"Media Messiahs"/"Horror Through Straightness" Released: January 19, 1979
"The Power and the Glory"/"Highlands One, Hopefuls Two" Released: March 9, 1979
Thriller is the third studio album by pub rock band
Eddie and the Hot Rods, reaching No. 50 on the
UK Albums Chart.[1][2] Released in 1979, it was produced by Peter Ker.[3] Shortly after the release of Thriller, the band was sacked by their record company and forced to join
EMI Records. The album was reissued in 2002 with two bonus tracks: "Horror Through Straightness" and "Highlands 1 Hopefuls 2". These songs had been the
B-sides to the singles released on the LP.
The album featured two singles: "Media Messiahs" and "The Power and the Glory", neither of which charted on the
UK Singles Chart.
Linda McCartney provided backing vocals on "The Power and the Glory".[4] Reception of the album was muted.[5]
Trouser Press wrote that "the album reeks with bitterness; although competent, it has neither the freshness of Life on the Line nor anything substantial to replace it."[7] In 2002, Goldmine noted that "it's the sound of a group realizing that history had left them behind and even their old fans had drifted away."[8]
Track listing
"The Power and the Glory" (Graeme Douglas) – 4:16
"Echoes" (Paul Gray, Steve Nicol) – 2:54
"Media Messiahs" (Graeme Douglas) – 2:54
"Circles" (Dave Higgs) – 2:55
"He Does It with Mirrors" (Dave Higgs, Graeme Douglas) – 4:12
"Strangers" (Graeme Douglas) – 2:46
"Out to Lunch" (Dave Higgs) – 4:48
"Breathless" (Graeme Douglas, Paul Gray) – 3:33
"Take It or Leave It" (Barrie Masters, Graeme Douglas) – 4:12
"Living Dangerously" (Dave Higgs) – 3:36
"Horror Through Straightness" (Dave Higgs, Steve Nicol, Paul Gray) – 4:25
^
abMusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 229.
^Harry Castleman, Walter J. Podrazik -The end of the Beatles? 1985 p 294 "However, for the 1979 Thriller album by Eddie and the Hot Rods (recorded at Abbey Road studios), only Linda made the album credits as a backing vocalist. Though the liner notes did not offer a track-by-track listing of personnel, she most likely appeared on the Power And The Glory cut, also issued as a single...."
^Peter Buckley The Rough Guide to Rock 2003 "Eddie and the Hot Rods .... THRILLER (1979) was a disappointment, and when Douglas left, the writing was on the wall."