|
|
Richard (and Linda) ThompsonAlbums ReviewedStarring As Henry The Human Fly (1972)I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974) Pour Down Like Silver (1975) First Light (1978) Starring As Henry The Human Fly(1972)After five studio albums with Fairport Convention, then two years as a session musician, Richard Thompson had only just turned 23 when he released his solo debut. Acknowledged by critics and fellow musicians as one of the most talented songwriters and guitarists in rock or folk music, but with a voice that prevents any real bid for mainstream success, Thompson's managed a remarkable consistency over his long career. His debut, however, wasn't an immediate success, slammed by British critics and at one point the worst ever selling album on Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Yet in retrospect it's attained a far more hallowed status in Thompson's catalogue, and while I don't entirely agree with the stature it's now held in, it's a fascinating bridge between Thompson's Fairport Convention work and his classic collaboration with Linda I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. While Starring As Henry The Human Fly successfully distances Thompson from his Fairport Convention work, it perhaps drops too much both from the rock aspect of that group's oeuvre. The arrangements are much less rock oriented than Fairport Convention's, with the drummer counting time rather than providing propulsion, which gives the record quite a different feel, and there is less focus on Thompson's guitar and more on his song writing. Guest musicians include former Fairport Convention members Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings, and Thompson's future wife Linda Peters, on backing vocals, while the rhythm section of Timmy Donald and Pat Donaldson and accordionist John Kirkpatrick appear on many subsequent Thompson projects. Henry The Human Fly does have tangible glimpses of greatness, and it's main flaw is simply that it tails off badly towards the end. Awesome opener 'Roll Over Vaughan Williams', which marries Thompson's stinging electric guitar to a jaunty folk melody, and 'Nobody's Wedding', which borrows its instrumental sections from traditional folk song 'Maire's Wedding', get the album off to a great start. The evocative folk melody of 'Wheely Down', with it's minimalist approach, and the intertwining accordion and guitar in 'The Angels Took My Racehorse Away' showcase Thompson's ideas to experiment with and contemporarise the folk genre in different ways to Fairport Convention. The second side is far less memorable, and the lack of energy makes it difficult to digest. The messy 'Mary And Joseph' is particularly awkward; cryptic both musically, with its unsettling horn arrangement and lyrically ("Mary is in stitches, she's tied down on the bed/While Joseph plays a ukulele standing on his head", an attempt at a contemporary, cynical carol. Henry The Human Fly is an ambitious, if low key, debut from Thompson; there's plenty of interesting stuff here, but I'd suggest starting with something more accessible, like I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight or Shoot Out The Lights. 
 I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight(1974)Richard Thompson and Linda Peters married in 1972, and their debut album was with Island for a year before it was released. Whether it was the failure of Henry The Human Fly or the addition of Linda's more conventional voice (or complex factors which cannot even begin to be understood by someone who has never met either of the Thompsons personally), I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight is much more determinedly accessible than its predecessor, more conventionally folk-rock and with a more rock feel to the rhythm section. This more commercial approach is a positive step; Thompson's writing is more focused here than on the more experimental Human Fly, and Linda's vocals are more conventionally pretty, in the vein of Sandy Denny. Like Human Fly, Donald and Donaldson are the rhythm section, while Fairport members Simon Nicol and Trevor Lucas also cameo. The classic opener 'When I Get To The Border', is in the same vein as the previous record's 'Roll Over Vaughan Williams', a jaunty folk melody enlivened by Richard's imaginative guitar solos and Linda's harmonies, showing the potency of their musical partnership. The title track is another instant classic, with its upbeat horn arrangement. Of course, these two slices of positivity are uncharacteristic for any project written by Thompson, and the rest of the album is far darker. This is especially true of the two stunning closers; the downright glum 'The End Of The Rainbow', where an extremely pessimistic Richard tells a newborn infant of the horrors that await it ("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") and the haunting dramatic, Spartan 'The Great Valerio'. It's not all first-class - the Linda-fronted 'The Little Beggar Girl' comes across as a condescending Dickens caricature, while 'Has He Got A Friend For Me' is too maudlin to take seriously. Still, there is a generous handful of legitimately great songs here, and I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight is completely essential for any Thompson fan.
