Richard Thompson

Posted by: greeny on 12 July 2004

I saw the Beeb2 Richard Thompson profile at the weekend, and whilst the program was not great it prompted me to listen to a couple of his albums. I am by no means a Thompson expert (having 2 Fairport albums, 3 Richard/Linda albums and 2 solos), but his albums made with Linda are quite superb and recomended to anyone with a Rocky Folky bent. The two albums of particular merit being:

Richard and Linda Thompson: I want to see the Bright lights tonight.
Richard and Linda Thompson: Shoot out the Lights.
Posted on: 12 July 2004 by J.N.
I'll second that Greeny.

Solo wise 'Rumor (sic) and Sigh' is full of RT's acerbic lyrics and wonderful tales of love gone wrong.

He even makes an old British motorbike sound romantic.

'Watching The Dark' is an excellent 3 CD compilation of Mr T's work, but may no longer be available?

Enjoy.
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by Rasher
He just comes across as being so anal. Repressed. Bloody frigid English. He's like the English Angelic Neil Young without any dirt and sent out by his mum with a clean hankie every day. All the serious wires in his brain bound together and routed up his rectum. You just want to take him out and make him laugh.
Lovley guy, such talent - but a trainspotter.
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by J.N.
His girlfriend was thrown out of a van and killed on the way back from a gig in the 'Fairport' days. He survived. How's that for starters?

Anyway; great music rarely comes from level headed Joe Blow.
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by Rasher
We all carry our personal baggage. He isn't a special case JN.
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by J.N.
Indeed he is not, and comes across as a very pleasant chap.

I can't imagine him being rude about anyone.
Posted on: 14 July 2004 by JohanR
Funny you should mention Neil Young in this thread, Rasher.

He, together with Richard T and Frank Zappa (and probably a bunch of others) is people I hold in high regard because they don't follow the latest trends, instead they live their lives and makes their music the way they want, not from a calculation on what might sell best.
I don't like Frank Z:s music, but I can have high regard for him as a person anyway (yes, I know he's dead).

JohanR
Posted on: 14 July 2004 by Richard S
The two occassions I have seen him live (Liverpool & Salford) he has been warm and witty, prepared to enter into friendly banter with the audience. The performance was amazing.

I'd sooner see him live than a lot of other miserable gits. van the man anyone ?

regards
Richard S
Posted on: 14 July 2004 by Rasher
quote:
I'd sooner see him live than a lot of other miserable gits. van the man anyone ?

Oh let's not go there. Quite right.
As I said, he seems to be a lovely guy, but I just want to give him a shake and see him let himself go a bit. He just seems so starched and stiff.
Posted on: 14 July 2004 by greeny
quote:
He just seems so starched and stiff.


I agree, that is certainly how he came accross on the Documentary, and the trainspotting comment is, in fact true (as a youngster). However when he makes music as good as he does, I don't really care what kind of bloke he is.
Posted on: 03 August 2004 by Top Cat
Being a fan of around 8 years now, I was keen to see this documentary but it was disappointing (at least compared to the ridiculous John Martyn doc the previous week).

I would recommend the following to anyone keen to sample RT's music. I'll leave the FC stuff to one side as it's been well covered:

"Shoot out the lights" - with Linda. Better than IWTSTBLT in my opinion.

"Watching the dark" - if you can get it. Took some searching for me to locate a copy.

"The Old Kit Bag" - his current-ish album (if you discount the live, web-and-gig only cds). Splendid record. But buy it on vinyl as it's a monumentally good pressing.

Hope this helps.

John