S/D: Richard Thompson

Makes sense. Also reminds me of the section in a popular book about jazz guitar in which the author mentions another musician who would watch TV- Bowling For Dollars, I think, with the sound off and the metronome on, although this off course has a different purpose.

Everyone I knew growing up who played guitar noodled while watching TV. It's not great practice if you're trying to improve technique or learn new things or whatever imo,but just good for keeping your hand in

It may not be the best thing if you only ever practice that way, but if you already practice a few hours a day the hard way or else are already pretty proficient, perhaps gigging frequently, and then add a few hours of tv practice on top of that well then that might be just the thing

I practised Bach while watching Patriot Act tonight. Still not 100% sold on this but I could see it working in the way that James Redd describes.

I will noodle about sometimes while doing something else. It's less about practicing specific scales or modes or pieces or whatever, just about keeping my fingers engaged with the instrument and making sure they're familiar with what I am going to ask them to do when I'm playing more intentionally.

This is particularly helpful when I am switching between instruments with different scale lengths, number of strings, and intervals between strings. The last couple years I have been focused on bass, and then mandolin. They are completely different physical interfaces, and my fingers took time to get used to them. As a result, I barely picked up a guitar - and it showed, once I tried to play guitar. My fingers had forgotten all the distances.

TV noodling cured that.

I can't stand his voice! I've tried many times over the years. I still enjoy Linda's solo record, Versatile Heart. It's a very "Starbucks in the 2000s" sound, but the songs are excellent.

The main reason I keep trying is "A Heart Needs A Home," specifically the outtake version on "The End of the Rainbow" best of, which is incredible. It's not on YouTube, but it's on Spotify.

I practised Bach while watching Patriot Act tonight. Still not 100% sold on this

So. Guys. I've been working at this piece forever but usually still need to refer to the music at least partway through and/or stumble somewhere. Today, I came back to it tonight after trying the Netflix experiment yesterday. My fingers had memorized the whole thing. I could rip through it from start to finish at tempo without needing to pause once. I could just identify a couple of spots to work on but that's all I would need to focus on in mindful practice.

Ha!

Yet another variant of the practice technique road tested by Sund4r and YMR:
https://www.facebook.com/ricardo.lew.9/videos/10216953507405306/UzpfSTEwMDAwMjc0Njk3Njg3ODoxNjQ1Mzk5MjA4ODk0OTYy/

Aargh, YMP.

Ted liked to practice while watching football on his big screen tv

My seven favorites.

Idk man across a crowded room? I agree with you about the post amnesia rt vending machine but at least every one of those record has a handful of gold.

Mine, unranked, and including cohesive live albums and comps:

I want to see the bright lights
Pour down like silver
Semi detached mock tudor standing in for mock tudor
Rumor and sigh
Watching the dark
French Frith Kaiser and Thompson
Ducknapped standing in for the old kit bag

13 rivers is really promising so far but I need more listens

You me us could’ve been on there if it were one album

wow, what different lists!

Solid choices,both of you.

Pour down like silver is miles beyond any post Linda album but you also skipped hand of kindness which only has Henry and rumor & Sigh for competition for true solo album consideration
First Light is slept on and will grow in stature as an interesting mersh attempt with strong songs if not alwaysthe best arrangements

Hand of kindness is awesome

He's an ever-riveting, never-showboating featured team player ("Sloth"gets really strange) on Fairport Convention'sWhat We Did On Our Saturday, documenting a sometimes alarmingly energetic hive of all surviving Conventioneers who came to play--- which is most, incl. the founding line-up entire, I think--in their 50th Anniversary Concert (taking things a little easier on Disc 2, but understandably so, given the earlier waves).
Which reminds me---this just in (the email):

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/fa0ee5df9dfda6e3115ac406f/images/239ba18b-152a-4ba4-85de-05eb2ed6627b.jpg

My acoustic 80s cover band does "Keep Your Distance" with harmonies stolen from Buddy and Julie Miller's version. Solo I tend to do "Withered and Died" and/or "When I Get to the Border."

When and where?

Legendary guitarist Richard Thompson has composed a stunning score for a film honoring World War II fighter pilots and, to my surprise, there's not a lot of guitar playing on it. Today we're premiering that entire score. The film by Erik Nelson is called The Cold Blue and will be released Thursday, May 23, along with Thompson's score, in time for the Memorial Day weekend.
In 1943 William Wyler filmed the original fighter footage used in The Cold Blue...
https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2019/05/22/725502494/hear-richard-thompsons-stunning-score-for-a-new-wwii-documentary

For years now Richard Thompson has said that his home listening is a lot of classical composers, so no surprise that he might be wanting to stretch his wings further than the singer/songwriter guitarist format might allow.

Reissued by Real Gone, Aug. 2. Don't think I've ever heard it---good?

Across a Crowded Room--Live at Barrymore's 1985

As one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, Richard Thompson has played with some of the worlds most accomplished rock and folk musicians, starting, of course, with his first band, Fairport Convention. But of all the outfits Thompson has led during his sterling, post-Fairport, solo career, perhaps the finest was the unit he took out on the road with him for his 1985 tour supporting his then-current studio release (and first for the Polydor label), Across A Crowded Room. While the albums recording sessions had featured Fairport Convention stalwarts Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks on rhythm guitar and drums, respectively, for the tour Thompson enlisted the considerable talents of Any Trouble leader Clive Gregson and his creative partner Christine Collister, whose haunting harmonies (and occasional songwriting contributions) beautifully fleshed out the bands live sound. And the rhythm section boasted a member of British folk-rock royalty in the person of former Fotheringay/Pentangle/Cat Stevens drummer Gerry Conway, along with a long-time Thompson collaborator, bassist Rory McFarlane. Fortunately, the tours live shows lived up to the promise of its potent line-up; even more fortunately, one of the shows (at Barrymores, Ottawa, Canada, April 10, 1985) was captured for posterity in studio-quality sound originally for an 18-song laserdisc release.

