Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want To Poll the Bright Lights Tonight

Yeah this is a tough one. Tempted to vote "Calvary Cross" but the version on the 1975 live album way outstrips it. Will need to listen again.

OTM on live Calvary Cross and listening to this again.

So obvious, but I'm tempted to vote for the title track. The gleeful, unflinching nihilism of the sentiment (essentially: 'what a shitty week that was. let's get completely annihilated') is punk rock in itself, even more so coming from a female folk singer in the 1970s

Love this album and voted Border. Title track would be second.

All of the tracks are indeed great. Hallelujah is a personal favourite. Rainbow takes me unawares every time, did he just say that? Has He Got a Friend had me welling up etc etc.

... guitar on When I Get to the Border!!!

What I like are the contemporaneousness of the lyrics, and the way they throw off a lot of the 'olde worlde' trappings of English folk music. It's not fair maidens and brave knights. It's not bumbling ramblers and diamond days. There's no pretence here in that these are 1970s suburban stories as told through the filter of the folk tradition. Even things like 'Poor Little Beggar Girl' seem to work by way of analogy more than plain re-enactment.

And of course it all sounds great. I was surprised to hear how quickly it was recorded and on such a low budget. It sounds really well made and played. Hallelujah is jaw-dropping

Voted for 'Withered and Died' because the opening verse has played on my mind quite a bit over the last year or so:

This cruel country has driven me down
Teased me and lied, teased me and lied
I've only sad stories to tell to this town
My dreams have withered and died

^ it's such a universal lyric that it could be applied to so many situations but that verse resonated with me a lot this morning while walking to work

What I like are the contemporaneousness of the lyrics, and the way they throw off a lot of the 'olde worlde' trappings of English folk music. It's not fair maidens and brave knights. It's not bumbling ramblers and diamond days. There's no pretence here in that these are 1970s suburban stories as told through the filter of the folk tradition. Even things like 'Poor Little Beggar Girl' seem to work by way of analogy more than plain re-enactment.

Not sure this is too different to what Richard Thompson did with Fairport tbh.

There is literally a fuck-ton of folk music this would apply to

I'd say this album has more 'olde worlde' trappings than pretty much everything RT has done since.

without the means to listen to this at the moment I'm surprised nobody's mentioned "The Great Valerio" which I love

I think its a really solid lp. Pretty melancholy, though possibly outdone by Pour Down Like Silver.

& I would recommend that In Concert November 1975 set that came out 10 Years ago, hoping that it is still available. Has more stretched out guitar stuff on it.

to be fair, i've not heard a lot of Fairport save for bits of Unhalfbricking and yeah you're right, that's not a very fiddle-dee-dee album either

I love this record, the melancholy is enhanced by inheriting it from an ex-GF. My favourite is The Calvary Cross, for its extraordinary, shimmering guitar work. The whole record is a tour-de-force guitar-wise though, along with all the other things that make it great.

Voted "We Sing Hallelujah", a song that is often slept on. Following on from the discussion upthread, this song seems to fit squarely in the folk tradition and yet also sound very contemporary. Does that make it "timeless", I wonder.

It was also used in the National Theatre's production of The Mysteries, the best thing I've ever seen in a theatre.

The gleeful, unflinching nihilism of the sentiment (essentially: 'what a shitty week that was. let's get completely annihilated') is punk rock in itself, even more so coming from a female folk singer in the 1970s

otm

There's a new expanded reissue of Bright Phoebus by lal & Mike Waterson with Richard playing on. Would think that would appeal to anybody into this lp.

As someone said upthread the guitar playing, and sounds, on this album are stunning, "The Great Valerio", oh my!

I love this album. "When I Get to the Border" is one of Richard's best; title track melts my heart every goddamn time.

"Withered and Died" is frequently covered (cf. Elvis Costello, Kate Rusby), so I don't see it as straight on as I might but I think it's in its best and purest form here from Linda.

I should note that the odd bits - like the long tradwank at the end of "When I get to the Border" and the none-more-Britishes "silver band" section of "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" - were harder for me to like but they are part of the charm of the record.

Calvary Cross, IMHO his greatest song.

I love the colliery brass on the title track

... guitar on When I Get to the Border!!!
i still remember hearing the end of this song for the first time as a kid and just thinking "ah, this is music for me!"

