blackleatherbookshelf | Entries tagged with richard thompson

Richard Thompson's Best Live Album
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Recorded for the "Austin City Limits" program, "Live From Austin Texas" is Richard Thompson playing in a trio setting (drummer Michel Jerome, upright bassist Danny Thompson). Spare as that sounds, Thompson's muscular guitar cuts to the front of the line every time. Released in 2005 on the NewWest label, it boasts a clear sounding mix, a great selection of songs and Thompson is fine form.

You'll get songs that range back to "Shoot Out The Lights" to material from the then new "Mock Tudor." Some of the songs I kind of thought were lesser bits on previous albums, like "Al Bowlly's In Heaven" - terrific bass solo by Danny) - sound great in this context. Of the newer material, the ballad "Persuasion" (written by Split Enz's Tim Finn) and the ripping opener, "Cooksferry Queen" are stand outs. But my favorite is (and likely forever will be) the magnificent "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." It is one of the few songs that consider to be a flawless bit of writing and playing, and on "Live From Austin, Texas," it again fails to disappoint. The outstanding version of this song alone would rate the album three stars, and here it and his band give it due justice. Simply put, "Live From Austin, Texas" is the best of Richard Thompson's many live solo albums.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" Richard Thompson

When Thompson was on a roll
5 Out Of 5 Stars

In 1988, Capitol took a roll of the dice and signed Richard Thompson to an American record deal. Thompson had several brushes with success, and had skipped across several smaller labels, all while seeing that breakthrough always just seemingly out of reach. Someone at Hollywood and Vine must have seen this as an opportunity, and five studio albums ensued. With the promotional wheels of Capitol behind him, Thompson suddenly found his albums creeping into the top hundred, and the man himself on a serious creative roll. "Action Packed" is a superb collection that skims the cream from those albums and adds a new track.

Starting with "Amnesia" and going through "You? Me? Us?," Thompson was matched to producer Mitchell Froom, who seemed perfectly aligned towards Thompson's playing and songwriting. To his credit, Thompson embraced the style and finessed it, delivering some remarkable songs and his usual killer guitar playing. I challenge anyone to listen to "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" and not come away with the opinion that it is simply one of the best folk songs ever written or to hear "I Feel Good" and miss it's cynical bite. Those are just a pair of the classic songs on "Action Packed," balancing semi-rock songs with tenderly played pieces like "Beeswing." His final Capitol disc, "Mock Tudor," produced by Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and still had Froom on keyboards

Thompson has always had a soft spot for writing about the down-trodden, and there are a few of those here, as well. "Mr. Rebound" describes the woe of a man who always seems to be the fall-back when the women of his dreams needs a fling with somebody new. Then's there's "Waltzing's For Dreamers," in it's stately 3/4 time as Thompson describes each of the three steps of breaking his heart. The bonus tracks are no slouches, either, when you consider that they are usually the stuff of B-sides. The softly seductive "Persuasion" (co-written by Split Enz' Tim Finn) is cast as a ballad featuring his son, Teddy. "Mr Rebound" and "Fully Qualified to Be Your Man" were unavailable on CD prior to "Action Packed" and were recorded for "Mock Tudor."

Thompson has been making brilliant songs for so many years that it's difficult to recommend single CD's without busting your wallet. But for a blazing period between 1988 and 1999, he ran a streak of strong albums, and "Action Packed" pulls that decade into an enjoyably listenable single CD experience.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" Richard Thompson

"I'm sad as a proud man can be sad tonight"
4 Out Of 5 Stars

That line comes from "Waltzing For Dreamers," the most melancholy song on Richard Thompson's 1988 album, "Amnesia." His first of several albums for the Capital label, it's also the second of Thompson's to feature then red hot producer Mitchell Froom. I'm not sure if it was the promise of some heavier promotion for the album or that Froom kept the album to a complimentary production job, but Thompson delivered a consistent batch of songs for "Amnesia," one of his better and certainly more mainstream efforts.

As for Thompson, he kept his stature as one of rock's great undiscovered geniuses, once again providing stellar songwriting, impassioned vocals and searing guitar work. One can forgive "Gypsy Love Song" for being one of "Amnesia's" weaker tracks for the incredible guitar solo, and wait for the politically biting "Jerusalem On The Jukebox," taking its aim at the uncomfortably cozy relationship between televangelists and politicians. That's also a track that showcases Thompson's dry humor, as well as "Yankee Go Home."

The songs are buoyed not only by Froom's sympathetic production, but a series of musical pros like Tony Leven, Jim Keltner and Jerry Scheff among others. The only thing missing is the kind of classic song Thompson typically had per record, the previously mentioned "Waltzing's For Dreamers." "I Still Dream" and the somewhat feisty "Don't Tempt Me" also comes close. But on his superb follow-up, "Rumour And Sigh," arguably one of his all time best albums, that the unforgettable songs reappeared. "Amnesia" is a great start to a productive few years for Thompson, and nit a bad album to have in the collection.

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Jerusalem On The Jukebox" Richard Thompson

Love is a Bitter Mistress
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Richard Thompson is an amazing guitarist, a passionate singer and a terrific songwriter. He's also a man who views love with a cynical eye. "Across a Crowded Room" is one of his albums that followed in the backwash of a nasty breakup with his wife and musical partner Linda Thompson. As such, Thompson's idea of a love song is to sing "love letters you wrote are pushed down your throat, and leave you choking." While this is a stunning musical achievement of an album, it's not a feel good collection.

