S/D: Richard Thompson

OK the version I have from Live! (more or less) is from Oct 27 1975, Oxford Polytechnic, 13:24 in length.

pretty sure that's the same one from guitar, vocal and live 1975

So... Guitar, Vocal one = the bonus one on Bright Lights remaster = the one on Best Of Richard And Linda?

Check each album listed here for details, I think it should help:
http://www.richardthompson-music.com/song_o_matic.asp?id=45

Bright Lights Bonus Track: live at The Roundhouse, London, September 7, 1975
guitar, vocal/live more or less/best of/in concert 1975: Recorded live at Oxford Polytechnic on November 27, 1975
Doom & Gloom/Watching the Dark: 1983 live recording in New York City
Life & Music: Live 1986

i don't think i have the roundhouse version ...

excellent work there, tylerw

So do you need the Life And Music one from me?

thread plz note that tyler also corrected my typo of October with the proper month

ha, i just got it from the song-o-matic thing gerald posted ... a hnday resource.
nope, i've got the life and music box set, I just never bought the most recent Bright Lights reissue with the Roundhouse Calvary Cross.

*handy* resource

hmm, just heard about this, looks like it could be good.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E64qCmnOL._SS500_.jpg
UK four disc (three CDs + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) collection containing the very best radio and TV performances by Richard and Linda Thompson and Richard Thompson solo recorded for the BBC between January 1974 and 2009. These are the first ever collection of BBC recordings sanctioned by Richard Thompson. Over 80 previously unreleased recordings; 18 songs never before on CD, four brand new songs and three unreleased traditional songs. Features acoustic sessions and completely different arrangements of some of his best known recordings including the rarely performed Fairport favorite 'Meet On The Ledge'. The 36-page booklet contains sleeve notes by Uncut's Mick Houghton, author of the acclaimed book, Becoming Elektra.

Tyler, did you pick that up? I finally heard it and there's some STUNNING voice-and-guitar performances (disc 3) on it as well as some blistering band renditions (disc 2). I must admit the Linda tracks on disc 1 sort of paled in comparison - RT's ability to convey so much emotion with his vocals has always been the hook for me.

I need to hear this.

Did pick up the Rhino Handmade 2-disc Shoot Out The Lights when they had it on sale for a day. Amazing stuff.

been trying to catch up on post 70s thompson stuff on spotify

started with Rumor and Sigh, which i remember hearing was a high point

there are some good and great songs on this. but goddamn, mitchell froom's bloodless fussy late 80s modern rock production style is probably one of my least favorite aesthetics in the history of recorded music. wish this had been recorded 15 years earlier or 15 years later

otm, although i do think there was a falloff in the songwriting too

yeah i mean it's not fucking with bright lights or shoot out (or even hand of kindness)...but goddamn i hate that 88/89/90/91 era sounds SOOO much...at least the "80s" production ppl claim is tacky or dated is a real definable style and was sort of an audacious way to do things, like big phil collins drums and don henley sequencers and shit, by 88ish it got so fucking "tasteful" but not actually good tasteful like vintage 60s/70s recordings

goddamn

http://youtu.be/vA5Q-IUK1p0

bah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA5Q-IUK1p0

Search cold kisses. Also, can anyone explain what he means by a "a bit of a wet?" (this one's a poet/a bit of a wet/a bit of a gypsy/a bit of a threat)

believe it means 'bit of a drunk'

could mean that but I think it's more likely to mean that the guy is wet i.e. a wimp, not a strongman type.

British informal showing a lack of forcefulness or strength of character; feeble:

whenever i've heard him play stuff from you me us live, i think it's great, but i never want to listen to that album. production is too froomy (and i'm not even a total froom hater). "the ghost of you walks" is awesome too.

I'm with you, that was when I jumped the RT ship. At this point I love almost everything through the "Watching The Dark" box, though I picked up the BBC box and it's revelatory for his recent stuff.