I wonder if Tom Verlaine did the same.

The only 'influence' I've ever heard Verlaine grudgingly admit to is Coltrane, and I think it's probably true that he never sat down and studied/copied Richard Thompson (or Jerry Garcia for that matter, who again sometimes sounds like Thompson, or like Verlaine).

Wouldn't expect TV to say anything else tbh.

i think verlaine copped to liking cippolina at some point, but yeah he's always said his main influences are 60s saxophonists

I thought he only listened cowboy music, according to Richard Hell.

I'M SO TIRED
OF POLLING
EVERY DAY

... sorry, Richard Lloyd. (xp)

Voted Rainbow.

think it's "withered and died" for me — Linda Thompson's vocals there are unbelievable. the best singer ever?

I've gone for Withered and Died, too. It's a shattering song.

title track over the abyssal depression of The End of the Rainbow. great Beatles-esque horns on that

calvary cross by a country mile

title track is so great -- obviously a "hit" in the Thompson universe, but I find it amazing it's not an actual huge hit that everyone knows. a perfect pop song.
this version kinda ramps up the pop elements (some spector references), but I think it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gkWKKeW8vU

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5935674b02e1d076fbe03e08/master/w_690,c_limit/r-and-l.gif

LOL the Thompsons were the first people I thought of when I watched that scene.

Me too! It can't be a deliberate reference tho... can it???????

So many great songs on this album, can't decide on one, so probably will go with "Wall of Death."

Sorry, wrong thread

xxp Someone in the room must've made the connection, if not Lynch then Frost. Richard & Linda aren't superstars but they're not like Searching for Sugarman or something, Lynch & Frost are both of the age to have at least a peripheral familiarity with Fairport Convention and the solo work.

When I get to the border. For the unsurpassed tradwank at the end.

Doesn't it also have a fancy time signature as well? 7/8 or 7/8 alternating with 4/4?

Yeah, James Redd etc., if "Wall of Death" had been on this album it would just make things that much harder.

I have idly messed around with the title track as a cover. I sometimes Americanize by saying "cab fare" rather than "car fare."

I'm ambivalent about "there's a silver band just marching up and down," which has no American analogue. I have been tempted to replace it with something less culturally rooted, like "the rednecks drive their Mustangs up and down."

thread has inspired me to throw this on, and today i'm really feeling down where the drunkards roll (but I already voted). Talk about timeless. I live in williamsburg brooklyn and the green velvet and silver buckles are still a-sporting in pools of barf just as in hogarth

Would add A Heart Needs a Home rather than Wall of Death, especially this Old Grey Whistle Test performance (the version on Hoky Poky is perhaps a bit overworked in comparison):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqViJyweNV0

HI DERE

I interviewed Linda once, and she told me her family nicknamed her "Shozzy" because she looked a little like Sharon Osbourne but acted more like Ozzy.

speaking of american/british analogues, i've always been curious what "when i get to the border" means for britishers. as an american that most definitely means mexico which has its banditry/escape from the law mythology. is that what thompson means here as well? or is there a british analogue

xp haha! would love it if linda wrote a memoir ... i feel like the shoot out the lights tour alone would make an amazing book.

isn't the scottish-english border just referred to as "The Border" ? Or am I making that up.

the satie quote at the end of Valerio <3 <3 <3

^YES x1000

has to be one of the best-ever endings to an album

isn't the scottish-english border just referred to as "The Border" ? Or am I making that up.

Most borders are referred to as The Border by someone or other.

The area in South East Scotland bordering England is called The Borders but a song called "When I Get to the Borders" would sound like it was immortalizing a day trip to Peebles.

this is near impossible

when i get to Borders (1)

(1) a medieval bookstore chain

I only just bought this earlier this year though I had most of these tracks in one form or another. It is, indeed, nearly flawless.

Robyn Hitchcock does a killer cover of "Calvary Cross" which was the first time I heard that song. It's weightings has stayed with me ever since.

Was this album praised when it came out or has it become more appreciated over time?

i remember it being on rolling stone's top 100 albums ever in a late 80s list

This one or "Shoot?" Because I'd be surprised if two R&T albums made it to that list.

I thought it'd been considered a classic forever but Wiki claims otherwise, though that seems to totally US-centric.

