunk and was horrible, resulting in the promoters and agents saying he needed to be replaced.  At this same time Samson also left the band.  They were replaced for the live shows by vocalist Nikki Brooks and guitarist Mark Keen, but when the band failed to make any impact, McCoy went on to form the group Mammoth who released an album in 1989, but then also broke up.  At this point he focused more on producing, but then in 1998 he revived the McCoy name and released the album Brainstormm with Al Romano on guitars and vocals and Mike Sciotto on drums.  Now, thanks to HNE Recordings, the EP and both albums along with Live 1977, a live recording featuring the trio of McCoy, Samson and drummer Roger Hunt that was recorded in 1977, are compiled on the three CD box set The Sound Of Thunder!

Disc one kicks off with the EP and a killer cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well!” (written by the legendary Peter Green).  It’s a hard driving cut with a strong sense of atmosphere and some solid guitar work from Samson.  Next up are “Night Lights” and “The Sound of Thunder”, a couple of great NWOBHM rockers, the first of which has a short piano section in the middle that reminds me a little of what Van Halen would do not too much later on 1984 (interestingly Rees vocals on the EP also give me Sammy Hagar vibes at times).  “Temporary Threshold Shift” is a catchy track with a hard driving chugga chugga, boogie woogie beat.  That brings us to the last track on the EP, “Because You Lied”, a slower tune full of shimmering guitar washes (a little reminiscent of Whitesnake), but with biting, very emotional lyrics directed at Gillan.
Also included on disc one is the Think Hard album, which starts with the raw, crunching guitars of the hard driving opener “Freemind”.  “The Demon Rose” is a definite standout track that finds them shifting gears a little and is somewhat laid-back with a really cool groove that is strongly reminiscent of Thin Lizzy.  With an emotional vocal performance from Rees, “Loving Lies” is the first of two strong bluesy power ballads (“Fear Of The Morning” is the other).  Driven by its galloping beat, “Hell To Play” is very Maiden-like, while “Heads Will Roll” and “Ride The Night” are more classic sounding NWOBHM tracks.  The album closes with “Jerusalem”, a midtempo rocker, fleshed out with some synths and choral vocals from Mathern Village School Choir, that unfortunately goes on a little too long and gets a little repetitive.  Disc one also contains a couple of bonus tracks with the single version of “Oh Well!” and an alternate version of “Night Lights” that sounds a lot like a demo.  

The lineup of McCoy that recorded the Brainstorm album (disc 2) started around 1991 when Samson and Thunderstick told him about playing with Al Romano on a trip to New York.  Samson said he sounded like him and he thought they might work well together.  Romano got in touch with him and also told him about vocalist Joey Belladonna who he had been working with.  They decided McCoy would write the music and then finish them with Joey and record an album.  Belladonna was still with Anthrax and they had a hit at that time with "Bring The Noise", which continued to create delays with the album.  McCoy started working out the songs with Romano and Sciotto and it reached the point where they decided to just record it themselves with Romano handling the vocals.  When Joey finally heard what they were doing he said he thought it was too AOR for him and after further delays due to McCoy's mother dying, he said he wasn't interested in finishing it. McCoy eventually completed the recordings several years later and the album was released in 1998.  While there are some similarities to the earlier releases under that name, overall, the album is much more on the melodic, and at times poppier, side.  It opens quite differently with the ethereal “Dreaming Of The Dead”, a sitar instrumental with an interesting droning undercurrent.  “Heavy Metal Cowboy” is up next and is a hard driving cut with an almost thrash like pace from the rhythm section that finds them in a more familiar territory.   The next several tracks find them sticking to the melodic rock side of things starting off with the midtempo “On And On”, which is okay but a bit on the generic side.  “Outrageous” and “Don’t Walk Away” are in the same vein, but are catchier and much better, while “I Know A Place” and “Save Me” have a bit more of a rock edge.  Along with more really good guitar work, “Streamtrain” adds a slightly funky, stomping beat to the mix, while “Bad Luck” shifts even more in a harder direction with a bit of a ragged, punky edge.  The synth-heavy power ballad “Josephine” is up next followed by “Tarot Cards”, a poppy melodic rocker with more emphasis on the synths once again.  With the exception of the occasional chant of the song’s title, “The Prophets of Doom” is a heavy, slow paced instrumental.  Closing out the album, bookended between two humorous tracks (“The List/Zoomusic/The List Continues” and “Hawaiians 2 - Electrolux 1”) that are a nod to the For Gillan Fans Only album, is “Disillusioned”, a really pretty stripped-down acoustic cut.

Disc three is from a show recorded in 1977 featuring the earliest incarnation of the band utilizing the McCoy name (to get more gigs they also moonlighted as Samson).  In addition to McCoy, the band consisted of Paul Samson on guitars and vocals and Roger Hunt on drums.  The set was recorded by the band's roadie/sound engineer at a pub call the Target in Reading, Berkshire on July 16, 1977.  Amongst the songs are five that ended up on Samson’s debut album Survivors (“Big Brother”, “Wrong Side Of Time”, “Six Foot Under” and CD reissue tracks “I Wish I Was” and “The Shuffle”, the last of which even showcases some harmonica from Samson) and covers of Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man" and ZZ Top's "Nasty Dogs and Funk Kings".  For the most part, the set consists of solid bluesy rockers along with some boogie woogie (the aforementioned "Six Foot Under") and a few muscular straight-ahead rockers ("Telephone", "I Wish I Was), and while the quality of the recording is rough, it is a fascinating glimpse of what was to come a few years later.  Rounded out by a CD booklet with an essay detailing the band, The Sound of Thunder! does a great job of highlighting this era of this underappreciated musician's work.   

(HNE Recordings)