Albums of the year: #21

RICHARD THOMPSON: Sweet Warrior

Richard Thompson has never made a bad album. But many of them are dominated by a couple of classic songs to the detriment of the rest. His best songs seem to exist outside the albums they were drawn from. Sweet Warrior is as close as Thompson’s come for a long time to realising a totally coherent and consistent record from start to finish. It has no real weaknesses, save one. That is the dominance of two songs which are among the best he’s ever written. “Guns Are The Tongues” is epic in every way and an outstanding addition to his canon. “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” may not have the same sweeping scale, but is lyrically dead on, mixing poeticism and politics with precision. These two tracks do tend to overshadow the rest which is a shame, because there is some superb material on the album. I think it’s his best since Shoot Out The Lights hit the racks a quarter of a century ago.

This is a great acoustic version of “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” that looks like it was recorded on a webcam!

Gig: Richard Thompson (The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 15/10/07)

The current tour is Richard Thompson’s first full-band electric excursion for quite a while. He’s leading a quartet featuring old stalwarts Danny Thompson on bass and Pete Zorn on various guitars, reeds and mandolins (and superb harmony vocals) together with drummer Michael Jerome. They’ve been on the road a while now, and consequently are as well-drilled as a crack marine unit.

When Thompson is in full electric mode, there is inevitably a greater focus on his more upbeat, raucous rock-friendly material as opposed to the doom-laden balladry. But this is more than outweighed by seeing and hearing one of the finest guitarists of his generation in full flow – and tonight he was as good, if not better, than I’ve ever seen him. Indeed, they were several spots in this set where the band played like a jazz combo. They charged through the first couple of choruses before each took a solo. Despite it being Thompson’s show, he was more than happy to sit back and let the others have the limelight on occasion.

There was an immense amount of confidence on show tonight. Not only was the playing of the highest standard, but Thompson’s singing, often considered the weakest string on his bow, was exemplary. There was also a confidence in the strength of the new material. When you have a back catalogue of the depth and quality that Thompson has, each new song played will inevitably be at the expense of an old favourite. The latest album Sweet Warrior contributed more than a quarter of the songs tonight, including the first four played. It’s a testament to the quality of the record that none of them felt out of place. Indeed, of the opening quartet, “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” is out of the very top drawer – a clever, but dark, look into the fears of a grunt stuck in Baghdad confronting hostile locals and wondering what the hell he’s doing there. The best of the selections from the recent record, though, popped up later. “Guns Are The Tongues” sounds mightily impressive on the album, but was positively monumental tonight. It’s a rousing tale of a young lad quite literally seduced into joining a terrorist cell, and his messy demise. It’s an epic, stirring piece, and is destined to remain one of the cornerstones of his set for years to come.

The old songs varied between nuggets like “Bright Lights”, “Wall Of Death” and an exemplary swing-time “Al Bowlly’s In Heaven”, and songs chosen because they allowed for lengthy improvisation. “Tear-Stained Letter” and “Hard On Me” particularly stood out. The latter, from Mock Tudor, isn’t particularly a front rank Thompson song, but his soloing on it was absolutely blistering. There is no grandstanding, no clichéd arpeggios or theatricals during a Thompson solo. There is always one foot grounded in the melody, whilst the other is free to go just about anywhere. He’s far more in common with Charlie Parker than Eddie Van Halen.

Acousticity wasn’t completely abandoned, with a short two song solo spot delivered around half way through the two hour (including encores) set. One of these was “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (had to be really), one of his most enduringly popular tunes. For me, the main delight of seeing Thompson play this track live is watching his unbelievably dextrous playing which resembles the raga-blues of Davy Graham.

Richard Thompson shows never fail to please. Tonight, however – even by his own standards – was an absolute triumph. The man is nearly 60 (and admittedly looks it), but sings and plays like someone half his age. Magnificent stuff.

Album: RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON – In Concert, November 1975 (Island IMCD327 2007)

In these days of Record Company panic over future revenues, one customer base can always be relied on – ‘fifty quid bloke’. This is the forty or fifty something male with money to burn who reads Mojo, and buys CDs by the shed-load. Sensing a cash cow, the companies sure know how to milk it. Fairport Convention’s Liege And Lief has just been reissued in a ‘deluxe’ double CD version with various session tracks and demos. This is a mere three years since it was last out in a remastered version with bonus tracks. There will be folk who have bought the album four times now – each edition having more than its predecessor to entice owners to upgrade. Another favourite ploy is to start dusting off loads of old live sets. So, rant over, we come to the latest Richard Thompson set – a 32 year old recording of shows recorded in Oxford, Swindon and Norwich on the 1975 tour with his then wife Linda. Is there any point in buying it? Well, yes actually.

The Thompsons were joined on the tour by a rhythm section of Daves Pegg and Mattacks and John Kirkpatrick on accordion and concertina. The recordings are superbly mastered and of soundboard quality and are structured to give the illusion of a single show from opening to encores. The majority of the songs are taken from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, Hokey Pokey and Pour Down like Silver, but there is also a medley of Morris tunes, an old Fairport classic and some fun covers.

