Richard Thompson; Electric (Proper/Southbound)

 |   |  <1 min read

Richard Thompson: Where's Home?
Richard Thompson; Electric (Proper/Southbound)

Englishman Richard Thompson's 2010 Dream Attic was a courageous leap of faith: a live album of all new and therefore unfamiliar songs recorded before American audiences.

But this godfather of Anglofolk – and superb electric guitarist – pulled it off in some dyspeptic and angry songs, and that energy spills over onto this album in the taut Stuck on a Treadmill (the indignity of factory life), the suspicions of infidelity on Good Things Happen to Bad People, and the early Costello-like pop-rock of Straight and Narrow.

He also delivers working class Anglofolk-rock (Stony Ground) and British blues (Sally B) but finds a place for reflection (the marriage splitting up on Another Small Thing).

Thompson's forte is the slightly spiteful song (they're here), so it's a relief the folksy closer Saving the Good Stuff For You is a man who has finally found love to redeem his mis-spent life.

This album – produced by Buddy Miller, Alison Krauss on The Snow Goose, early copies with an excellent bonus disc – is Thompson's 20th-something album under his own name so you've either got him by now, or haven't.

Fans will like this although it breaks no new ground (unlike Dream Attic), others will doubtless shrug.

 Like the sound of this? Then check out this.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Ry Cooder: My Name is Buddy (Warners)

Ry Cooder: My Name is Buddy (Warners)

Albums under Ry Cooder's name once only sold in the hundreds. But these days -- through high profile soundtracks such as Paris, Texas, The Long Riders and Trespass, internationally acclaimed work... > Read more

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon/Southbound)

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon/Southbound)

But first we draw your attention to previous releases on Rune Grammofon, an interesting label out of Norway which ran from mainstream but innovative jazz to odd and interesting electronic sounds.... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Seafood gumbo, Cajun-style

Seafood gumbo, Cajun-style

Anyone who has had the good fortune to be in Cajun country in Louisiana knows that the food is often spectacularly good. I've only spent too short a time there -- I have a chapter in Postcards From... > Read more

JOHN LEE HOOKER INTERVIEWED (1990): What's in his name?

JOHN LEE HOOKER INTERVIEWED (1990): What's in his name?

Talking to 72-year-old blues singer John Lee Hooker - even in a cursory 15 minute interview - you know you are confronting a legendary, influential figure. And The Hook, as he is commonly known,... > Read more