Action Packed: Best of the Capitol Years
Eric  Claptonhad better marketing. That's the only way to explain why  Richard Thompson isn't as famous as that other British guitar god. A  brilliant, albeit subtle, guitar genius, Thompson writes wonderful  songs that are sometimes rockin', sometimes haunting, and sometimes a  little bit of both. And he presents them all in a voice that can only  be called unique. Unlike most guitar heroes, Thompson is less based in  the blues than he is in folk--dating back to his early years with the  seminalFairport  Convention--but his has always been a folk music with bite and  soul, adding things to the folk lexicon like rockabilly and zydeco.  "Cooksferry Queen"--one of the 19 tracks on this compilation culled  from the six albums Thompson released on Capitol between 1988 and  1999--features a guitar solo that's downright punk. Tracks like the semihit  "I Feel So Good," "Razor Dance," and "Bathsheba Smiles" remain as  exhilarating as anything you're apt to hear. Longtime fans will need to  hear the three tracks previously unreleased on CD, including a new duet  with sonTeddy Thompsonon  "Persuasion" (co-written with Tim Finn) that is absolutely gorgeous.  Ultimately, one longs for a box set that encompasses all eras (and  labels) of this master's career, butAction Packedproves that  the recent last third of it has been topnotch.--Bill Holdship