Now that I am dead, my agent finally said he wanted to have lunch with me...
Now that I'm deceased, my record sales increased, I'm making lots of royalties...
And that song takes me back to the 1980's, the decade when Richard Thompson apparently said "YES!" to every opportunity he was offered.
Make albums with Pere Ubu frontman David Thomas? SURE! Document the dissolution of your marriage and tour with your ex? WHY NOT! Become part of downtown NYC supergroup The Golden Palominos? YOU BET! Form "the world's most obscure supergroup" with Henry Kaiser, Fred Frith, and John "Drumbo" French on drums? (You know the answer.)
In 1988, Jo-El Sonnier had a top ten country hit with his version of Richard's "Tear Stained Letter". In 1991, Richard scored a hit of his own, "I Feel So Good".
I've compiled songs from 1981-1991 of Richard's adventures with David Thomas, the Golden Palominos, Syd Straw's star-studded debut, and the two extraordinary albums that Thompson made with Kaiser, Frith, and Drumbo. Let's all live, love, larf and loaf again!
ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: Pere Ubu's Waffle House At Walden Pond and Syd Straw's Guest Spots.
Yes, I know: a decade is ten years, and 1981-1991 is eleven years. And you already knew that the 1981 David Thomas album "The Sound Of The Sand" marked the first recorded appearance of The Golden Palominos.
ReplyDeleteMade especially for you, with love and larfs: https://pixeldrain.com/u/KdULYzyJ
PS - even if you prefer your Richard Thompson music more conventional (seewhatIdidthere), his compositions "Killing Jar" and "Drowned Dog Black Night" (as well as his arrangement of "Loch Lomond") would fit in just fine with any of his solo albums from the period. And his guitar solos are always exciting.
Delete1) Strict Tempo, 2) Hand Of Kindness 3) Small Town Romance 4) Across A Crowded Room 5) Daring Adventures 6) Amnesia 7 Rumor and Sigh plus 3 Accompaniment tapes, makes ten albums in his own name. The live album contains much enough new material.
DeleteAgain an artist I would not consider had he not been here. Thank you
I can't even count his albums correctly... But how can you say you wouldn't consider him when he was once a PLUREX RECORDS recording artist?
DeleteWhen I had a fanzine I was sent a promo copy of Hand Of Kindness. The title track is quite moving. I was also on the Rough Trade mailing list and was completely nonplussed when I first heard David Thomas warbling, "I think the birds are good ideas!" But to see Richard Thompson's name in the credits and think, "The guy who did Shoot Out The Lights is on this?" -- it seemed like worlds in collision (to borrow a Pere Ubu album title). But as soon as you hear his distinctive guitar tone, you know it can't be another guitarist who happened to have the same name.
Flash forward a few years, and Richard is playing with Henry Kaiser (whose name I recognized from the SST Records catalog), plus Fred Frith (who I only knew from Ralph Records as a soloist and member of the Art Bears) -- plus Drumbo from Captain Beefheart's band?
Decades later I read an interview about the Cleveland scene which said that everybody back then was into Fairport Convention, including Anton Fier. Not that you'd know it from listening to early Ubu, Electric Eels, Mirrors, Styrenes, etc. Maybe there was some Richard Thompson influence in Tom Herman's playing?
As always you are kinda right. He was a Rough Trade recording artist, issued in The Netherlands by Plurex. On the other hand , on that album one of my most beloved artists Lindsay Cooper played. So please forgive me when I do not give enough credit to David Thomas or Richard Thompson when they are obviously overshadow by one of the greatest musicians of that era. But, when you do not honour the small, you're not worth the great.
DeleteI confess that I am almost entirely ignorant of the "Canterbury scene" and "Rock In Opposition" artists (with the exception of Etron Fou). But clearly David Thomas, Anton Fier and the people at Rough Trade were familiar with them. In my world, David Thomas and Richard Thompson overshadow Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, Fred Frith, Dagmar Krause, etc. -- so I forgive you nothing. Peter Blegvad, John Greaves and Anthony Moore participated in the Syd Straw album, so there's that connection to Henry Cow and Slapp Happy as well.
DeleteGreat post again jonder! For Richard I have the first song I really could remember his name by: Shoot Out The Lights. I found out it was still playing in the back of my brain after all these years ! ! ! Good somery (as Descendents spell it... LOL)
ReplyDeleteThis looks great! I grab most everything I see by Richard Thompson, and (unrelated) I saw his son on the NYC Subway!
ReplyDeleteReally nice -- thank you!
ReplyDeleteExcellent, Richard Thompson is definitely worth to be featured here! Had no idea that he played with JJ Cale though...
ReplyDeleteI really am convinced that after leaving Fairport, and the end of his first marriage, he decided to say YES to every opportunity to play any kind of music with anyone who interested him. It's a great approach to making music (or any kind of art).
DeleteThanks Jonder -- I don't think I've heard any of these before. Looks great!
ReplyDeleteHope you all enjoy it! Here's an interesting graphic representation (the one that looks like a molecule) of people who Richard Thompson has played with:
ReplyDeletehttps://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=richard%20thompson
Yah, I had to check: I was aware he played with John Cale (on FEAR), but not with JJ Cale. But yes...it's true.
ReplyDeleteYeah, quite a varied CV! I could easily do a second set. Richard ended up working quite a bit with Clive Gregson (from Any Trouble) and Christine Collister.
DeleteJonder - Peter Laughner's music outside of Pere Ubu, on his own and with several other local groups, absolutely had a Fairport/Thompson influence. He even played "Calvary Cross" live. Laughner's non-Ubu work has been collected in a kind of haphazard fashion over the years. The CD "Take The Guitar Player For a Ride" (sadly out of print for years) is the best set.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation, Jamers! I've only heard bits and pieces of Laughner's music over the years.
DeleteHeck yeah! "Take The Guitar Player For a Ride" is a definite MrDave Fave album! So good!
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