''All You Can Eat'' is the thirty-second live album and eleventh video by English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

. It is a three-part collection documenting a number of live performances in 2014, as well as the recording and production of the band's 2015 tenth studio album ''

Wonder Days ''Wonder Days'' is the tenth Album, studio album by English hard rock band Thunder (band), Thunder. Recorded in late 2014 at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, it was produced by the band's lead guitarist Luke Morley and released internationall ...

''. The album was released on 29 January 2016 by

earMusic Edel SE & Co. KGaA is a German independent media company based in Hamburg. As a label and publishing group, it also operates marketing and sales for artists and smaller music labels. The repertoire of the Edel labels includes dance, rock and po ...

. The video portion of the release topped the UK Music Video Chart, while the full album charted at number 101 on the

Japanese Albums Chart , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nove ...

. Presented in three parts, ''All You Can Eat'' consists of ''Live at RAK Studio 1'', recorded at London's RAK Studios on 4 November 2014, ''Live at the Brooklyn Bowl'', recorded at

The O2 The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely within ...

's Brooklyn Bowl two days later, and ''Wonder Days: The Film'', a

behind the scenes In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) vid ...

documentary filmed during the recording of ''Wonder Days'', as well as footage from the band's appearance at

Loud Park Festival The was a heavy metal festival held annually at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City or Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Japan. It was one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in Japan. The festival has featured both Japanese and international perf ...

on 19 October 2014 and highlights from the RAK Studios and Brooklyn Bowl performances. In addition to its release as a three-disc set, ''All You Can Eat'' was released in Japan and online with a bonus disc featuring the band's full performance at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...

in Tokyo for Loud Park Festival. ''Live at RAK Studio 1'', ''Live at Brooklyn Bowl'' and ''Live at Loud Park'' were also issued separately as limited edition albums on

12" vinyl The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

. Thunder's second guitarist Ben Matthews was not present for any of the live recordings, and was replaced by Peter Shoulder.

Background

Thunder performed only three shows in 2014 – on 28 June at

Calling Festival Calling Festival (formerly Hyde Park Calling and Hard Rock Calling) was an annual music festival, formerly held in Hyde Park, London, from 2006 until 2012, and from 2013 in Olympic Park, London, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. In Septemb ...

in London, on 19 October at

in Tokyo, Japan, and on 6 November at

's Brooklyn Bowl in London – and spent the rest of the year recording their tenth studio album ''

''. At the beginning of the year, the band's second guitarist and keyboardist Ben Matthews was diagnosed with

head and neck cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...

, which excluded him from taking part in any of the shows and much of the album's recording. He was replaced by Peter Shoulder – lead guitarist

Luke Morley Luke Morley (born 19 June 1960 in Camberwell, London, England) is the guitarist, chief songwriter and producer for the hard rock band Thunder from 1989 to present (with a break from 1999–2002, and 2009–2011). Previous to that he wa ...

's bandmate in

The Union The Union may refer to: Politics * The Union (Germany) or CDU/CSU, the partnership of the German political parties the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union * The Union (Italy), a former coalition of political parties in Ital ...

– and was later "given the all-clear" in November. The band's performances at Loud Park Festival and the Brooklyn Bowl in 2014 were recorded, in addition to a rehearsal session on 4 November at RAK Studios in London, for release on ''All You Can Eat''. The RAK Studio session was included as the " starter" of the set, the Brooklyn Bowl performance as the "

main course A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée ("entry") course. Typically, the main course is the meal that is the heaviest, heartiest, and most intricate or substantial o ...

", and the Loud Park set as part of the "dessert" disc, which also featured a documentary about the recording of ''Wonder Days'' and footage from RAK Studios and the Brooklyn Bowl. Some editions of the album contained the Loud Park recordings as a separate disc, while all three were also released separately in the UK on

Reception

Reviewing the album for ''

Bravewords ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'' (''BW&BK'') is a Canadian heavy metal magazine. Although based in Toronto, Canada, ''BW&BK'' features writers from the US, Germany and the UK, allowing the magazine to represent metal music from an internationa ...

'', Mark Gromen described ''All You Can Eat'' as "a worthy introduction" to the band's 2015 tenth studio album ''

'', praising the collection's "passionate, storytelling lyrics, slide and reverb guitar, plus an amazingly clear production". Gromen concluded his review by proposing that "You'd be hard pressed to find a more consistent, bluesy hard rock band over the last 2+ decades", awarding the album a rating of 8.5 out of 10. Essi Berelian of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

'' claimed that ''All You Can Eat'' "will provide fans ample opportunity to gorge themselves stupid, over and over again".

Track listing

Starter: ''Live at RAK Studio 1''

Main course: ''Live at the Brooklyn Bowl''

Dessert: ''Wonder Days: The Film''

Bonus disc: ''Live at Loud Park''

Personnel

Danny Bowes Daniel John ‘Danny’ Bowes (born 14 April 1960, West Ham, Essex, England) is a British hard rock singer. Education Bowes was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College. Life and career Bowes is the lead singer with the rock act, Thund ...

– vocals *

– guitar, piano, backing vocals, production * Chris Childs – bass, backing vocals, production, mastering * Gary "Harry" James – drums, percussion *Peter Shoulder – guitar, backing vocals *Kenny Dogleash – production *Nick Brine – engineering, mixing *Joel Davies – engineering assistance *Pete Maher – mastering *Alexander Mertsch –

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

*Jason Joyce – photography *Marty Moffatt – photography

References

Bibliography

External links

''All You Can Eat''
on Thunder's official website * {{Thunder 2016 live albums 2016 video albums Thunder (band) albums Edel AG albums