I wrote this little piece sometime in March and then sort of forgot about it. Here it is, with the music as well... here
The whirling dervish of Richard and Linda Thompson
Listening to anything by Richard and Linda Thompson is an experience that must strike you at the right time – the right time of the day or the week, the right time in your life – or you just might miss everything that made them so great. A winter’s night, the first snowfall, sitting by a blazing fire in a bar by an old train station. Only there are no trains tonight. Tonight, you can hear a pin drop. Voices on stage entwined together like the lovers they belong to, meshing and mixing with concertina and a rhythm section so tuned in you could almost forget they are there until they remind you. It’s that kind of performance, in a small space that feels like home, home enough to close your eyes and simply listen. You can hear so many moments in this performance where the audience is hanging on every last note, literally, holding back their applause, barely breathing, until they are sure the spell is really over. Eyes closed, but not asleep. I used to wonder about Richard and Linda’s conversion to Islam and the influence of Sufism they claimed had changed everything for them. To my ears, at first, I could only hear the sadness in these songs, a deep and terrible longing, and wondered how it was any surprise to anyone that their relationship dissolved in the early 80s. Where was the joyful dance of Rumi in these tunes? Sure, they also played upbeat tunes, and their love for American music – old country and rock and roll mostly – really comes out on those early records, making it even more obvious why Richard had to leave Fairport to keep his creative muse alive. But, one day after a particularly long night awake with myself, I think I finally understood.
I am not the first to point out when the silences and spaces between the notes is what’s important. The two of them danced together with their voices, with the interplay between Linda’s voice and Richard’s understated playing. And only Richard Thompson could take a five-minute guitar solo and still come off as humble, self-effacing even. There are no heroics here, from anyone.
As nice and even wonderful as the records Richard and Linda made together were (I am partial to ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight’ and ‘Pour Down Like Silver’ myself), I can’t help thinking that THIS is how these songs were meant to be heard, at least the songs in this particular set list. We don’t get the acoustic majesty along the lines of “Beat the Retreat”, for example, that were always transcendent minutes for me on those records. But these electric numbers, with the sparse and tight backing of Fairport friends Dave Mattacks and Dave Pegg, with John Fitzpatrick on accordion and concertina, they just, well, BREATH better than the studio versions. On “Now Be Thankful,” Linda sings the definitive version of the song Richard had been trying to get right for some time. It has appeared on the Fairport’s “Full House” album, and – as we now know from the outtakes – had been attempted with Sandy Denny before she quit the band. Neither of those versions come anywhere close to this one, although the all-male harmonies on Full House are also stirring and very well executed. Richard’s voice has been criticized as being rather restricted in range. Rubbish. It’s what he does what the range he has, a sense of spot-on economy of phrasing that is of a piece with his guitar playing. Again, those magisterial solos on the long, dirge-like pieces (Night Comes In, For Shame of Doing Wrong, Calvary Cross) have confirmed me in my often-held belief that Thompson is the greatest electric guitarist to ever come out of England. His style has strong roots both in the acoustic folk traditions of his mother country and also a reverence for styles coming from across the ocean. When he stretches out, it´s with modal variations on the chord changes, using his whole instrument and rarely playing single-note runs up or down the neck. In a rock setting, even when more of a roots setting like this one, it is very rare for an ensemble with a single guitarist to be able to let that guitarist stretch out like that without feeling a gap in the center somewhere where the rhythm should be, which is why so many of the ‘power trios’ relied on instrumental pyrotechnics to overcome that handicap. But the way Richard plays makes the rock distinction between “rhythm” and “lead” guitars seem utterly beside the point, the plaything of adolescents. Like the best of the English guitarist like Ralph McTell or Bert Jansch, or the best American fingerpickers like Mississippi John Hurt or Fred McDowell, who are a one-man-bands without ever showing off, just graceful. It’s why you can bring someone who finds most guitar solos tedious and self-indulgent to see Richard play, even to this day, and they will walk away astounded at the man’s mastery – and not just of “his instrument”, but of his own musicality. The reason I have often felt he is perhaps the best electric guitarist out there (I’m moving beyond the UK now..), is because he always, ALWAYS, plays to the song. It’s not just that he knows when to hold back and let a stunning voice like Linda’s command the stage – it’s also that what he is doing in those moments is still so nuanced and complex, even when minimal or understated. That’s what has always made him a “musician’s musician” with a cult following, rather than an Eric Clapton who can wow football stadiums with his wankery and blues clichés.
The recording is remarkably warm and fresh sounding, not sure why it took so long for this to be released as an official album since there was obviously care taken in the recording of it.
1. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (3:15)
2. Hard Luck Stories (3:51)
3. Night Comes In (10:48)
4. Morris Medley: Old Woman Tossed Up in a Blanket / Shepherd's Hey / Bean Setting / Shooting (5:20)
5. A Heart Needs a Home (4:20)
6. Why Don't You Love Me? (2:40)
7. Now Be Thankful (2:57)
8. Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair (2:56)
9. Streets of Paradise (4:27)
10. For Shame of Doing Wrong (8:16)
11. Calvary Cross (14:01)
12. Hokey Pokey (The Ice Cream Song) (4:13)
13. Things You Gave Me (2:33)
14. It'll Be Me (4:51)
15. Together Again (3:23)
