****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I was interested in Fairport Convention as I like British folk from that era - Nick Drake, Roy Harper, and to some extent even Pink Floyd - and I'm fascinated by the stunning Sandy Denny, the only person to ever accompany Robert Plant on Vocals on "The Battle of Evermore." And from Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention you naturally have to wander backwards to Richard Thompson. I've watched some YouTube videos of him, what a guitarist, what a performer, what a quick tongue. And I was curious to hear more of him, so I invested in this box set, which wanders along all of the phases of this amazing musician's career. This box set is rather old school as it doesn't have any special adornments, but is quite functional - it covers all of the phases of Richard Thompson's career, starting with his work with Fairport Convention, moving on to his work with his (then) wife Linda, before going into what he's done since and on his own. The booklet has lots of great photos of a young Richard, skinny and shy and a bit odd-looking, and without a guitar strapped around his neck, before getting to pictures of Richard either posing with bandmates or performing somewhere. In early years you see the young man with long, curly locks, and later on bearded with a beret.The four CDs don't have any special packaging, but the tall and slim 60-page booklet is very nice, with a long essay and tons of rare photos. It has essays by a few different people, but doesn't give much information about the 70 tracks on the album other than songwriting credits, although it runs through a "selected album discography and sessionography" that runs down who played what on these albums. The set starts with "Time Will Show The Wiser", a not-so-interesting but pleasant song written by American songwriter Emmett Rhodes, then picks up with "Meet On The Ledge", where we get our first snatch of Sandy Denny vocals, which come in right after the male vocals, and is stunning. The rousing chorus is also fantastic.Most of the songs on this set get five out of five stars for me, but even there I have found plenty of amazing standouts. "Crazy Man Michael" has great Sandy Denny vocals (which Sandy Denny vocals aren't great, though?), "The Poor Ditching Boy" is a great Scottish ballad that Richard did solo just after he left Fairport Convention, and he sings it with a strong strong voice."The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" is rousing rock, and you can hear prominently Linda Peters, who later became Linda Thompson, singing background vocals. There are 21 songs from the Linda Thompson era and most of them are stellar. Linda's voice is a bit like Sandy's, but purer, stronger (while maybe a little less soulful), and she sounds a lot like Nathalie Merchant. "Withered and Died" is practically a country song that is mainly taken by Linda's strong voice, with a few squirmy solos by Richard. "Down Where The Drunkards Roll" is a gloomy Celtic song with weird organ sounds, with nice backing vocals by Richard singing in his deepest deep voice. "The Calvary Cross" has this crazy Eastern mystic intro that bends weird notes all over the place, then becomes a shifty and mellow groover with lots of reverb, sung by Richard. "Dimming Of The Day" is probably the most mellow song I've ever heard; David Gilmour does a great version, although his stately voice and splendid enunciation don't quite have the soul that Richard and Linda do. This music is so beautiful. It is coupled with a very nice instrumental called "Dargai." The song "Strange Affair" is a truly beautiful song sung by Linda, very understated with lots of emphasis on her voice, with some nice backing by Richard. "Sisters" is a very good song, supremely sung by Linda with a piano and guitar accompaniment, the lyrics are among the most intense I've ever heard, with lines like "Don't call me your sister and put a knife through my heart". Wow. "Man In Need" is a crazy old pub rocker sung by Richard that is a lot of fun, while "Shoot Out The Lights" is a freaked-out rock number. "Wall of Death" is one of Richard and Linda's best songs, they have a fantastic harmonisation, singing "Let me ride on the wall of death one more time." Beauty from end to end. "Walking On A Wire" is pretty corny, despite being the song that the collection is named after; nonetheless, it has some incredible solos in it. More to my heart is "Tear Stained Letter", which sounds easily like a rollicking little something that the Pogues could have written. Lots of great lyrics, like "My head was beating like a song from the Clash/ It was writing cheques that my body couldn't cash." "Beat The Retreat" is a song with just Richard and his guitar, it sounds so incredibly anguished, each note and each tone is just from the bottom of his soul. Splendid! "Turning of the Tide" is a musty old rocker, with its pickup about pickups. Crazy. "I Misunderstood" is a song that, at the offset, doesn't sound so fantastic, more like just another '80s ballad, until you get to lyrics like "But I misunderstood/ But I misunderstood/ But I misunderstood/ I thought she was saying 'good luck'/ She was saying 'good-bye'" That song is followed immediately by what is probably the best song in the selection, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a tale sung by Richard on solo guitar about a woman who meets the rider of the title motorbike, who tells her "Red hair and black leather/ My favourite colour scheme." The song is like a Scottish shanty, but it is set in a modern time, and tells the tale of a doomed 21-year-old, his girl and his bike. Beautiful, with great singing and fantastic guitarwork.The later songs are not as great, but there are a few nice selections, like the new wave rocker "Razor Dance", which has some nice lyrics, starting off with "After the death of a thousand kisses/ Comes the catacomb of tongues." "Persuasion" is a beautiful ditty sung with Neil Finn of Crowded House fame. "Hard On Me" is a rocker that is just full of really fantastic solos. "A Legal Matter" is a rockin' acoustic number, sung with real attitude. "I'll Never Give It Up" is good rock 'n' roll, while "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" is the real deal, storytelling with violin accompaniment and backup vocals, and "She Sang Angels To Rest" closes the box set with a 2007 recording that wrings out the emotions on acoustic guitar. Great. Everyone must own this box set.
