The Richard Thompson Catalogue

Richard Thompson turned 71 earlier this year, and remarkably enough all of his skills  - singing, writing, playing - are completely intact. Perhaps alone among all the artists who first emerged in the 1960s, he remains undiminished in every way. He's a cult artist who's never had a hit, who's never even come close to having a hit record - the best he's managed is to have two of his 1980s singles crack the Alternative Airplay Top 40. Because he's never had anything like a commercial peak period, there's little temptation to compare what he's like now to what he was like in his prime. There was no commercial prime, no peak of fame. As a public figure, he remains the cult artist he's always been. But in terms of his abilities, he's lost nothing at all - not as a singer, not as a player, not as a songwriter. He remains fully intact, just as great, and in the same ways and for the same reasons, as he's always been. Obviously, the man lives right and has taken care of himself and his gifts. 

Thompson's recording career dates back to 1967, when he was the 18 year old lead guitarist and occasional songwriter for Fairport Convention, the great pioneering institution of modern English folk-rock music. Thompson left the band for a solo career in early 1971, when he was still just 21 years old, after playing on their first five albums. Yeah, rock bands were pretty prolific back in the day. After his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, Thompson formed a personal and professional partnership with Linda Peters. Richard wrote the songs, and they shared the singing. The couple made six albums together over a ten year period before their marriage imploded, spectacularly and publicly during their 1982 North American tour. Thompson has worked as a solo artist ever since.

I'm not going to include the five Fairport Convention albums here - with the Fairports Thompson was just a member of the band, playing lead guitar, singing the odd track, contributing the occasional composition (one in particular, "Meet on the Ledge," he still performs from time to time.) His discography is vast enough and complicated enough as it is. He's provided a couple of soundtracks; he's done many, many unique, one-off projects; he's teamed up with chums like Henry Kaiser and Danny Thompson for any number of side projects, some of them of a distinctly avant-garde nature. People have been asking him to play guitar on their records for fifty years now, and he's obliged rather often. He's even made a couple of guitar instructional recordings. His own boutique level has issued numerous collections of his live performances. There have been several extensive career anthologies, all of which have gathered a multitude of otherwise unreleased material. He's re-recorded acoustic collections of his back catalogue to have something to sell at his acoustic solo shows. The entire discography would include at least sixty items. We're going to confine ourselves here to the sixteen proper studio albums he's issued as a solo artist and the six he made in partnership with Linda Thompson. We will allow a single ringer from the rest. 

Thompson was sometimes a shaky and uncertain singer when he began his solo career, but he had Linda with him to do much of the singing for the first ten years - and by then, he was fully capable of carrying any tune himself, if he needed. He was an outstanding guitarist and a fine songwriter from the very beginning, and his craft has only improved over the years. His output has been dependable. His career is not littered with failed experiments or detours down dead end roads. And he has always taken the craft of record-making seriously. In this respect, he resembles Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, rather than Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Dylan and Young have never had a great deal of interest in the actual craft of making records. Among other things, this means that you always know pretty quickly when they've assembled a sub-par collection of songs. Thompson is like Petty and Springsteen in that his records are always well made, and the players are all really good. It can actually take a little while before you begin to realize that the songs aren't all that special, because the music always sounds good while it's playing. So there are no bad records here. Just various shades ranging from at least decent to pretty damn great.

23. Henry the Human Fly (1972) - Thompson's first record was a notorious flop - the bizarre title and ridiculous cover photo surely didn't help. Moreover, Thompson hadn't yet learned how to project himself as a singer and he and his producer hadn't figured out how to record his voice. It's a shame, because he had a good batch of songs, they were well performed, and the tracks - aside from the vocals - sound just fine. Richard was never a natural, instinctive singer. This stands to reason, after all. He started out as the guitar player in a band with two other people doing all the lead singing. He would, however, spend the first fifteen years of his career working closely with two of the finest singers Britain ever produced, in Sandy Denny and his wife Linda. He would learn a great deal along the way. All that would be a good ways down the road, though. After all these years, his singing is much more loose and relaxed on stage. But even so, on record you can still occasionally hear him almost calculating how to sing some passage. 