First the down points. The Morris medley is pretty lumpen, and seems twice as long as its 5’20” duration. Also, there are times when you really wish that Kirkpatrick would nip off for a fag break, go for a pint, or even bugger off home. The accordion and concertina add colour to some of the songs, but on others they’re an irritant and just get in the way. They are minor points. Some of the performances here are stunning. Linda Thompson always sounded more like a country singer singing English folk than a dyed in the wool folkie, and this is one of her great strengths. She is amazing on “A Heart Needs A Home”, Hank Williams’ “Why Don’t You Love Me” and the Fairport staple “Now Be Thankful”.

The core three tracks, though, are “Night Comes In”, “For Shame Of Doing Wrong” and (especially) “Calvary Cross” – together they have a running time of something like 33 minutes! Richard Thompson is not just one of the best songwriters that these islands have produced, but one of the greatest guitarists alive. These three tracks show why. Flash isn’t a word in his vocabulary. The playing is subtle, emotional, but with a breadth and depth simply beyond most players. “Calvary Cross” is simply stunning and worth the CD price on its own. This trio may dominate the CD, but the “Morris Medley” aside, there isn’t a weak track on this set. I’ve never been a massive fan of live albums – more often than not the tracks are inferior to their studio counterparts, and add little. I could count the live albums that I listen to regularly on the fingers of one hand. I think this set may mean that I require an extra finger.

Album: RICHARD THOMPSON – Sweet Warrior (Proper 032 2007)

Sweet Warrior marks Richard Thompson’s return to a full band sound after a couple of sparse and largely acoustic records. It is also one of the most diverse albums that he’s ever done, even dipping (fairly successfully) into reggae with “Francesca”. At fourteen songs and nearly 70 minutes in length, it’s not the easiest record to assimilate quickly. Even so, it’s soon apparent that it’s one of his most consistent sets for a long time. At 58 years old, he’s lost nothing when it comes to his guitar playing, and his singing has probably never been better.

Key tracks on the album include “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me”, the barbed commentary of a soldier stationed in Iraq who bemoans that “nobody loves me here“, but with delicious sarcasm exclaims “It’s someone else’s mess that I didn’t choose / At least we’re winning on the Fox Evening News“. It’s one of the best songs yet inspired by that idiotic Anglo-American imperialist adventure. The epic “Guns Are The Tongues” is the tale of a naive young lad who falls in with revolutionaries and ends up paying the ultimate price whilst driving a car full of explosives at a military checkpoint. It’s one of the strongest tunes that Thompson has recorded for years, with a rousing chorus, and it seems destined to become a live favourite. The closing “Sunset Song” is a classic Thompson weepie, as good as any.

Sweet Warrior is an eclectic record, with a dark undercurrent. There are still a fair number of stomping good time songs, but there is a vein of disappointment running through the record – disappointment in the moral weakness exhibited by those in power, and the cruelty that comes too easily to people. Like Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson seems to have been galvanised as he reaches late middle age. There is no reason why age should wither inspiration – many of Vaughan Williams’ greatest works were written when he was well into his seventies and Stockhausen is as relevant now as ever. Thompson has, if anything, become more prolific over the last five or six years whilst consistently delivering the goods. Sweet Warrior is unquestionably one of the best albums he’s ever made.

Song of the day: RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON – The End Of The Rainbow (1974)

When you see Richard Thompson live you know you’re guaranteed a good time. There is audience banter, knockabout tunes and a genuinely warm and celebratory feeling for the whole evening. He has a talent for following harrowing songs like “Shoot Out The Lights” with something light like “Don’t Sit On My Jimmy Shands”, and ensuring that the lows in mood are always well-balanced by the highs. If you were selective, though, you could build a set of his compositions that numbered some of the most depressing ever written. When Thompson does ‘down’, he can make Leonard Cohen look like a Butlin’s Redcoat.

Of all of Richard Thompson’s songs, I don’t think anything can match “The End Of The Rainbow” for rock-bottom despair (and it has fierce competition). It appeared on his first album with his then wife Linda (nee Peters) – I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. The record is generally considered the duo’s best. Linda was well used to Richard’s more gloomy ouevre, but even she was reportedly shocked at “The End Of The Rainbow”. The song is an address to a new born child. Rather than offer succour and hope, it dashes the infant’s dreams. The opening lines set the tone immediately: “I feel for you, you little horror / Safe at your mother’s breast / No lucky break for you around the corner / ‘Cos your father is a bully /And he thinks that you’re a pest /And your sister, she’s no better than a whore“. The song goes on to warn of all the unsavoury characters that the child will encounter, cynically suggesting that “Every loving handshake / Is just another man to beat“. The chorus sounds worn out and defeated. “Life seems so rosy in the cradle / but I’ll be a friend, I’ll tell you what’s in store / There’s nothing at the end of the rainbow / There’s nothing to grow up for anymore“. In no other song that I’ve ever heard have the disappointments of shattered dreams been so poignantly articulated. “The End Of The Rainbow” has music to match its stinging lyrics. It sounds resigned and empty, but never fails to hit a nerve. Sometimes it sounds like the truth. Thankfully, not all the time.