Released In 2007, “Sweet Warrior” Was Arguably The Most Elaborate Album Richard Thompson Recorded In The Whole Decade

After “The Old Kit Bag” and “Front Parlour Ballads” (two albums defined by their interpretative intimacy) Richard Thompson undertook the recording of one of the fullest-sounding albums of his career. Completed and released in 2007, “Sweet Warrior” was named after a composition by Spenser, the poet who sparked the sonnet craze of the 17th Century, and who unwittingly encouraged Shakespeare to come with his finest body of non-dramatic work ever.

“Sweet Warrior” brings to mind key albums of Thompson’s career such as “Rumour And Sigh” and “Mirror Blue”. But not in a sonorous sense – for worse and for better, both “Rumour And Sigh” and “Mirror Blue” had been the subject of Mitchell Froom’s flamboyant studio techniques. No, the connection here is one of scope. Starting with 1999′s “Mock Tudor”, Thompson’s previous albums had been conceptual or thematic works. “Sweet Warrior” stood as a deliberate detour that took Thompson back to non-conceptual territory, and freed him to write about a much larger set of characters within the same record.

The one that was better-observed (and better-appreciated, too) was the American soldier stationed in Iraq of the song “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me”. As you probably know, “Dad” is slang for “Baghdad”, and the song careens from triplet to triplet describing the horrors and tragedies of war without any kind of palliative. If anything, “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” conveys the idea that in war only the suffering is equally-distributed, along with a sense of doom that marks those involved for life. A song to listen to attentively, and ponder on for a long time…

But not certainly if you are listening to the full album in one sitting. “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” is directly followed by the masterful (and utterly unconnected) vignette of “Mr. Stupid”. A rocker with a phenomenal drive, “Mr. Stupid” has Richard digging deep in his repertoire of abandoned and dysfunctional characters, and coming with karat gold yet again. So does the Gaelic-inspired “Johnny’s Far Away” (with a couple that simply highlights the fallibility of human beings), and the tragedy-laden “Poppy Red”. And characters that embrace the violent side of affection are not absent, either – just listen to “I’ll Never Give It Up” for a precise example.

The one criticism that might be leveled at the disc is that it runs just a little too long. There are a series of songs in the middle that are not key to the appeal of the album, including “Bad Monkey”, “Sneaky Boy” and “Too Late To Come Fishing”. And I find the ska of “Francesca” a bit trying, even when the sax work has to be commended for its finesse.

In any case, the album has a great coda conformed by the above-mentioned “Johnny’s Far Away”, “Guns Are The Tongues” and “Sunset Song”.

“Guns Are The Tongues” is yet another observation on war, only that this time the scenario is Northern Ireland and the story describes manipulation and fanaticism, right to their catastrophic consequences for the young men who get caught in the middle.

For its part, “Sunset Song” joins the canon of fare-thee-well songs penned by Thompson in a distinguished way, with its razor-sharp depiction of the anguish that moving on entails, even when one knows it is for the better. And “Take Care The Road You Choose” (the other valedictory song featured on the album) is not lacking in any sense, either.

So, it took Richard Thompson almost a full decade to return to the style of unconnected vignettes that we all adored and eagerly listened to. The wait was worth every single minute, in the end. That’s the way, that’s the way indeed, Mr. Thompson.

Rating: 8.5/10

Richard Thompson Issued "Mirror Blue" In 1994, More Than Two Years After The Critically-acclaimed "Rumour And Sigh" Album Was Released. It Was Produced By Mitchell Froom Again.

It remains something of a mystery why Richard Thompson did not capitalize on the success of “Rumour And Sigh” and took more than two years to deliver his next album. Well, it is a mystery only if you are not familiar with the man himself, that is. Thompson did never care about making “commercial” albums, and he has never player by the rules of the industry either. His music is something that is created in a context where expressions like “hit single” or “chart success” are either redefined or absolutely discarded. And there is no clearer example of that than the album he was to finally release long after “Rumour And Sigh” had run its course.