 22. Front Parlour Ballads (2005) - This was really an accidental album - Thompson had built a studio in his garage and was trying it out, recording some songs on his laptop. He happened to like what he'd done, and decided to put it out. So it's a homemade album, with almost no accompaniment save Thompson himself on acoustic guitar. It might have worked, but Thompson had fallen into something of a songwriting slump, that would carry on for some time. He's always kept writing and working - no five year writer's blocks for this guy. He has said that he's not a writer who waits for inspiration, he's someone who sits down every day and works at it. But while his craftsmanship has only improved over the years - he doesn't write bad songs - the outstanding ones simply weren't coming. On his full band albums, sometimes the power of the performances would obscure that fact. It's much more visible here. 

21. 1000 Years of Popular Music (2003) - This is the ringer, of course. It's not a collection of new Thompson songs at all. It's not even a studio album. There are two distinctly different versions, a CD and a DVD, both recorded live on two different tours. But it's completely irresistible. As the year 2000 approached, Playboy magazine asked a number of musicians to provide a list of their favourite songs from the millennium just ending. Thompson, no doubt rightly, suspected that they really meant the last 50 years rather than the last 1000 but he chose to take them at their word anyway. Playboy didn't use his list, which begins with the 13th century round "Sumer Is Icumen In," but Thompson decided it would make for a pretty interesting stage show. He worked out solo arrangements of the songs and took his list on the road, supported by another singer and a percussionist. He samples a Purcell opera and a 16th century Italian ballad, English madrigals and music hall tunes, before venturing into traditional American and English folk music. He nods at jazz and country music, brings in other noble foreigners like Prince and Abba before wrapping up with modern English legends like Ray Davies and Pete Townshend. The audacity and ingenuity of it all just bowls you over, and the humour and high spirits of the presentation - which is much more effective on the DVD - are themselves worth the price of admission. And of course the Britney Spears cover absolutely rules.

20. Dream Attic (2010) - As already noted, he wasn't writing great songs during this period. He was also beginning to experiment with different ways to make records. For this one, he and his band rehearsed his new set of tunes, took them on the road, and recorded all the material in concert (with the audience erased, as much as was possible, from the final result.) Thompson's craft, as always, is dependable - he and his musicians, is always, play wonderfully. Thompson has always been an inspired performer on stage. This just isn't a great set of songs, and the long slow ones actually seem to drag. But it still sounds fine while it's playing, and the opening rant about the bankers - and this wasn't the first time Thompson had taken on this target - who had just almost crashed the world economy is loads of fun. Inspirational lyric: "If you'll just bend over a little / I think you'll feel my financial muscle."

19. Electric (2013) - For this one, Thompson took his trusty rhythm section of Jerome and Prodaniuk to Nashville to work with Buddy Miller (who contributed some rhythm guitar to the proceedings.) It has the same issues as most of his work during this period - the songs just don't stand out, despite how well they're performed and recorded. And yet... there are signs that he just might be emerging from this long somewhat fallow period. There are no great songs, true, and that's what we've come to expect and hope for from Thompson every time out - but some of these do somehow seem more distinctive, more full of the old character. "Good Things Happen to Bad People" summons up some of the trademark snark and "Another Small Thing in Her Favour" joins his long list of twisted love songs. This album, curiously enough, has been Thomson's most successful record in America where it reached #75 on the Billboard chart. There's a reason the man has been a working musician his whole life.

18. The Old Kit Bag (2003) - This was where the songwriting slump began to kick in, but there are a couple of very noteworthy tracks. Thompson has been a committed Muslim for more than 40 years, but since leaving the commune life behind it's had very little obvious impact on his writing. Thompson's brand of Islam is exceedingly mystical, focused entirely on spiritual matters and the state of the soul. But Thompson has never been a confessional songwriter and his predilections as a writer have always been very much on matters of this earth, twisted tales of love and adventure. There's simply very little overlap between the man's inner life as a Muslim and his public life as a songwriter. Even this album's memorable opening track, "Gethsemane," seems to have no religious subtext at all, the title notwithstanding. One has the impression Thompson simply liked the sound of the word. But in "Outside of the Inside," Thompson directly confronts the views of fanatics in general, and the Taliban in particular. Unsurprisingly, Thompson comes down hard and strong in favour of art and science rather than blind faith. This album marked Thompson's first collaboration with Michael Jerome, who has been his drummer of choice, both on stage and record, ever since. Inspirational lyric: "And when I get to heaven, I won't even realize that I'm there."

