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Stick a gun to this reviewer’s head and ask for the name of the most underrated vocalist of all time and there is only one answer: Frankie Miller. Likewise, ask for the name of the most underrated songwriter of all time and again there is only one answer: Luke Morley. The Thunder co-founder, guitarist, producer, and songwriter-in-chief has an inimitable style that makes one of his songs instantly recognisable as soon as the lyrics start up. No one quite writes heartache as Luke Morley does and even on Thunder’s most recent album (2022’s ‘Dopamine’) he was still up to his old tricks with the spellbinding ‘Unraveling’. Written in lockdown Morley’s latest solo album ‘Songs from The Blue Room’ (a tip of the hat to his beloved Manchester City?) could have been full of tales of woe and heartache, but instead, it’s a light and breezy 30 minutes or so that is perfect (nay, essential) listening material for the Summer.
With Morley attending to all musical duties except drums, ‘Songs from The Blue Room’ is essentially a solo album in the truest meaning of the word. Americana-tinged throughout, but that genre is so widespread the Americana tag covers many bases. Opening track ‘I Wanna See The Light’ is a fantastic upbeat track in a Tom Petty mold -a few hints of The Georgia Satellites and Drive-By Truckers here and there – and the backing vocals from Julie Maguire and Carly Greene are as crucial here as they are on the last few Thunder studio albums. Subtle, but very effective. But then ‘Killed By Cobain’ lands and brings with it a Traveling Wilburys/The Beatles vibe, and considering how ingrained Tom Petty was with the Wilburys, the spirit of the much-missed Floridian lives on during Morley’s wonderful tribute. Americana? Maybe not so much. Bloody good fun? Without a doubt.
‘Killed By Cobain’ is a wry observation of how Thunder were on the plane to go break North America, only for Grunge to strike and well, the rest is history. ‘Errol Flynn’ is another cracking piece of observation from Morley and deals with the fading glories of a would-be cowboy, although in Morley’s hands, it could be about that fading rock star who can’t quite let go of those 15 minutes of fame that were once within his grasp. Played at a waltz-like pace, it is simply stunning. ‘Damage’ is another stunner. A gorgeous piano-led song that gets the toes tapping and once again highlights the variety found within the album – slip some decent cans on and drool at the rather lovely Brian May-like guitar licks. Keeping the pot of gumbo boiling is ‘Nobody Cares’, different people will pick up different things from this one; an Eastern Europe-by-way-of-America Gogol Bordello sway in places, but how about hints of Alex Harvey maybe? It definitely has a ‘Delilah’ touch, but not in a Tom Jones way, more in the stylings of Glasgow’s most famous poet: Alexander James Harvey. Vambo rules, baby.
Side two kicks off with the cooler-than-ice-cold strains of ‘Watch The Sun Go Down’ which comes complete with some nifty harmonica from Morley, before another dose of Tom Petty-like tones land with the glorious ‘Cry Like Rain’ (“…we never said goodbye so I guess I’ll cry like rain…”) which has a gorgeous Hammond Organ sound in the background. Morley’s prowess with four strings rather than six forms the bedrock of the good-time ‘Lying To Myself’ and there is even a not-so-hidden reference to Thunder’s ‘She’s So Fine’ in there, in amongst more harmonica, but it is the thumping bass lines that do rattle around for quite sometime after. ‘I’m The One You Want’ is as close to Thunder territory as Morley gets on ‘Songs from The Blue Room’ and it’s not too hard to picture it on the ‘Please Remain Seated’ album, it has that trademark Gary James swing on drums, as well as a gorgeous piece of freeform playing from Morley toward the end.
Ending on the beautiful McCartney-esque ‘Don’t Be Long’, the only surprise about ‘Songs from The Blue Room’ is that anyone would be surprised how strong an album it actually is. A fantastic, varied album that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Available now, purchase here.
Review – Dave
Photo credits – Jason Joyce
