Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Thu, 21 Jan 1993 15:06:49 EST
From:         "Michael H. Bloom" <MHB@MITVMA.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Richard Thompson
              21 Jan 1993 11:56:54 PST from <MIKEM@OAK.HIS.UCSF.EDU>

On Thu, 21 Jan 1993 11:56:54 PST Mike McGuire said:
>Can anyone recommend for me a cd by Richard and Linda Thompson?  I have
>some of his solo work but I would like to check some of his ohter stuff
>but I don't know anything about the music he did with his ex.  Thanks

_I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight_ has some of his most amazing
guitar playing-- the introductory cadenza on "Calvary Cross" sounds like
a bagpipe. He writes some characteristically depressing songs for her to
sing, like "Withered and Died." Originally released in 1973, it has become
one of those albums that defines the genre, sorta like _Liege & Lief_.

_Hokey Pokey_ has a bit more harmony singing between the two of them, but
is usually considered a pale echo of the previous record.

_Pour Down Like Silver_ is unrelievedly, gloriously depressing :-) There's
a definite sense of things being stretched to their limits, reflected in
abstract lyrics, dirge-like tempi, vocal imperfections-- it's their _Layla_
or their _Exile on Main Street_. There's some terrific guitar playing too.
By this time they were adherents of some Sufi sect, and they appear on the
cover in Arab costume. This is also where RT's trick of using accordion for
keyboard parts really gets established.

_First Light_ was sort of a sellout-- they got a normal producer, and they
use a standard session rhythm section, people like Andy Newmark, instead of
the old Fairport / Fotheringay cohort. The Pointer Sisters covered one tune
off this album, "Don't Let a Thief Steal Into Your Heart," so the sellout
worked, at least to that extent.

_Sunnyvista_ is an album I really like, and I'm nearly alone in this. It's
very satirical, somewhat bitter (duh!), but in a more direct and pissed-off
sort of way than was usual for them-- sounds rather like Bertolt Brecht.
Song titles include "Civilisation" (they're against it, at least in its
Western implementation), "Borrowed Time," and (perhaps the most directly
religious tune in Richard's catalog) "Why Do You Turn Your Back." The list
of guest musicians includes much of the old crowd, and fellow travellers
like Kate & Anna McGarrigle, a uniquely lavish setting for the Thompsons.

_Shoot Out the Lights_ is the one everybody else will tell you to get, that
being the point in RT's career (his dozenth album or so, including Fairport)
where _Rolling Stone_ and _Time_ caught up to him. It's considered important
because they broke up soon after, and the songs are alleged to document the
strains in the marriage. This is to some extent true, but it's not the real
reason to care about the album. The real reason is that it's got Richard's
most desperate, balls-to-the-wall playing since _Pour Down Like Silver_,
and is much more rocking in the bargain.

After that, of course, they did break up, Richard took on the lead singer's
role and toughened his voice up (if you were to listen to _Henry the Human
Fly_ and _Daring Adventures_ back to back, you probably wouldn't think they
were the same guy), and now he lives in L.A. and works with Oingo Boingo's
producer and stuff... although I think the recent albums are still better
than _First Light_; that's gotta be his career nadir.
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