17. You, Me, Us (1996) - Thompson's only double album is a deliberately schizophrenic affair, comprising a disc of acoustic based songs and another disc of electric based songs - although two songs actually appear on both discs, in suitably different arrangements. Somewhat surprisingly (to me, anyway) the acoustic set absolutely smokes the electric set. This might be because Thompson's long partnership with Mitchell Froom had grown somewhat stale, something which was much more apparent on the electrified songs. But it's mostly because the acoustic side simply has the best songs: the aching lament of "Burns Supper", the delicate heartbreak of "She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair." Not to mention the extremely disturbing and creepy "Cold Kisses." Inspirational lyric: "Here I am in your room, going through your stuff."

16. Hand of Kindness (1983) - Thompson's first album on his own in more than ten years establishes himself as a singer-songwriter of the highest quality who doubles as one of the world's greatest guitar players. This has, of course, been the basis of his career ever since. By this time he was a far more confident and assured singer than he was when his career started. It also sounds as if Thompson couldn't find any acoustic guitars around the house - while this is an uptempo record for the most part, even the two slower ballads - "How I Wanted To" and "Devonside" are played on his electric guitar. Not that we should ever have a problem with that. Inspirational lyric: "My head was beating like a song by the Clash/writing cheques that my body couldn't cash."

15. Across a Crowded Room (1985) - This was Thompson's last English album (he's recorded numerous projects in England since, but his albums proper have all been recorded in America), recorded for the most part with old mates and cronies from the Fairport circles. The opener, "When the Spell is Broken," is one of his classic tunes and a regular part of his live repertoire ever since. Like its predecessor, it's mostly an uptempo record although each side of the vinyl closes with a long slow one. The best tracks might be the two stomping rockers "Walking Through a Wasted Land" and "I Ain't Going to Drag My Feet No More" - cheerful sounding titles, no? They sure sound like fun while they're playing. Weird how he pulls that off. 

14. First Light (1978) - In 1975, after recording three albums together, Richard and Linda converted to a somewhat esoteric and highly mystical brand of Sufi Islam. The couple left the music business and joined a commune, whose imam discouraged Richard from playing non-religious music in general and the electric guitar in particular. It was two years before they were heard from again, when Richard began to do guest work on other people's records, beginning with former Fairport singer Sandy Denny's last record. It was his next job, working on Julie Covington's album, that led to Richard and Linda's return to recording - the American session players brought in for the occasion expressed an eagerness to do further work with Thompson, who did have a collection of mostly spiritual songs stored up. It still sounds somewhat tentative, as if the Thompsons are slowly shaking off the accumulated rust of their years of comparative inactivity. The song "Layla" is not the Clapton song, but it's similarly inspired by the tale of Layla and Majnun (which is basically a fifth century Persian Romeo and Juliet.) While it may be the weakest of the six albums Richard and Linda made together, there are a few gorgeous songs. Richard has since commented that "I didn't have my mind on my job." It's still outstanding. 

13. Sweet Warrior (2007) - In some ways, a difficult album to come to grips with. By this time, Thompson's craftsmanship had become so dependable, as a writer and a performer, that the music always sounds good while it's playing. The only issue is whether the songs were memorable or not. And most of these songs, like the rest of his work during this period, weren't really all that memorable. This doesn't apply to his furious rant against the Iraq War "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" and it especially doesn't apply to the three staggeringly great songs that rank with the best work he's ever done in his long career: the unhurried counsel of "Take Care the Road You Choose," the spooky farewell that is "Sunset Song," and especially the totally ferocious narrative of "Guns are the Tongues," about a terrorist, her patsy, and how and why they got that way. These three songs are so good that the album as a whole seems seriously unbalanced, somehow. Taras Prodaniuk on bass joins Michael Jerome to form the rhythm section that has supported Thompson ever since.

