Action Packed Career
Richard Thompson’s only as good as his last album — and that’s saying something.
By Alan Sculley
WHO: Richard Thompson
WHEN: 1:20 p.m. Friday, April 27
WHERE: Sprint PCS/ LG Stage
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Two of Richard Thompson’s albums made Rolling Stone’s top-100 album list of the past 30 years.
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Richard Thompson has been a triple threat for three decades of music. He is one of the finest songwriters of the rock era, a writer of uncommon intelligence and wit, and a distinctive guitarist who can be mentioned in the same breath with virtuosos such as Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler. Those two qualities are stamped throughout his new greatest-hits CD, Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years, which covers material from all five studio CDs Thompson recorded for Capitol Records since 1988.
Thompson’s third charm is his humility — a valuable virtue for one of the most praised artists of his generation. So it’s a bit startling to walk down memory lane and hear Thompson’s assessment of his Capitol tenure, beginning with his most recent CD, 1999’s Mock Tudor — even if there isn’t a hint of boastfulness in his voice.
“I think it’s as good as anything I’ve done, really,” Thompson says. “I think it’s as good as [1982’s] Shoot Out the Lights or [1991’s] Rumour & Sigh in terms of being a consistently realized record. I think on Rumour & Sigh, there are some really good songs I still perform. And on Shoot Out the Lights, there are really good songs I still perform. But you can have an album of good songs and it still isn’t necessarily a great record. It’s that touchy thing. There are so many factors there — just subtle things like sequencing can make or break a record.”
Those familiar with Thompson will realize this is no small statement from the 51-year-old London native. Shoot Out the Lights, recorded with his wife, Linda, was a riveting work that reflected the tension of their disintegrating marriage. It was included in Rolling Stone magazine’s top 100 albums of the past 30 years. Rumour & Sigh is considered the finest of the nine strong solo albums Thompson has made since parting ways with Linda Thompson.
As for Mock Tudor, time will tell if it eventually is regarded as another Thompson classic, but it’s certainly one of the stellar efforts of his storied career.
That career began in the late 1960s when Thompson became a founding member of Fairport Convention, the British band that helped pioneer the folk-rock form with a seamless blend of Celtic music, rock and folk. In his five years with Fairport, Thompson was an integral force behind such seminal records as Liege and Leaf and Unhalfbricking. In 1972, Thompson married Linda Peters and began a partnership that lasted for six albums, including I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — another work that Rolling Stone included in its top-100 list.
His solo career resumed in 1983 and Thompson has remained one of rock’s most consistently inventive and satisfying artists ever since. The musical styles that have always defined Thompson’s music found a home within Mock Tudor — as do more than a few references to Thompson’s own life in music.
The Celtic and English folk elements that first emerged in Fairport Convention filter strongly into songs like “Walking the Long Miles Home” and “Sights And Sounds Of London Town.” Blues and acoustic folk meet in “Cooksferry Queen,” while Thompson’s music takes on a harder rock feel on “Bathsheba Smiles” — two songs chosen for inclusion on Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years.
Overall, the songs on Mock Tudor are a bit sharper melodically than his previous two CDs, You? Me? Us? (1996) and Mirror Blue (1994). They are also a bit more straightforward in their production, a contrast effected by Thompson’s change in producers.
Throughout the ’90s, Thompson had worked with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, the team known for their use of unconventional sonics and sound effects. (Think Los Lobos’ Kiko and Suzanne Vega’s 99š F. ) For Mock Tudor, Thompson used Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, a pair that’s helmed work for the Foo Fighters, the Toadies and Elliott Smith.
“There was kind of an imagination there, and also a kind of sense of humor,” Thompson says of Rothrock and Schnapf’s production. “Also I like it when the artist seems to be at the center of their own record. And that isn’t always the case. Sometimes the artist is kind of overwhelmed by the production or sidelined by the production.“I really enjoy working with Mitchell, but I think it was time for a change.”
Lyrically, Mock Tudor reflects Thompson’s feelings for his hometown. The London connection is obvious in “Walking the Long Miles Home” (which was inspired by the many evenings when Thompson would finish a gig, miss the last bus and need to hoof his way home). It isn’t as clear in other instances. “Hard on Me” seems like a bitter and angry look at a relationship , while “Sibella” seems merely to be a tale of mismatched love.
“You know, ‘Hard on Me’ is a song really about my father, rather than a relationship song,” Thompson says. “And ‘Sibella’ is a very naive love song. It’s a song about early romance.”
Do the three thematic segments of Mock Tudor relate to the phases of his career, with “Metroland” covering the Fairport Convention years, “Heroes in the Suburbs” relating to the Richard and Linda Thompson period, and “Street Cries and Stage Whispers” devoted to his solo career?
“I think that’s probably a little pedantic,” he says. “It has more to do with a certain feeling, a development rather than a commercial overview.” .
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