S/D: Richard Thompson

wait they are already in chicago?! i thought they were playing tomorrow?

and i will be there to get water for you if you freak out aj!

oops sorry, that was in indiana, i was confused. yeah you guys should yell for it!

Has its own site: reviews, interviews etc.
http://www.thompsonfamilyalbum.com/

stumbled into 'A Heart Needs a Home' in a mix today and it floored me

Thompson family live at City Winery NYC: http://nodepression.com/live-review/we-are-family-thompsons-live

RT answers your questions, spring session pt. 1:

http://www.richardthompson-music.com/news/2015/3/30/rts-spring-q-a-part-1?utm_source=FAN+MAILING+LIST&utm_campaign=48b5eeae84-RT_Newsletter_March_VIP&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0938a8e7d7-48b5eeae84-163448545

Renowned guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson is set to release Still, an album of new music, produced by Jeff Tweedy on June 23 via Concord Records in the US and June 29 via Proper Records internationally. Still will be available in several configurations including a twelve-track CD, a twelve-track double 180-gram vinyl album and a deluxe CD package that includes the five song Variations EP, from a previously unreleased session

TRACK LISTING
1. She Never Could Resist A Winding Road
2. Beatnik Walking
3. Patty Don’t You Put Me Down
4. Broken Doll
5. All Buttoned Up
6. Josephine
7. Long John Silver
8. Pony In The Stable
9. Where’s Your Heart
10. No Peace No End
11. Dungeons For Eyes
12. Guitar Heroes
Still was recorded in a two-story rehearsal loft in Chicago over the course of just nine days with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy at the helm, backed by several longtime players from both Thompson’s and Tweedy’s bands. Insert Jeff Tweedy quote. Thompson enlisted Tweedy’s production skills in an effort to shake up his own creative approach to making records. “It turned out be really good idea,” says Thompson. “Jeff is musically very sympathetic. Although some of his contributions are probably rather subtle to the listener’s ear, they were really interesting and his suggestions were always very pertinent.”

Taken as a whole, Still is a powerful dispatch from an acknowledged master who remains unafraid to put himself into demanding new environments – its title reflecting that resilience and seemingly endless resourcefulness. “Or,” Thompson adds slyly, “it could be read as ‘Is he still performing? I thought he died years ago.”

Insert Jeff Tweedy quote

i prefer his older press releases to these new, poorly proofread ones

Every press release I write from now on is going to have the sentence "Insert Jeff Tweedy quote." IMO there's almost nothing that wouldn't be improved by "Insert Jeff Tweedy quote," including actual Jeff Tweedy quotes. Jeff Tweedy could give press conferences where he just leaned toward the mic and said, "Insert Jeff Tweedy quote here." It'd be like the scene in Being John Malkovich where everything comes out "Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich."

But as for Mr. Thompson. Many years ago I heard an exceptionally pure and simple live version of "Happy Days and Old Lang Syne" on Prairie Home Companion (of all places), probably 2001 or 2002. It was perfect. The album version (which I think is on Old Kit Bag) is over-embellished and syncopated awkwardly. I really wish I could find an early live version.

Other S&D:

"Turning of the Tide" kicks major arse - both solos are tasty but I think the second one is a little better. Now I have to go listen to it.

I like "When I get to the Border" a lot but the coda is needless TradWank.

Currently I feel that I've heard "52 Vincent..." and "Beeswing" as much I need to for now. Still top-notch songs, but they've been a little overplayed in my household. Right now I'm preferring Mary Lou Lord's versions, which may be heresy but so be it.

Oh and "Wall of Death" and "I want to see..." are grebt; I can personally do without another hearing of "Feel So Good" or "Crawl Back" but I understand their appeal.

Tangentially Teddy's version of "Tonight Will Be Fine" from that Cohen tribute is also gorgeous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W89j6GjPDI

"Insert Jeff Tweedy quote."
hahah ouch.
i have heard Still and it is great! Might not like it quite as much as Electric, but hey give it a go.
also:
I like "When I get to the Border" a lot but the coda is needless TradWank.
get outta here. TradWank is the BEST. What the world needs now is more TradWank!

i think that when i get to the border was the 1st Thompson song I ever heard and I can still remember when it got to that coda, thinking: "yes I want to hear more of this"

Thou art too modest, t: get yall to tyler's blog, http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/ for a live RT/Nels C. rave-up on "Sloth," also you'll find a link to Tyler's intro to and post of track from Still, on the Aquarium Drunkard site

Also a missing internal quotation mark in that last sentence...

Interesting to see that and it is a shame that there are no guitar duels with Cline if that's true. He's been very interesting in a number of places.
May just have to go and grab a copy of this set when it appears.

If you scroll further down that page you get a photo which is an outtake from the photo session for Veedon Fleece attached to a live set by van from '75. There have been 2 sets I've come across recently on torrent sites from this largely undocumented year. that's this one and one from a few months later. Sorry, typing this and just realising that I noticed that that was one of the 2 but I don't remember which. There's a Davis University from April '75 and a Irvine from that June. They're bot petty gritty heavy r'n'b ish
I can't remember if when the Caledonia Soul Orchestra split but I think this is a while after that anyway. I'm not sure who is on it but both of those sets are worth hearing. So if you get the chance to check that out I'd do so.

haha i was gonna defend TradWank but tyler beat me to it!