12. Pour Down Like Silver (1975) - The Thompsons had converted to Islam, joined a commune, and were somewhat conflicted about whether or not to give up their music careers. But they did owe Island one more album, and although their imam didn't approve of Richard playing electric guitar, he apparently decided it would be permitted so long as they were singing spiritual songs. Under these odd circumstances, Richard wrote a very fine collection of songs and proceeded to play more electric guitar on a record than he'd done since leaving Fairport Convention - "Night Comes In" is his first extended guitar workout on one of his own records. But the record is still mostly notable for some of Thompson's all time classic compositions, especially the closing trio of "Beat the Retreat," "Hard Luck Stories," and "Dimming of the Day." And then no one heard from them for almost three years.

11. Daring Adventures (1986) - After marrying Nancy Covey, Thompson moved his base of operations to Los Angeles. This was his first album recorded in the U.S. and it marked the beginning of his five-album partnership with Mitchell Froom, who would take care of production duties and play occasional keyboards (Not that there are many keyboards to be found anywhere in Thompson's catalogue - in fact, it's hard to think of an artist who has used fewer keyboards over the course of his career. If there's one to be found it's most likely to be an accordion.) Anyway, working in America meant that his old chums from the Fairports, who had performed on every record he'd ever made were nowhere to be found, replaced by American session players. But Thompson and Froom hired the best American session players, mind you: the rhythm section is Jerry Scheff and Jim Keltner. It's a much more commercial, less defiantly English, sounding record. So naturally it concludes with a lengthy memorial to the English music hall singer Al Bowlly that must be one of the artist's personal favourites because it's never left his performance repertoire. While "Valerie" sounds like an attempt to finally score a hit single - if so, it didn't work - the ballads are the most memorable tunes from this collection. Each is simply outstanding: "Missie How You Let Me Down," "Jennie," and "How Will I Ever Be Simple Again." 

10. Mirror Blue (1994) - This is a strange sounding record. After three albums together, Thompson and Froom were deliberately experimenting with different sonic approaches and the tones they went for on this one went for can be somewhat off-putting at times, at least until you get used to them. Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello's Attractions has taken over the drum chair from the American session men, though Jerry Scheff remains on bass. Thompson indulges a previously little seen interest in longer jazzy excursions, certainly more than is his custom. What makes all of this more than worthwhile are two of his most remarkable ballads - "Beeswing", the winding narrative of of a lost young love, never to be forgotten, and the impossibly gorgeous "King of Bohemia" a sorrowful song of love and devotion that Thompson has suggested was written for his daughter and then, quite unaccountably, named for a local pub. It's ridiculously beautiful, one of the most moving and powerful pieces in all his immense catalogue.

9. Still (2015) - During his lengthy songwriting slump, Thompson had begun to try a new and different recording approach each time out and for this one he went up to Chicago to work with Jeff Tweedy. And while Tweedy proved a sympatico producer, and contributed voice and guitar to the proceedings, what was really of interest was that the songs were getting really good once more, beginning with yet another tale of a love lost along the long and winding road "She Never Could Resist A Winding Road." The rockers are full of the old mischief, especially "All Buttoned Up" and "Long John Silver" and he wraps up the proceedings with the tale of a young man who loves his guitar more than anyone else, and demonstrates it by doing his very best imitation of some of his "Guitar Heroes" - which in this guy's case, are people like Les Paul, Django Reinhardt, and Hank Marvin.

8. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974) - The first album the Thompsons made as a duet includes a number of songs that have remained in his repertoire ever since (remembering that his catalogue is now so deep that songs regularly go in and out of rotation.) It had to wait a year after being recorded to be released because of vinyl shortages, in the wake of the 1973 oil shock. They divide the lead vocals between them. Richard's singing is more assured than on his debut, and this is the record that introduced the world to Linda's pure and elegant pipes. The cheery title cut excepted, this is a collection of pretty dark, if not downright somber songs (the legend of Thompson as the prophet of doom and gloom definitely begins here.) But what songs they were: the opening trio of "When I Get to the Border," "The Calvary Cross," and "Withered and Died" demonstrated that his songwriting had taken a great leap forward, and the remarkable closing track "The Great Valerio" is one of the most haunting items in his catalogue.