Hokey Pokey(1975)Richard Thompson's released an album every couple of years for the last 35 years, and I'm missing quite a few, including this one (wait til the 1980s...). I hear it's good, but not as good as I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. Pour Down Like Silver(1975)Pour Down Like Silver is the record album equivalent of medicine - it's music that you know is good, rather than music you necessarily enjoy at the time a whole lot, and it's even possibly the least fun album ever made by anyone. Converting to Muslimism after the making of Hokey Pokey, the Thompsons decided to leave the music business, and joined a Sufi commune in East Anglia. While Thompson has remained a Muslim throughout his career, the influence of his beliefs is most obvious here and on his next couple of albums, where many of the songs are based on Sufi scriptures, while the cover images of the Thompsons in traditional Muslim garb adds to the dour atmosphere. A further contribution to the austere nature of Pour Down Like Silver comes from the sparse arrangements - Thompson states "It was a stark record, but I think it was by accident in a sense - we were intending to have Simon [Nicol] come and play rhythm guitar but he wasn't available so everything ended up sounding very stark and I was always going to overdub rhythm guitar and stuff, but we thought we'll just leave it, what the hell." As a result, the overall tone of the album is dank and low key, even if some of the individual pieces would sound more accessible outside the context - 'Hard Luck Stories' is energetic and cynical rock song, while 'The Dimming Of The Day' is a sweet, low key love song. And in comparison to the rest of the album, 'For The Shame Of Doing Wrong' sounds positively ornate with its violin and rhythm guitar, and Richard's echo vocal in the chorus. 'Beat The Retreat' is quietly anthemic with its low key arrangement and stirring melody, while 'Night Comes In' gives more space for Thompson's extended guitar workouts. There's plenty of good music here, but Pour Down Like Silver is like a rainy day or oatmeal, even within the context of Thompson's generally serious oeuvre. Since he's released about six billion more albums since Pour Down Like Silver, it's retrospectively obvious that Thompson didn't retire from music - after discovering he wasn't any good at anything that wasn't music, he returned three years later with Linda on First Light.
First Light(1978)After three years away from the music business, an eternity in the seventies, one gets the feeling that some creative record executive witnessed the hugeness of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, and decided that the closest British substitute would be to marry Richard and Linda Thompson to a slick and incongruous Californian rhythm section (Andy Newmark and Willie Weeks), slick up the production a few notches, and sit back and watch the dollars roll in. While Richard has later dismissed this phase of his career, going as far as to state: "I was too flaccid in the 1970s...Especially the later 70s, where I made really indifferent records, I just didn't have my mind on the job," he's a consistent and conscientious enough writer that First Light is far from a bad album; I'd certainly give it the edge over the more acclaimed Henry The Human Fly. Its main issue is simply the weird sensation of two musical worlds colliding; I doubt that Newmark and Weeks often play in the same band as an accordion, and I likewise doubt that Thompson is accustomed to his rhythm section working into disco territory. Song for song, First Light isn't bad at all. I adore 'Don't Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart'; even though the funky West Coast rhythm section break is the most awkward collision point on the record, it's still one of Thompson's best songs, although purists swear by his solo acoustic version on the live Small Town Romance. Richard rocks through 'Layla' (not an Eric Clapton cover), where the funky rhythm section works, while Linda croons her way through the elegant title track and the pretty 'Pavanne'. 'The Choice Wife' is a pared down folk instrumental, and 'House Of Cards' is a folk sign-along in the vein of what Thompson was performing with The Albion band around the same time, with backing vocals from Fairport alumni Trevor Lucas and Iain Matthews. The sound is a bit slick and jarring, and outside 'Don't Let A Thief' and the title track there's a shortage of really great material, but First Light is still much more consistent and worthwhile that its reputation might suggest.
Sunnyvista(1979)Sounds like this is another second tier album, if slightly more conventionally Thompson-like than First Light; I'd be interested, but it's difficult to find. |
|
|
|
Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
