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Richard Thompson
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Richard Thompson is a gifted guitarist and songwriter whose critical acclaim and cult following has often threatened but never managed to cross over into mainstream appeal.
In 1967 as a precocious 17 year old he was a founder member of Fairport Convention. Now legendary as pioneers of folk rock they were then captivated by the sounds of the emerging singer-songwriters of the American east and west coasts. Like their peers the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Jefferson Airplane they were blessed with several considerable individual talents, and produced music that, at least initially was eclectic, as well as exploratory. Their move to folk was gradual; original singerJudy Dyble was replaced on their second LP “What we did on our Holidays” by Sandy Denny, an experienced folk singer and excellent composer in her own right, with whom Richard continued to collaborate after her departure from the group. It was also cemented by contributions by fiddle virtuoso Dave Swarbrick, initially as sessioneer, on their third, Unhalfbricking. That LP has arguably their first two bona fide masterpieces. One is their version of the Sandy Denny song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, popularized by Judy Collins, but characterised on their version by a perfect balance between Denny’s vocals and the exquisite support of the group as a whole, and Thompson in particular. The other is A Sailor’s Life, the first to demonstrate the potential power of folk rock, the song exploding in an improvised and sophisticated instrumental coda that reaches beyond the words through the impassioned interplay of the whole band, led by the virtuosity of Thompson and Swarbrick in particular.
In 1967 as a precocious 17 year old he was a founder member of Fairport Convention. Now legendary as pioneers of folk rock they were then captivated by the sounds of the emerging singer-songwriters of the American east and west coasts. Like their peers the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Jefferson Airplane they were blessed with several considerable individual talents, and produced music that, at least initially was eclectic, as well as exploratory. Their move to folk was gradual; original singerJudy Dyble was replaced on their second LP “What we did on our Holidays” by Sandy Denny, an experienced folk singer and excellent composer in her own right, with whom Richard continued to collaborate after her departure from the group. It was also cemented by contributions by fiddle virtuoso Dave Swarbrick, initially as sessioneer, on their third, Unhalfbricking. That LP has arguably their first two bona fide masterpieces. One is their version of the Sandy Denny song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, popularized by Judy Collins, but characterised on their version by a perfect balance between Denny’s vocals and the exquisite support of the group as a whole, and Thompson in particular. The other is A Sailor’s Life, the first to demonstrate the potential power of folk rock, the song exploding in an improvised and sophisticated instrumental coda that reaches beyond the words through the impassioned interplay of the whole band, led by the virtuosity of Thompson and Swarbrick in particular.
Top Albums
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Sweet Warrior
Richard Thompson
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Mock Tudor
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Rumor and Sigh
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Top Tracks
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1952 Vincent Black Lightning
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Beeswing
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I Feel So Good
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Cooksferry Queen
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Turning of the Tide
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I Misunderstood
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Bathsheba Smiles
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Dad's Gonna Kill Me
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Walking The Long Miles Home
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King of Bohemia
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I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life
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Waltzing's For Dreamers
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Keep Your Distance
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Sibella
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Shoutbox
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eternalcowboy2 wrote:
saw him play this evening with loudon wainwright it was kewl
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Jerico74 wrote:
Great show last night in NYC! "Dimming of the Day" was amazing.
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matthew_fawson wrote:
A fantastic songwriter in my opinion!!
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farewellohio wrote:
no-one really knows what it was like unless they're pretty old. by now anyway. i wanna be as old as him. or older. i just wanna know what i was like. it must have been pretty cool. must have been.
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amerks23 wrote:
What a Guitar Player. When I worked at The House Of Guitars in Rochester N.Y. he came in a store when he was in town and he was a great nice guy too!
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mhbrooker wrote:
I was at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival got to be like 15 years ago. Had a couple friends with me from New York and we were a having a wild time. I was a d.j. from a college radio station and had a show called Dr. Digger and the Medicine Show, a lot of folk, bluegrass, Richard Thompson of course and other world music. My buddy motions us to head over to a friends RV and someone opens a window and rubs something on my hand. I don't know what it was but i had an incredible feeling growing inside me. Then we saw some music nearby and sat down near the stage and listened to this guy playing incredible guitar and singing some really cool lyrics, yea it was Richard Thompson.
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boddhamoddha wrote:
Anyone know which album has the incredible tracl "Oh, when will I ever be simple again" (I think that's right). Could you let me know at bod@freeuk.co.uk Ta x
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Shrink125 wrote:
Mingulay Boat Song... fantastic!
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BuzzKillTroy wrote:
"See My Friends" is superb.
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claymorhen wrote:
Beeswing is beautiful. Sad.
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timregler wrote:
My all time favorite Thompson song. And that's saying a lot!
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NORTHERNCELTS wrote:
Great Music coming to see ya in January
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AHAB25 wrote:
there are different versions at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw9hOo-aPic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdrG4tZf4uw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepOPV0YIaY
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RMBRO wrote:
I've dearly loved his music over the years. What more can I say. I collected every Richard Thompson work that I could get my hands on over the last 2 decades. He's that special!
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harpy61 wrote:
I also had "Live, More or Less" back in the day. The studio side is 'I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight" which is still available on CD. Check it out, I think the CD even has the live version of Calvary Cross as an additional track. The live stuff was also released in Britain around the same time as "Guitar, Vocal" (which has a few extra tracks). That made it to CD reissue, and although I think it's out of print now, it should be available used. It has those wonderful versions of Calvary Cross and Night Comes In. I think the 'Best of Richard and Linda Thompson' compilation also has the live 'Calvary Cross' included, although most old-skool Thompson fans will have most of the stuff on that CD.
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NightcloudAP wrote:
The Canadian double album from '72 0r '73 called Richard Thompson "Live' More or Less is long out of print. Half of it was studio, and the other half contained fantastic live performances of things he had realeased up until that time including an incredibly grim and powerful version of 'Calvary Cross'. Does anyone know if these live recordings have resurfaced on any of the subsequent reissues or anthologies? I used to love to hear them back then, over and over; I played them incessantly. I had taped the album from a friend's vinyl copy ( sorry Richard, I was but a mere poorboy from a northern factory town) , but that has gone on to the next world. My cassette 'has withered and died'. But then, there may be few individuals as ancient as myself hanging about in here; perhaps this record has been cast to the wind forever.
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ibreatheoxygen wrote:
Just now getting into this guy; I should have checked him out a long time ago. Richard Thompson is incredible.
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Quorocker wrote:
And a funny bugger as well!!
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Judas_Iscariot wrote:
Him and Robin Williamson.
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oldfolker2 wrote:
Saying Richard Thompson is a gifted guitarist and songwriter is like saying Torvill and Dean could skate a bit.His standard of playing is pretty much without peer in popular music circles and probably one of Britains most accomplished and prolific songwriters
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Recent Activity
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garylrobbins, saraja123, starsfallsilent and 21 other people added Richard Thompson to their libraries. 4 hours ago
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RedSteel92 tagged Richard Thompson with classic rock, folk rock and folk. Saturday morning
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Groups (49)
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Richard Thompson
167 members
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Cropredy Festival
67 members
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Fairport Convention
122 members
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English Folk
332 members
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Extensive Musical Taste
29,037 members
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