7. Sunnyvista (1979) - On their second album since returning to the musical life,  the Thompsons wasted no time whatsoever letting you know that they were back and that they meant business, folks. The ferocious stomp of "Borrowed Time" remains one of the hardest rockers in the man's catalogue. They were recording once more with the usual cast of their chums from the folk-rock circles around the Fairports. It suits them better. They had also figured out how best to record their own peculiar rocked up version of traditional English folk music, spiced up with Richard's razor-edged guitar playing. It's a great sounding record and a strong set of songs. Really, the worst thing about this record is the bafflingly weird cover art (which is based on the content of the title track, but still...)

6. Hokey Pokey (1974) - Builds on all the strengths of their first record together, and improves on them all. They're both singing better and they're doing more singing together. The songs are a much more varied lot than on its predecessor, with the influence of traditional British music - not just folk music, but music hall and brass band as well - more pronounced than ever. It's a pretty cheerful record, at least by this guy's standards, although both Richard ("I'll Regret It All in the Morning") and Linda ("Never Again") get to show off their way with a bitter ballad. And this collection also includes "A Heart Needs a Home," a breathtakingly beautiful number, sung here by Linda, that still appears in Richard's repertoire to this day.

5. Amnesia (1988) - Thompson's second American record with Mitchell Froom at the controls mostly benefits from an exceptionally strong set of songs. He's working with the American session aces again, although he does bring in a few old British chums to add some flavour to the mix. But it's the songs that stand out - the ferocious "Don't Tempt Me" and the wistful "Waltzing's For Dreamers" in particular. Thompson's electric concerts typically feature one song that he uses as an occasion to simply destroy the world with his guitar and leave nothing standing, and "Can't Win" from this album has long been one of his favourite choices for the purpose. (It's another great song, but it fades out on the album after barely five minutes!) 

So this might be a good occasion to talk about his guitar playing. He is one of a kind, of course. The world has lots of wonderful guitar players and there are even a few, like Thompson, who are equally adept on both acoustic and electric. But what makes Thompson special is that he simply sounds like no one else. He is sui generis, all alone on his island. Some of this stems from his unusual right-hand technique, but the most important factor by far is that Thompson's playing has a very different set of roots and influences. When all the other great British guitarists of his generation were studying the great American blues masters, Thompson was immersed in the jigs and reels of traditional British folk music. His guitar playing rests on a completely different set of musical principles. There are no pentatonic scales to be heard here, it's all modes and chromatic lines. The only serious American influences on his playing, naturally enough, are the modal jazz lines of Miles Davis, and the chromaticism of Charlie Parker. Who were a couple of horn players. When Thompson is asked to name a guitarist who influenced him, the first name he mentions is usually someone like the legendary gypsy Django Reinhardt. There's simply no other significant guitarist whose playing is based on a similar foundation. Thompson frequently sounds as if he's never heard a blues guitarist in his life.

4. 13 Rivers (2018) - By now, it shouldn't seem that remarkable for any veteran rock or folk musician to produce one of their finest works as they approach old age - Bob Dylan was 60 when he issued "Love and Theft," Leonard Cohen was well past 70 when he made Old Ideas, and Ian Hunter was almost 80 when he put out Fingers Crossed. But all of those men sounded like they had seen some years. Many, many years in some cases. Thompson, on 13 Rivers, still sounds exactly like the man who shot out the lights at age 31 - he still has the same voice, he still plays the same brilliant guitar, he still writes those twisted and disturbed ditties. This is just a really great collection of songs, easily his best in twenty years. And he hasn't mellowed one damn bit - these are mostly raucous, uptempo tunes, and our man is rocking harder than most musicians half his age - the frenzied guitar workout of "The Rattle Within," the frantic threats of "Bones of Gilead," and especially the haunting and compelling "No Matter." It's all his ace sidemen can do to keep up. We should all be so full of life as we approach 70. Inspirational lyric: "I'm living on fantasy / real life's too good for me."