The album was to be titled “Mirror Blue” (after a poem by Lord Tennyson which is quoted on the booklet), and it would be the penultimate album that Mitchell Froom was to produce for Thompson. Many would point his fingers at the finished album, and cite Froom’s production as the reason it could not dent the charts. But today we know that Richard was the main instigator for the somehow disconcerting drum sound that was employed in the end. If anything, it seems as if Thompson was doing all he could to decommercialize the album, as if the successes attained by “Rumour And Sigh” were a cause of concern. More than anything, one is left feeling that Thompson came up with a disc to please his long time fans after having created one that pleased casual listeners, as if all he wanted to do was prove he could have mainstream success if he wanted to.

The themes he broaches are true to his best compositions – people who feel too much in too limited ways like the character from “For The Sake Of Mary” (and whose narrowness ultimately seals his fate) and delinquents like Shane and Dixie (two non-hopers who might as well have been called Sid and Nancy) are some of the protagonists you get to know during the disc’s duration. You feel you have met them before in different guises if you have been a listener of Thompson’s albums for a while, but there are topics which are infinite in themselves. Leaving aside the inherent nefarious thrill of such stories, I believe that tales about wrongdoing are always alluring if only because we believe deep down inside that by being exposed to other people’s faults me might be eventually able to address our own shortcomings. That might explain the popularity of songs like “1952 Vincent Black Lighting” from the previous album, and the heart-rending “Beeswing” from this one. “Beeswing” is a delicate Celtic ballad in which the fierceness of young love is demolished against the ineluctability of maturing. The final verse is bestial in its desolation. The listeners who have been there themselves will sink low for sure, and younger listeners will have one of the harder-hitting reality checks of their lives.

The short “I Can’t Wake Up To Save My Life” is also a number that will be too close for comfort for many. It deals with the return of one of these former romantic acquaintances that end up embittering a good part of our beings, and the surrealism of the lyrics (the woman comes back like something out of a Hammer horror movie) nails the point like a piledriver in your head.

There are three songs that have to be grouped together if only because they display a jazz sensibility which works excellently in each and every case. They are “Mingus Eyes”, “Easy There, Steady Now” and (my personal favorite) “I Ride In Your Slipstream”.

And if you are looking for a full-blooded rocker try out “Mascara Tears”, a song that (alongside “I Can’t Wake Up To Save My Life) has the best soloing of the whole record.

The album ends on an intimate note with the all-acoustic “Taking My Business Elsewhere”, yet another of these numbers in which being a loser is taken to the most pathetic extreme that could be imagined.

There is frankly very little to dislike on “Mirror Blue”. The hotrod song “MGB-GT” does not really do a lot for me, and “Fast Food” is just a little too gross (even when it tells the truth and nothing but the truth). But the album taken as a whole is a true reminder of Richard’s unerring skills as a master composer and storyteller, and I highly recommend it.

Rating: 8.5/10

The Cover To Richard Thompon's "The Old Kit Bag" (2003)

Richard’s first album of the century found him in a small label for the first time in more than two decades, and the record itself was to have a streamlined approach, with few musicians and a sound that was far removed from the layered approach that had marked/marred his 90s output. Perversely enough, the new formula worked quite magically – the record hit the Billboard Top 200, and the top 5 of the Indie charts. The truth is producer John Chelew came closer to capturing Richards’ rotund live sound than virtually anybody else – for sure much closer than Mitchell Froom.

The title of the album references a World War I song, as it is only fit since the record has a conceptual tinge of boys that grow to become soldiers only to be hit by the intricacies of destiny and the egotism and apathy of the adult world – “the fire in your eyes/how could they know”, Richard sings on the set opener, the fiercely beautiful “Gethsemane”. The first side of the record also has the Celtic-styled “One Door Opens”, probably one of the album highlights with vocalist  Judith Owen (a recent associate that joins long-time bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Michael Jerome) providing a rich backdrop, something she does not only on that tune but on more than half the tracks.

This backing becomes even more noticeable in one of the closing numbers, the tension-riddled “Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen”. Richard mutes the guitar, and he lets it ring only when the intensity is such that the lyrical flow demands a sturdier backbone so that the song won’t collapse.

“Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen” is placed next to the Eastern-derived “Outside Of The Inside”, which is (appropriately enough) a song about Muslim faith and the way a radical sees Western culture. Richard has the right to pen such a tune – in case you didn’t know, he is a Muslim, and a devout one at that.