Now, for its premiere on compact disc, weve included all 20 songs from the evenings set, which included such fiery numbers and fan favorites as Wall Of Death, Fire In The Engine Room, I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, and Withered and Died, the latter a particularly heartbreaking rendition. And, of course, Thompsons guitar work is nothing short of breathtaking, particularly on Shoot Out The Lights and Tear-Stained Letter.

Mastered by Tom Lewis at Studio 1093 in Athens, GA, and produced by Bill Levenson, with liner notes by Scott Schinder and period photos, Across a Crowded RoomLive at Barrymores 1985 is an essential addition to the Richard Thompson discography and offers enduring testimony as to the kind of magic the man can conjure on stage.

It's good. He doesn't really do bad!

I don’t like that album much but this will probably be amazing.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/30/richard-thompson-at-70-on-love-loss-and-being-a-muslim-in-trump-us

Good morning! https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/02/04/gonna-break-somebodys-heart-tonight-the-best-of-richard-thompson/

A fine list except that it omits "Turning of the Tide" and "When I Get to the Border"

as a singer, he’s a sardonic bore, a feast of dust and ashes on a plate

still trying to work out what the second part of this means but the first part is just laughable

He could and can absolutely be a sardonic bore, on a pretty regular basis, but not exclusively, since he is just as adept at so many beautiful heartbreakers. Also, as I have noted before, the rare multi-threat virtuoso. He's a masterful electric *and* acoustic guitarist, he's an excellent songwriter, and he's also a top-tier performer. If his clunkier-than-Costello cynicism mars a bit of his writing, it's pretty easy to handle, since so very few check all those boxes.

Richard Thompson’s output is so vast that you would think that people exploring it would be drawn to different songs, everyone would have a different favourite. Definitely when I read interviews with other singer-songwriters who revere Thompson, they tend to name different tunes from one another. But it baffles me that "1952 Vincent Black Lightning", a tune that I find alright but which has never particularly stood out, is so widely acclaimed among ordinary listeners. What am I missing here? Or is this song’s popularity due to extra-musical factors like radio promotion at a particular time?

Same here. Idgi.

Anyway that was a good post, as was the prior one by JiC, which I neglected to comment on at the time, sorry.

Thanks! Re: "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," my only theories are that it mines (mimics) the same tried and true formula as "Long Black Veil," which of course has never fallen out of favor as a folk song. "Beeswing" from the next album is a better song, but it's more in the tradition of British folk music, so perhaps doesn't connect with Americans as much? ("Rumour and Sigh" being, I assume, his most popular album in America by far).

The other is that "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" is a pretty easy to grasp display of virtuosity that people may be responding to.

A good comparison might be Fleetwood Mac's "Big Love." It's a good song, and it was a hit, but when Buckingham started performing it as a solo showcase it sort of transformed into an unlikely barnstormer.

Scored Carthage vinyl pressings of Pour Down..., First Light, and Sunnyvista this weekend.

yeah Vincent is definitely a live set piece

so perhaps doesn't connect with Americans as much?

Only Americans listen to Richard Thompson or only American opinions count? Help me out here.

(xp) Yes, great live song, it's where I first heard it.

Wasn't '52 Vincent like the most requested song in NPR history?

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Thompson was more popular here than at home. Relatively speaking, of course.

“Beeswing” I do get, so thanks.

Those Poppy Bush Interzone albums sure are overstuffed.

"most requested song in NPR history" is oft-repeated but I'm like: my NPR station doesn't play songs, let alone folk-rock songs by request. Some shows broadcast on NPR play music, but are there NPR-affiliated stations out there that have long segments of folk-rock songs that people have requested? IDGI.

I mean, who is out there calling up "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered" and saying "Hey, maaan, me and the boiz are gettin' wicked high and we need to hear some Zeppelin, like now! Hook a brutha up!"?

That said, I do regularly call up the BBC World News and say, "Listen, my bae and I just had a big fight, but I love her and I want to send out a special dedication to her: please play 'Girl You Know It's True' by Milli Vanilli. Please say that this goes out from Tony in Poughkeepsie, for his darling Charlene."

Some NPR stations have homegrown musical programming alongside the syndicated radio shows (in Houston it's Classical). They also have an automated online station called Mixtape that's rooted in Adult Alternative (a typical block there goes a little like this: Richard Thompson->Vampire Weekend->Muddy Waters->Los Lobos->Janelle Monae->Neko Case etc.)

ok thanks, I did not know that

1952 Vincent Black Lightning is by some distance the best song Thompson has ever written, so there's that.

also npr programming has def. changed in 25 years.

"1952 Vincent Black Lightning is by some distance the best song Thompson has ever written"

But how? Can this song’s adherents not quantify their appreciation somehow? Is it the storytelling? (In which case one wonders why the lyrically similar "Shane and Dixie" gets little love.) Is it the guitar part? The production? Thompson's vocals? It just doesn't stand out to me from Thompson's body of work.