Thompson's ruminations of love gone sour extend to the song titles; "Love In a Faithless Country" and "When The Spell is Broken" leave little doubt to where their loyalties lie. Even the perky "You Don't Say" turns itself on its head as Thompson listens to friends telling him about all the nasty things the ex is saying, but the moondog in Thompson answers all these accusations back with "you mean she still cares? You don't say?" Then a stunning guitar lead takes over. Which is the best thing about any given Richard Thompson album. Despite the way he looks at the world, you're in the presence of one of the world's most incredible guitarists. He can sting like he does on "Little Blue Number" or fill the room with atmosphere as he does on "Ghosts In The Wind" and "Faithless Country."

"Love In A Faithless Country" may be one of my personal top ten Thompson songs (this coming from a guy who's seen Thompson live five times, from 1986 to the present). Under a haunting guitar figure, he describes a love affair in terms of warfare and espionage. Claiming that "always make your best moves late at night, always keep your tools well out of sight," before breaking into the twist of the chorus's "that's the way we make love." The ghostly background singers and martial drums contribute to an overall sinister feel.

Thompson has written some songs that are folk classics ("Beeswing," "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" both spring immediately to my mind), but "Across a Crowded Room" is one of his best albums. I'll also recommend "Rumor and Sigh," "Front Parlor Ballads" and "Shoot Out The Lights" for some of his most enjoyable work.

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Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "When The Spell Is Broken" Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson plugs in...sort of
4 Out Of 5 Stars

While I doubt anyone will be mistaken into thinking this is the new posthumous Jimi Hendrix album, Richard Thompson relays his guitar mastery on "Electric." And while Thompson has traded up to electric guitars for this album, it's often hard to tell because Thompson's style is so unique. Even when he's picking at a slightly higher volume that usual, hardly anyone can match his guitar prowess.

"Electric" also shows off Thompson's skills as a songwriter. "Stony Ground" is a Celtic stomper about messing with the wrong lady, but it's filled with tricky wordplay. "My Enemy" (maybe my favorite song on the album) describes a relationship where everything may have gone to hell, but "how I need my enemy" keeps him coming back. This song, like many others, features backing vocals by Siobahn Maher Kennedy who adds a haunting touch to this particular song.

The other woman to share a song is Alison Krauss on "The Snow Goose." She also haunts the song, but in a different kind of locational way. It's beautiful work. There's more to "Electric" than doomed men and difficult women. Thompson has always had a sense of humor, which comes across on "Good Things Happen To Bad People." In a better world, it would be a popular single, but in real life it's a clever song with a catchy chorus.

If you're a fan of Thompson's work up and down the gamut, you're going to love "Electric." If you're new to his work, this isn't a bad starting point.

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Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Stony Ground" Richard Thompson

Talking about the good life in the foodchain
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Werner Herzog was given a strange mission with the film, "Grizzly Man." How do you take 100's of hours of tape made by a delusional, self-centered and mentally imbalanced man who is ultimately killed (along with the poor woman he drags along after him) by his obsession with Alaskan Grizzlies and make him someone somewhat sympathetic? The documentary manages to do just that, with Herzog inserting himslef as a conscience/narrator into the tapes of naturalist and self-described "kind warrior" Timothy Treadwell. For over a decade of summers, Treadwell would haul himself to Alaska, embed himself in a State Park and try to become one with the grizzlies.

Yes, you're right...anyone with a lick of sense would see this as a fool's errand, and the movie doesn't even bother to hide that fact by mentioning at the beginning that Treadwell and lady friend Amie Huguenard become lunch for a "bear full of people and clothes." Treadwell fails to recognize what Herzog knows by instinct and a few millenniums of evolution; nature is "chaos, hostility, and murder." Treadwell looks at nature as some sort of Disney-fied harmony, where if you just dance with the animals, they'll be your friends and all will live in the big unity of the universe. This despite ample evidence to the contrary (adult males eating cubs to foster mating with females, the killing of one of his fox pup 'friends'); Treadwell rails on about the bear world versus the people world.

Herzog keeps Treadwell from looking like a blithering idiot by balancing some of the most intimate footage you'll probably ever see of bears in the wild and commentary from both the friends and enemies of Treadwell, and ultimately sacrificing an opportunity to exploit Treadwell and Amie's death. A narcissist to the very end, Treadwell had a camera running even as he and Amie were being attacked and killed, and Herzog makes the decision to not include the audio (the lens cap was still on the camera) or include the pictures from the coroner, going as far as to implore one of Treadwell's few friends to destroy the final tape and never look back. It's Herzog's sense of compassion for his subject (aided by a terrific score by guitarist Richard Thompson), even as he understands the madness, that makes "Grizzly Man" so compelling.

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Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Magic Bus" The Who

Parlour Picking with Richard Thompson
3 Out Of 5 Stars

This is one of those low key efforts by Ricard Thompson, where almost half the songs are just him and his acoustic, telling stories about the down trodden and those whom ultimately will arrive there. "Front Parlour Ballads" is not the album you could use to convert new listeners to Richard's music, as it tends to stay in a mostly dour mind-set and the playing is not the lightening fingered style of Richard at his best.

The only real toe-tapper here is "Let it Blow," a song about a serial husband, which also displays Richard's oft-wicked sense of humor. The remaining cast of characters range from a violent gang of vandals ("The Boys of Mutton Street"), the boy the likely bullies ("When We Were Boys at School") and one of the hooligans grown to become a drab office worker we lives for 'smug little victories' ("A Solitary Life"). As always, the album is also laden with songs of haunted love like "For Whose Sake" and "Precious One," but none to mach such pinnacles as "When The Spell is Broken" or "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."

Overall, "Front Parlour Ballads" (named after Richard's garage studio) is a modestly satisfying record by his own exacting standards. Fans will enjoy, others should looks towards "Action Packed" or "Across a Crowded Room."