These are my favorite songs from the album. I am also very fond of the songs “I’ll Tag Alone” (side 1) and “Pearly Jim” (side 2), although the former resembles “Crawl Back (Under My Skin)” to much lyrically, and the latter pays too close a homage to “Psycho Street” from the “Rumour And Sigh” disc. In any case, the brief guitar snippets that connect passages in “Pearly Jim” give me the willies every single time.

The rest of the disc is consistently solid – “I Have No Right To Have It All” has Richard treading the home of the blues. As you know, I have an active disliking for the genre, so it comes as no surprise that the song passes my by. And the composition that comes as side 1 is finishing (“First Breath”) is also a bit too lengthy for my liking, and the streamlined approach doesn’t work for once. But these are just personal appreciations, and I am aware many fans do cherish these songs.

With Mock Tudor, fans and critics alike noted how good Richard could sound if bells and whistles were taken away and what remained was simply the root sound. Someone who disdains unnecessary studio trickery that pimps up records like Richard (whenever possible he records in one take, with all the instruments being played at once) should never have strayed so far away production-wise. On the other hand, the excursion made him come back with so much force that long-timers were delighted and newcomers just awe-inspired. This was to be Richard’s true return to form, and the next album (“Sweet Warrior”) was to keep the momentum intact while the sound expanded to that of a full band once again.

Rating: 8/10

(The first part of this review can be read here)

The second section of the album (“Heroes in the Suburbs”) is the one that includes “Crawl Back (Under My Stone)”, “Uninhabited Man”, and “Walking The Long Miles Home”. These are an idiosyncratic reagge-ish number, a celtic-flavored composition and a song which is “a little bit country” respectively. I especially like “Crawl Back (Under My Stone)”, a number in which the character conveys as much self-esteem as it is necessary for him to achieve his aim – don’t be fooled, he is not as  innocuous as he might seem. And “Walking The Long Miles Home” has catchy choruses on the strength of the rhyme scheme that is employed. The lyric is funny, too.

This part of the album also has “Dry My Tears And Move On”, a song not dissimilar to a soul ballad that might as well have the best middle eight of the whole record.

The final section of the disc goes by the name of “Street Cries and Stage Whispers”. It is heralded by the acoustic “Sights And Sounds Of London Town” (a narrative painting the disastrous fate of those who tried to lay a hand on a geese they were told laid golden eggs only to find it would lay them to waste instead), and the two remaining songs are the menacing “That’s All, Amen, Close The Door” and “Hope You Like The New Me”. The former is a valedictory note with Richard’s voice sounding really bitter, whereas the later is disturbingly engaging in its stripped delivery and acerbic lyrics.

On the whole, there is not a lot to dislike here. In that sense, it is a prototypical Richard Thompson disc – every song is germane to the concept that he wanted to transmit. I don’t think it lags behind “Rumour And Sigh” or “Mirror Blue” in any sense, actually. The one difference is that those albums had a slew of songs that were definitely more appealing to a broader public – hence, they become quasi-hits like “I Feel So Good”. This time around Richard offers an album that is cohesive the most when taken as a piece. However good some of these songs are, their force is diluted if you take them out of context. That is no indictment on the album, though. Not at all. It is just a comment that explains the reason why the previous offerings did slightly better in terms of arising general interest. “Mock Tudor” is more of an album to explore once you are familiar with the general lineaments of Richard’s songwriting. It is not the spot for discovering them, but rather a place where you can see them put to a representative use. The same can be said about “The Old Kit Bag” to a certain extent. This approach was to be finally reverted back to the “Rumour And Sigh/Mirror Blue” style of unconnected songs for “Sweet Warrior”. That is the place to go if you are looking for more songs in that vein – IE, songs that work separately. But if you want to catch Richard in full conceptual flight, this is perfect.

Rating: 8/10

Richard Thompson's "Mock Tudor" Was First Issued In 1999. It is Split In Three Parts That Chronicle Life In The Suburbs All Through The 20th Century.

Mock Tudor was Richard Thompson’s final album under his Capitol Records’ contract. It was released in 1999, and it was the one album of the decade not produced by Mitchell Froom, the man who is known for his glossy approach to record-making. That is always a recurrent point when the album is discussed. The fact remains that Thompson is a gritty performer, and a rawer approach for capturing him in action always works best.

