I cannot for the life of me understand why he does not feature more strongly here. For those Afterworders brave enough to venture outside their “comfort zone” he will prove to be a veritable godsend of song. Give him a try!
Richard Thompson
by 19 Comments
Pearl Before Swine / Tom Rapp
Or just about anybody else, really.
You changed the heading HP?
Nope.
When I first read it there was no reference to THE Black Vincent haymaker. I assumed it was one of your oblique posts opening it up.
*backs slowly away, avoiding eye contact*
I think we need a separate section just for RT. 4 threads on the main blog front page. I have some admiration for him but I confess he leaves me cold (and I have seen him live).
Yer, me also. I loved him in the Fairports, but I loved everybody when they were in the Fairports and went right off them when they split to do something else. Sandy Denny was magical in the Fairps, utterly ordinary after. Why anybody let Thompson make another record after Henry The Human Fly is beyond me.
“Utterly ordinary”….
Have you ever bought an album in hope? A hope that dissolves on first and second playing and quickly curdles into resentment, so that it becomes a stain on your highly prized collection? An unsightly mole. A reminder of wrong turns?
What I might refer to as ‘The Flaming Lips phenomenon’.
That’s why Eel Markets and Streaming is good. No more disappointment. No more “Why oh why did I buy that?”
Yes. That bloody awful record we were all told was a masterpiece, and, like sheep, we believed them.
And no more playing that turkey over and over and over until you finally convince yourself “There’s some really good stuff on Side 2”
Every Beatles album after Pepper. There, I said it and I’m glad! GLAD! I tell you. The Buyer’s Remorse after the white one, the black one, and the other one left me unable to respond to human contact or take solids for decades.
The last bit… not what I heard, feller.
That reminds me of a (dull) tale…
I was going to Edale for a weekend of hiking over Kinder Scout, leaving Cambridge after work on Friday. My best man, then living in Camberley, was making his own way. I told him “get off the M1, through Chesterfield, past Chatsworth, head for Hope, turn right and follow the road into Edale”. Predicatbly, he got lost as soon as he left the A1, and went into a pub to ask for directions.
“I’m heading to Edale, it’s just past Hope.”
An old man at the bar turned round. “There’s no hope round ‘ere, son.”
I don’t know, I think it is the joy of the Afterword that otherwise little known artists can get a platform, however small. I have followed Rick from the early days, as his soul-pop start gradually morphed into more of a jazz and blues influence. Who can’t but smile at this example of his early work?
https://youtu.be/AjBlNaG9zMI
You old rascal.