# Thunder Live

Thunder Live is a live album by Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopea, released on April 21, 1980 by Alfa Records. This album marked the first appearance of drummer Akira Jimbo, who replaced Takashi Sasaki that same year.

## Background and recording

This is their first live album, and it mainly includes songs from their past two albums, but "I'm Sorry" and "Have a Nice Dream" are included for the first time in this album.
In addition to the technical and detailed ensemble shown in their past two albums, their high performance in the live recordings, and the sophisticated drumming techniques of Akira Jimbo, have earned them even higher praise than ever. In particular, Harvey Mason heard this album during a listening project for a jazz magazine and was impressed, which led to him becoming involved in their subsequent activities, including participating in the production of their 1981 album Eyes of the Mind.
The live performance that included this album also included video, and at the time of its release it existed as a promotional video, but it was not commercially available for a long time. However, in 1992, "Have a Nice Dream" and "Black Joke" (different takes on different recording dates from the album) were included in the Casiopea live video collection Act One. In 1999, the DVD Casiopea Again included "Take Me", which was not included in the album, along with "Have a Nice Dream".

## Packaging

There are two types of covers for this album. The jacket of the first edition, released in 1980, featured a caricature of the members in extreme colors, standing against a backdrop of crimson flames. This original jacket has received major criticism, even from Akira Jimbo's mother. However, from the re-press version, the cover was changed to a more subdued color scheme featuring an illustration of lightning falling on the sea surface.

## Track listing

All tunes arranged by Issei Noro.

## Personnel
### Band members

* Issei Noro - Electric guitar (Yamaha SG-2000)
* Minoru Mukaiya - Keyboards (Yamaha CP-80 and CS-40M, Fender Rhodes Piano, Korg 800DV and PS-3200, Roland VP-330 and ProMars)
* Tetsuo Sakurai - Bass (Fender Electric Bass, Yamaha BB-2000)
* Akira Jimbo - Drums (Yamaha YD-9000R)

### Production

* Executive producers - Kunihiko Murai, Syoro Kawazoe
* Producers - Shunsuke Miyazumi, Shinji Sawada
* Recording andMixing engineer - Norio Yoshizawa, Yasuhiko Terada, Katsuhiko Sato
* Art Director - Yukimasa Okumura
* Design - Tomohiro Itami
* Illustrator - Makoto Saito
* Cover coordination - Toshinao Tsukui
* Remastering engineer - Kouji Suzuki (2016)

## Release history

| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog | Note |
| Japan | April 21, 1980 | Alfa Records | 30cmLP | ALR-6037 | stereo |
| Japan | April 21, 1980 | Alfa Records | Compact cassette | ALR-6037 | |
| Japan | December 21, 1986 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | 32XA-106 | |
| Japan | March 21, 1992 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | ALCA-273 | |
| Japan | June 29, 1994 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | ALCA-9003 | |
| Japan | July 23, 1998 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | ALCA-9198 | |
| Japan | December 19, 2001 | Village Records | remastered 12cmCD | VRCL-2203 | DSD, LP paper jacket |
| Japan | January 17, 2002 | Village Records | remastered 12cmCD | VRCL-2223 | DSD |
| Japan | May 27, 2009 | Sony Music Direct | remastered 12cmCD | MHCL-20005 | DSD, Blu-spec CD, LP paper jacket |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 1076212864 | iTunes Store |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 4582290413969 | mora AAC-LC 320 kbps |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | A1003862385 | Recochoku AAC 128/320 kbps |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | B01B5AR7PY | Amazon.com |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | Bngtow64ze5jvnlo3uzaasrgnii | Google Play Music |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 4582290418681 | mora DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | smj4582290418681 | e-onkyo DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 11183 | HD-music DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 4582290418674 | mora FLAC 96.0 kHz/24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | A1003862385 | Recochoku FLAC 96 kHz 24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | smj4582290418674 | e-onkyo FLAC 96 kHz 24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 11172 | HD-music FLAC 96 kHz/24bit |
| Japan | November 10, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 2l1oVe4qT0xMwR32lSN8BI | Spotify |

## Full Live

Aside from Casiopea Perfect Live II, all Casiopea lives officially released are cut.
Some songs are missing from the official release, some are not in the right order and some are shorter.