That is exemplified by the first three tracks, two of which were issued as singles (the polka “Cooksferry Queen” and “Bathsheba Smiles”), and that stand as very fine vignettes about outlaws and people who walk the line. “Cooksferry Queen” paints the picture of an outright ruffian that is transfixed by love, putting himself at the mercy of the other – as Yasu, the leader of the band Black Stones (or “Blast”) from the anime “Nana” used to say, those who once laughed at love will cry because of it in the end.

And “Batsheba Smiles” is a very pointed portrait of a woman akin to Coleridge’s Christabel, IE the kind of woman that is always there for everybody but never there for any person in particular. The chorus of the song is specially powerful, with the “Do you close your eyes to see miracles/Do you raise your face to kiss angels/Do you float on air to hear oracles” section showcasing the effects such a person has on others, and how initial admiration turns into bitterness very quickly indeed.

Lodged between “Cooksferry Queen” and “Bathsheba Smiles” we find “Sibella”, yet another characterization that passes the test with flying colors. This time the topic is unrequited love (a pet theme of Richard’s), and the arrangement alternates from bare to full in a flash, accelerating the urgency of the message.

These three songs and the two that follow are actually part of the first section of the album, a section that is named “Metroland”. The remaining two songs are “Two-faced Love” (the weak link in the section) and the instrumentally-brutal “Hard On Me”, where Richard can indulge into soloing at will. The song works equally well in the studio as in live settings, and that is admirable.

(Continue to Part 2)

Where Can I Buy One Of Those?

Although commercially Richard Thompson has never seen wildly successful days, the ‘90s will always remain as the closest he got to mass-popularity. I am more than sure that if the name Richard Thompson rings a bell when it comes to casual listeners, it is all because of songs released in that decade such as “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”, allegedly his most popular composition.

The whole decade Richard’s record company was Capitol. When they parted ways, this retrospective was issued. The CD features songs from every single album he produced during his tenure at Capitol, beginning with 1988’s “Amnesia” and ending with “Mock Tudor” (1999). It also has 2 rarities and a new track where Richard duets with son Teddy. That song is called “Persuasion” and it is a lilting ballad about second chances – definitely one of my personal favorites from this compilation.

In terms of approach, there are countless character sketches where Richard’s acidic vision of humankind is fully developed, including the minor-hit “I Feel So Good”, the startling “Cold Kisses” and “Cooksferry Queen”, a polka which has been drawn from “Mock Tudor”.

Still, the two sketches that stand out and which can be termed the best songs in here are the already-mentioned “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” and “Beeswing”. As you probably know, “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” tells the story of a couple of outlaws drawn together by a British motorcycle that symbolizes the illegality of their lives, right to the dramatic conclusion. For its part, “Beeswing” is a tale of lost love set to a gaelic backdrop, elegant and elegiac, not to mention extremely moving. In the same way that Yeats wrote about “the secrets of the old”, Richard here sings about the secrets of the young, and how one set of secrets does not succeed but actually overwrite the others. But no matter how deliberately and thoroughly that erasure is carried out, some residual memories are bound to stay as reminders of “the price you pay/for the chains you refuse”.

And the disc also boasts endless compositions that echo the old belief that “love is like the lion’s tooth” – just listen to “Keep Your Distance” and “Razor Dance” for palpable examples.

One thing that is missing from the compilation is an extended solo workout like the one which closed “Richard & Linda Thompson: The Island Record Years”. That is a noticeable casualty, even when we have songs like “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” which are nothing but a solo from A to Z.

In my opinion, this album stands as the best introduction to Richard’s music currently available. As much as I like Fairport Convention and his partnership with Linda, this stage of his career is the most accessible one to a wider, younger public. If you buy this disc and do not enjoy it, I think there is no way you could like Fairport Convention or his work with Linda. But (quite frankly) I doubt this album could ever fail to ignite a spark in any person who loves music that bears a strong message and that is superlative in instrumental terms.

Would I recommend purchase of this compilation: Yes

Do I feel like digging deeper into his catalog after listening to it: Yes

The CD Cover

When Richard Thompson left Fairport Convention in 1971 he worked with his then wife Linda and released six albums of original compositions that met with commercial apathy. The first three were cut for Island, whereas the final three were released under the Chrysalis label. This compilation gathers together the most salient tracks from their first three records, as well as two songs from Richard’s first solo album (Henry The Human Fly, released in 1972 – a very whimsical record that sold abysmally).

