The Go! Team Album: “Thunder, Lightning, Strike”

Ok, I love this cd to death. It's cool that the US version has "We Just Won't Be Defeated" and "Hold Yr Terror Close," but in all honesty you're better off paying for the import version. As much trouble as their label went through to clear all the samples from the original UK release, they couldn't get them all. And songs like "The Power is On," "Bottle Rocket," and "Huddle Information" really suffer without the female MC samples on the verses. Trust me, buy the import instead. It's pure genius.

Track 5 on "Thunder, Lightning, Strike", "Get It Together" is the hit theme song to a hit TV show that hasn't been made yet and doesn't yet realize it's the perfect song for them. Until then, it's a perfectly bright, mood-enhancing, some might say Power Song, inevitably annoying when you just want to be left alone to stew in one's own crap, but you just can't stop hearing it everywhere.

But it isn't everywhere -- yet.

Get into it before someone you hate buys the rights to associate it with their product and ruins it for you.

And the entire album extends that good feeling. I imagine myself running around the yard with kids to this album. I imagine myself joining the coolest cheerleading team ever to dance to this album -- and I usually hate the idea of myself cheerleading. I imagine every minute I listen to this album is another minute banishing gloom from my life.

Where the heck's the buzz for a work as positive and genuine and accessible as this???

People I talk to keep complaining about how everything they hear sounds the same, but almost no one goes out of their way EVEN JUST A LITTLE to find great stuff by folks making new, exciting POP MUSIC like the Go! Team. This album still has time to prove itself in the marketplace in the US, although it has been around a long while in the UK, but The Go! Team are just one of dozens of artists releasing albums in the last few years that have hit the proverbial wall in terms of the tight control very few channels (distribution, media, labels) have on music. It's not James Joyce, people, but neither is it the bland crap people buy because they only put money down for what they're sold; they only get what they're told to.

Saying that will probably cost me points from people rating this review, but I'm frustrated by the amount of hype it takes to get people to think something is any good. Folks won't change their habits, and put most of their hard earned dollars into the same-stuff-different-day, all the while complaining about the very system they perpetuate.

Meanwhile, most of you are missing great fun stuff like Go! Team, and Michael Franti, The Decemberists, Ben Lee, OK Go, Art Brut, Bob Mould, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, The Blue Van, The BellRays, Pansy Division, The Raveonettes, Silversun Pickups, Bouncing Souls, Girlyman, Disappear Fear, The Bobbleheads, Willy Mason, Bright Eyes, Coheed & Cambria, Louis XIV (y'all will probably come to know those last three sooner rather than later), Matisyahu, Gogol Bordello, Architecture In Helsinki, and even the latest by Garbage. Among others: I'm just scratching the surface here. (While we're on variety, don't get hung up on the variety of genres represented in that list - it's all -- well, I was gonna say Hits Radio-friendly, but hits radio has been nothing but hostile to anything not already pre-sold and pre-digested, for that matter, for decades.) There's so much great music out there ignored by the powers that be, so you gotta find it yourself.

Don't wait to be sold. The old paradigms are over. You can find out about great music without dealing with media who have lost your trust. Go to bands' websites. (Start with those listed, perhaps.) Listen online to alternative media (I recommend a search on "altrockradio", but there are many others.)

Impossible to dislike I say, so don't even try--it can't be done. Thunder, Lighting, Strike is like a beat up 8-track tape from a Billy Jack movie, mixed with The Electric Company, The Mod Squad, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Theme from Rocky. Add a bit hip-hop scratching and cheerleader shouting because... well, who know's why--just because. It's chaotic and fun: a lo-fi AM radio masterpiece. This CD doesn't include one of my favorite songs of theirs "We Listen Every Day," and that's a drag. Nevertheless it is a great CD. The Ladyflash video must be seen to have the full Go! Team experience. It's on their website, an amusing place on its own. See it if you can.

Fan of those old cheesy cop shows from the 70s that had those great horn sections? Then this album's for you. Fan of old school hip-hop? This is for you too. Fan of having a good time? Then this album is especially for you. This album is what the soundtrack of your life would be if it were filled with car chases, drug-busts, and "the man." These things are the essence that is Thunder, Lightning, Strike, the debut album from The Go! Team. Through the course of the baker's dozen tracks that make up Thunder, Lightning, Strike, The Go! Team recreate the drama and non-stop action of their favorite adrenaline-pumping shows from their youth using live horns, guitars, pianos, drums, bass, turntables and a singer that sound like they could have been pulled out of anywhere from Speed Racer to a Sergio Leone western. Every track here scores a direct hit and there isn't a blemish on the entire album, making it almost impossible to play favorites with any given song. A definite contender for album of the year, and deservedly so, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is an album that'll sweep you off your feet and transport you back to the magical world that lived inside your television every Saturday morning of your childhood. [The US version of Thunder, Lightning, Strike includes two bonus tracks "We Just Won't Be Defeated" and "Hold Yr Terror Close," both welcome additions to the album. This version also features revisions in the samples due to copyright issues but thankfully all the songs are still just as amazing as they were originally.]

I've been listening to The Go! Team since I got my hands on an import copy of 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' last year, and I find them to be a fantastic band that can be enjoyed by almost anyone.

Their tunes are catchy and energetic, quite varied, and make fantastic use of a variety of samples. Their sound is tough to describe; in sampling, they are theoretically similar to The Avalanches, but their sound is unlike any other album I have ever heard. The bulk of the songs are pure exuberance. Just listening to 'Bottle Rocket' or 'Ladyflash' can put you in a good mood, ready for the day. Think of the songs as 'Eye of the Tiger' for the indie set.

The US release includes several tracks not included on the original UK CD. They are a bit weaker than the rest of the album, but are still worth a listen.

Overall, 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' is definitely worth a purchase by anyone who enjoys unique, energetic music. The only drawbacks to the album are a relatively short playing time and tough-to-understand lyrics (as in, the words themselves are tough to understand, not the meaning of them. there are no lyric inserts and the words cannot be found on the internet). But when you're bopping your head to the music, these flaws are very easy to overlook.