Although some of his contributions are probably rather subtle to the listener’s ear,

this seems like press-release-speak for "he didn't really do anything"

yeah certainly not some kind of radical departure from 21st century Thompson, don't think Tweedy imposed anything on this. But it is good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhac0bWENY

New one features this song, which may be the best bit of guitar acting since Blue Oyster Cult's "The Marshall Plan."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54x3JaXD2xg

Album version of that isn't as good, but it incl. a good twinkly, trippy homage to Les Paul's own studio sound. Also like his take on Hank Marvin (an sudible influence on his own sound, or just slightly subsumed by it? Both?) Too many fingers for Django. Funny verses along the lines of, "My parents are gonna kill me, my life is a mess, got no where to go, better hurry up and sound like [insert guitar hero quote here]."
Initially,several tracks seem mostly notable as guitar vehicles, and, while the guitar-playing isn't big slick rough fun on an Electric scale, it's pretty good! And I do like the writing (and playing) of "She Never Could Resist A Winding Road," "Josephine," "Pony In The Stable," for instance. So far, seems like the best overall tracks---playing, singing, vibrant atmospheres---are "Broken Doll" and "Where's Your Heart." Best RT illin': "No Peace, No End."
What the heck, the whole thing may yet have me going omg. Judge for yourselves: here's links to whole-album streams on NPR, CDC, and The Guardian.
http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fa0ee5df9dfda6e3115ac406f&id=526e0f4452&e=3412af6338

So, new album is out and seems lovely so far.

ILX hate Wilco/Tweedy obviously but I had the sense he would do a good job on this and he has, by basically setting up some nice microphones and letting the players play, production is very unfussy, clear without being too slick, pretty much ideal....god just imagine if we could go back in time and re-record some of that 80s and 90s stuff like this?

The Pitchfork review knocked it a bit for a couple sillier jaunty numbers like "Long John Silver" and "Beatnik Walk" but I don't mind that side of him, balances things out and those are generally his catchier tunes

Electric trio plays tmrw night in nyc, anyone going?

his band is so good, wish he was playing electric around here, but i think he's doing a solo show.
yeah! i like the new one -- don't think it'll convert anyone, but i think it is very solid.
don't tell ILX but i'm going to see wilco next month!

it's not necessarily all classic new tunes or anything but i find his basic thing very enjoyable

"gutiar heroes" is kinda corny but i dig the gimmick in the hands of a guy as good as him

what's the epic barn burner these days? Still "Hard On Me"?

last time i saw him it was "can't win"

btw the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition are pretty great and might have been preferable to some of the proper tracks IMO

Can't Win has been a killer for decades. The last time I saw him with a band there were awed theatre ushers stopped in their tracks by his solo on that one.

yeah total tour de force.
good to know about those bonus tracks, haven't heard them yet.

RT dropped by the station, played some new tunes:
(audio, video)
http://www.wfuv.org/content/richard-thompson-2015

New wtf podcast w RT & Lemmy The K: http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_634_-_richard_thompson_lemmy_kilmister Haven't listened yet, just now downloaded.

RT is playing a sold out festival near me soon-ish. If I pull the right strings, I can get in and see him. But I'd be using up those strings for a while, owing a favor, etc.

Worth the effort?

yes definitely

yeah, i've seen him 5-6 times and he's never been anything less than great.

Solo or electric? He's great either way.

I'm assuming solo, but am not positive.

Thanks, y'all. Will see what I can do.

He's the rare quadruple threat. Peerless acoustic player, peerless electric player, peerless songwriter, and hilarious banterer.

lol check this pic -- 67 years old!
https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14233129_10154566205657287_1939982753133593210_n.jpg?oh=e1e50febadb96f246f248c6ce6aa1f4a&oe=5884DE13

Can anyone rank the officially released live albums, or how about top 3?

I only have the November 1975 one with Linda, which is a beaut.

I only have the November 1975 one with Linda, which is a beaut.

Oops sorry for double posting, don't know how that happened.

Well, there are lots of weird RT fan club etc. live albums or collections. I'm a big fan of "More Guitar." There's good stuff on "Two Letter Words." But given he's really never bad, I guess it depends what kind of RT you're in the mood for: acoustic, electric, stand up comedy, duo, solo, band, touring behind which album, and so on. The "RT- The Life and Music of Richard Thompson" box is mostly live but is a bit overwhelming. "1000 Years of Pop Music" is super high concept.

bonus live disc that came out w/ a deluxe reissue of Shoot Out The Lights is highly recommended.

and yeah "More Guitar" has (as the title suggests) some of Thompson's wildest electric guitar playing. I like Celtschmertz too, which is mostly solo acoustic, late 90s.

Semi-Detached Mock Tudor is preferable to Mock Tudor IMO
I also like the live versions on the terribly titled Ducknapped over the studio versions of its era.
Can't remember if I've heard More Guitar or not

iirc the insane "can't win" from "more guitar" is the same one as is found on the watching the dark comp ...