You know, it's weird - I generally like Froom and love Thompson but that is where I hopped off both trains, too. Yet it's really not that eccentric a Froom production, or that mediocre a Thompson record. Maybe it was just too much of that at once? The irony is that "Mock Tudor" and especially "The Old Kit Bag" are great, and "Industry" with Danny Thompson was pretty strong, too. I think the peace I found was just recognizing Richard Thompson as a genius and leaving it at that.

I mean, gosh, this song is so incredible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPxy0HJFZHE

been trying to catch up on post 70s thompson stuff on spotify

started with Rumor and Sigh, which i remember hearing was a high point

there are some good and great songs on this. but goddamn, mitchell froom's bloodless fussy late 80s modern rock production style is probably one of my least favorite aesthetics in the history of recorded music. wish this had been recorded 15 years earlier or 15 years later

yeah, i thought mirror blue & mock tudor were horrible
*jumped off the bus*

tbh the whole post-linda period isn't especially strong but there were moments that cut through the dogy production of froom and others, but after rumor and sigh it isn't really worth the slog imo

His singing got worse, post-Linda, I thought.

& I don't generally appreciate his later taste for jokey tunes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYAshqJlvsI

Man, if you want to dive into that weirdness...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awkSF3wAdts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA_91AeL-Ms

but after rumor and sigh it isn't really worth the slog imo
i dunno, i think there's solid stuff on every album i've heard -- maybe he hasn't made a super classic record in a while, but he's always worth checking out. also worht checking out -- the website-only live albums he's been putting out over the years. http://www.theconnextion.com/richardthompson/richardthompson_cat.cfm?CatID=178 haven't head all of em, but the ones I have heard are great.

Those self-released live discs are totally essential for appreciation of the Froom-era songs if (like a lot of ppl on this thread!) you just hate the production on those records.

yeah exactly -- they are basically live companions to the various albums and they often surpass the studio versions.
on you me us, there's just something so wrong about the mix of the electric tracks, like you can hear that the performance itself sounded GREAT when the musicians were playing, but it comes across all boxy and muted on CD. weird approach, wonder what thompson thinks about those records now.

I bet he thinks, hmm, those Froom-produced CDs probably sold more than the rest of my catalog combined.

This slays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW-w0KgE-8s

That's great, though it's not as impressive as RT slaying om his own:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxKTzwaEa2o

This song is a great example of how he was writing some of his best material late in his career.

This is a wonderful late-period RT song as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1OILRjZSvQ

am i the only one who isn't nuts about "vincent black lightning"? sort of surprises me that it's become known as a classic thompson song. it's nice enough but i always think the lyrics are corny as hell.

It's top five RT for me certainly. I don't find the lyrics corny, just very moving. The guitar playing is phenomenal and the way he lifts the song with "...carry me home" towards the end just kills me.

I'm not nuts about it, but I feel like my opinion is tarnished by the fact that that song was used as an example in a "Music Appreciation" (or something similar) class I had to take in college; we listened to that and Lauro Nyro's "Eli's Coming" over and over again for several weeks. But aside from that, it's OK but really not one of my favorites.

am i the only one who isn't nuts about "vincent black lightning"?

i was just thinking this, and i didn't see the youtube links above until now
yeah, it's ok but corny and nowhere near as good as some of the early stuff
it is easy to see how it became such a 'crowd-pleaser"

yeah, i guess maybe i'm just not crazy about motorcycles? i guess it's just as corny as singing about knights and fairy queens.

the lyric seems pretty one-off and cliché-free to me, how many other songs are there that reference the names of old British motorcycle marques

i think the one that makes me cringe is "Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme"
listening to it, i think the idea is clever -- updating a classic folk ballad to a more modern day (seems like there are elements of barbara allen in there), but it's never quite grabbed me the way some of his other songs do.

I like the song a lot, it's just ppl's fixation with it that puts me off. Definitely prefer it solo acoustic (same for Beeswing).

Isn't it basically a different take on "Long Black Veil?"

is it? i don't hear that. melodically? lyrically?

Kind of? It's obviously faster, but they're close cousins.