3. Rumor and Sigh (1991) - The reason this most defiantly British of artists (even if he's been based in Los Angeles for more than 30 years) used the American spelling in his album title is because the title is derived from a poem by Archibald MacLeish. So the artist reminds us where he really comes from by including a wild narrative that centers around a famous British motorcycle ("1952 Vincent Black Lightning"), another about an English music hall legend ("Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands"), and a thinly veiled assault on Margaret Thatcher ("Mother Knows Best.") It's such a tremendous collection of songs that one doesn't even notice that he's not playing quite as much guitar as usual. Froom's keyboards, never central to his sound at any time, are scaled back even more than usual. And while the songs, as always, are all built around his guitar playing, there just isn't the usual amount of twisted soloing. But the songs are so good you don't mind. Inspirational lyric: "I've got a suitcase full of fifty pound notes / and a half naked woman with her tongue down my throat / And I feel so good."

2. Mock Tudor (1999) - After five albums with Mitchell Froom, Thompson took the helm himself as his 50th birthday approached, which he marked with one of the strongest sets of songs he would ever produce. Dave Mattacks from the Fairports is back in the drum chair for the first time since 1985's Across a Crowded Room. The weakest track is probably "Hard On Me" which seems to be about his troubled relationship with his father - and it's pretty damn awesome, a furious guitar showcase that was always a concert highlight. The fun kicks off with the irresistible "Cooksferry Queen," the saga of a London gangster, the wild girl he fell for, and the strange and wild trip that resulted. There's a frenetic burst of something like high-speed reggae (!) with "Crawl Back Under My Stone" and a jaunty tour of his home town "Sights and Sounds of London Town." And while Thompson doesn't seem to like talking about Sandy Denny, whose untimely passing he still clearly grieves, he provides a haunting yet clear-eyed elegy for his lost band-mate with "That's All, Amen, Close The Door." Inspirational lyric: "People speak my name in whispers / What higher praise can there be?"

1. Shoot Out the Lights (1982) - With this album, the Thompsons finally began to attract significant critical notice. The North American tour in support was also successful, but the fact that the Thompsons' marriage broke up, quite visibly, in the same moment attracted considerable notice itself. It may have led many to see more in its songs about damaged relationships than was actually there. These were not new songs. Most of them had originally been recorded two years earlier, with Gerry Rafferty producing, while the Thompsons were between record deals. The plan was for Rafferty, who paid for the project, to use the tapes to land the Thompsons a new record deal. Which he did, as the Thompsons eventually signed with old friend Joe Boyd's brand new Hannibal Records. However, Richard hadn't liked how the actual recordings with Rafferty had sounded, so the Thompsons recut all the songs over a few days in November 1981. I think this has a fair bit to do with how well the album turned out. They'd settled on what were the best songs they had and they'd brought them to a high degree of readiness. Moreover, after living with this material for almost two years, Richard and Linda were far more intimately familiar with the peculiar twists and turns of these songs than artists normally are when they cut records. And it's an exceptional set of songs, with no weak links. 

But by the time they made the record, a pregnant Linda was experiencing breathing problems and having trouble singing. These issues would mark the beginning of the problems with her voice that have plagued her right to this day (sometimes she can sing free and easy, sometimes she can't even talk.) Her troubles led Richard to take over the vocal on the opening track "Don't Renege on Our Love" and left Linda singing just three of the album's songs. After the recording, Richard went off to play some solo dates in America, and while doing so - he met someone new. Their marriage was over a few months later, just as they were taking their new work on the road. Which got ugly on occasion. But the vocal performances Linda was able to provide are beautiful beyond all description. She does it with an uncanny perfect calm that is somehow both warmly human and as cool and clear as the finest crystal. On "Just the Motion" - well, my gosh - she presents what is still a compelling case for herself as the finest female singer ever to come out of the British Isles, without ever raising her voice or slurring her lines. She simply mesmerizes. The songs are supported by Richard's guitars and a sparse but sympathetic rhythm section of old comrades from the Fairports, and Richard's guitar playing hits heights that are remarkable even for him, which makes them very remarkable indeed. But the solos he plays in "Walking on a Wire" and the title track are so jaw-droppingly brilliant that they're positively frightening. It's one of the greatest albums ever made, and so says everyone who heard it. Which was generally a larger group than usually heard his work, but still a much smaller group than that work deserved. It was his first record to crack the American charts, where it hit the dizzying heights of #203. Inspirational lyric: "He might laugh, but you won't see him / As he thunders through the night."