It is often debated whether these three albums indeed represent the Thompson’s finest moments on record or not. I have not listened to the Chrysalis recordings so I can not say for sure, but what I have noticed is that whenever you watch a Richard Thompson documentary the songs that are always featured with wife Linda are the ones found on this compilation.

On the surface, they have a mostly uniform tone that belies the complex emotional twists and turns that an attentive listen reveals, and they showcase Richard’s artistic and societal vision perfectly. He once explained that he likes to write about criminals, drunks and all-around misfits since they are more revealing of human nature than ordinary people. This is evidenced on a song like “Down Where The Drunkard Rolls”, where abandon and imbecility go hand in hand to form a brittle façade that no character in the song bothers to tear down since they all know what they won’t find behind. Likewise, the Great Valerio explores themes of inadequacy and jealousy set to just Richard’s guitar and Linda’s haunting vocal delivery. The streamlined approach also works efficiently in “Never Again”, a song Richard started writing after his girlfriend (Jeannie Franklyn) died in a car crash in 1969. The accident also took the life of Fairport Convention’s drummer Martin Lamble. Richard wrote the first two verses almost instantly and then much later on he finished it all of a sudden. It is a song that lacerates the soul – not out of cruelty, but rather out of a desire to show what is beneath, how it has been broken and posit whether or not it could be repaired.

Conversely, if you are looking for more hummable moments and full instrumentation give “When I Get To The Border” a spin, and you will be tapping your feet from start to finish.

One of my personal favorites is probably “A Heart Needs A Home” (which is actually an alternate take), a song that deals with themes of redemption and which offsets some of the darker material very well. I am also quite fond of “Withered And Died” (I previously had listened to Elvis Costello’s version), and “Dimming Of The Day”, although more moving live versions do exist.

I am not very keen on “Beat The Retreat” (a song that outstays its welcome) and “Night Comes In”, albeit the latter features a rich solo by Richard. Speaking of which, the album closer is a 13-minute live take of “Calvary Cross”, with Thompson taking no prisoners.

Overall, a very enjoyable album. I think that “Action  Packed – The Best Of The Capitol Years” is a better introduction to the Richard Thompson most of you must know, but this is also indispensable for knowing where that man came from. This, and a Fairport Convention anthology, obviously.

Would I recommend purchase of this compilation: Yes
Do I feel like digging deeper into their catalog after listening to it: Yes

A Recent Picture Of Mr. Thompson

I normally save General Introduction pages for artists that I know very well and that I feel confident talking about, either because I have their whole discography or a very representative number of albums, but this is an exception. I know virtually no other artist that captivates me the way Richard Thompson does, and if I have just a comparatively small number of his albums (two compilations, his three most recent solo discs and Fairport Convention’s “Unhalfbricking”) is because these records are impossible to find here in Uruguay.

When asked what makes Thompson stand out for me, I always resort to the same answer: he is the more even musician I know. And I quickly add: “even” when it comes to “excellence”. Excellent instrumentalist, excellent lyricist and excellent composer. And while I reckon that his voice is not exactly angelical nobody could say that it does not fit the songs he crafts so profoundly.

I don’t feel comfortable enough detailing his career since I am missing too many key records, but a very succinct overview will do no harm either. He was a founding member of Fairport Convention, considered by many the first folk-rock band that England ever knew. Thompson cut some records with them before leaving to start his own career in 1972. He released a couple of records with his then wife Linda, and when the marriage collapsed and they drifted apart (circa 1981) he carried on his own. He has continued releasing albums to this day.

I dare say that Thompson is my best-loved guitar player. If you have never seen him in action, check this out. It is called “Vincent Black Lightning 1952”, and it is his most requested song:

As if that was not enough, Thompson is a master composer. He pens lyrics that study human nature and its darkest angles by focusing on outlaws and rejects, and studying what happens when human interaction turns into a sort of univocal reaction. His compositions are often in strange keys, too. He also has a penchant for playing mediaeval instruments like dulcimers, hurdy-gurdies and mandolins.

I will make my best to try and find more of his albums. Meanwhile, I will review the ones I have here. Anything that gives me an excuse to spin them all day long is something I cherish.