I bought both in NYC in the second half of the eighties, presumably based on something I read somewhere.

Made No. 28 in NME's Albums of the Year for 1974, which is middling I suppose, some pretty good albums ahead of it though!

I first heard of it through the 'Virgin Top 1000 Albums' book from 1998 - just looked this up and it placed at #150. I was intrigued by the cover but didn't get around to buying it until several years later, around the same time I started listening to Fairport - it became a favourite pretty much instantly.

Shoot was the one written about the most when i started getting into him in the mid-80s, for sure. I didn't hear Bright Lights until the nineties via an older head I knew.

isn't the scottish-english border just referred to as "The Border" ? Or am I making that up.

Most borders are referred to as The Border by someone or other.

lol yeah, just trying to think of the specific border RT was thinking of.

feel like Thompson has always had pretty vocal fans, even if it's a small group. weirdly it seems like the pere ubu dudes were on to him pretty early, i think david thomas said they were all heavily into this record, and Laughner covered Calvary Cross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l1A4chNB7E

Am I the only one who sometimes wants to say Richard & Linval Thompson?

Xpost and DT later recorded with Richard and became buds with Linda

The SPIN Alternative Guide gave this a full 10/10 in 1994.

"Withered and Died." Haven't played it for a while, but I'd put it right alongside Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game" as maybe the most depressing song I can think of.

Josh - there were actually two! both made it, Shoot was higher iirc, I read that issue a zillion times and in many cases (like in the case of these) had never heard the albums and wouldn't for years

just want to say that I love the cover of this album. and I especially like how, on first look it's quite horrifying cos it looks like blood daubed on a wall. but when you look closer and at the back cover, it's clearly fingerprints on a rainy window and it's kind of romantic

xxxp - Or is "When I Get to the Border" another death metaphor like "Meet on the Ledge" or "Wall of Death"?

Voted "Drunkards," with "Border" second.

I have to confess that although I love Calvary Cross, I have no idea what it's about.

border is a death metaphor, yes: "if you see a box of pine, with a body looks like mine" etc

first LP i owned was a secondhand copy of pour down like silver which i still own, purchased early 80s: not sure when i first *heard* of RT but i'm guessing the "illustrated nme book of rock", which viewed him very favourably -- the illustration was a little thumbnail of "bright lights", which is maybe even more evocative that size (the glimpses of cheer thru the fingerwriting on a steamy window: out of the cold and dark into the warm)

don't recall any discussion much in the UK music papers of 76-79 but from round about 80 -- when their focus switched away for a while from rock ordinaire to other kinds of sounds -- he definitely became a minor touchstone (as someone who had broken with orthodoxy before it was popular or profitable, i guess) (ditto fripp)

minor touchstone

minor but quite intense: as in, he had done very important work in the past that you shd seek out, even if his current work fell below that mark (viz sunnvista, 1979) didn't really match it -- i recall its reviews being iffy and disappointed) (not sure i've ever actually heard it)

I picked up Sunnyvista earlier this year. It's got a couple of great songs but it's otherwise unremarkable. Nothing on it matches the intensity of their best work.

Yes, I think I first became aware of RT around the time of Sunnyvista, and dimly (and v possibly inaccurately) recall that some of the music press (by which I mean the NME) were critical not only of that alb, but also of RT's conversion to Islam.

yes, dimly (very VERY dimly) recall a difficult nme interview round that time (possibly with graham lock)?

if i think abt it i've *always* associated R< w/feeling bad on L's behalf :(

lol R< = R & LT

a high school friend tipped my to "live more or less," so i was in pretty early. i saw richard thompson's big comeback show at the bottom line in 1982 (possibly his first solo show ever in the states?), and i saw a couple of the richard and linda thompson shows later that year. one was in glen cove long island, where i believe they opened for robert hunter. i'd brought my album jacket. when we got to the venue, we saw richard and linda arguing outside. i interrupted them, and they very graciously and politely signed my album. then they went back to arguing.

at a subsequent show at the bottom line, linda introduced "don't renege on our love" as "don't ronald reagan our love." they were not on good terms with one another at that show either. notwithstanding, it was marvelous.

tipped *me*

There's one story about them playing at Lupo's in Providence during that tour and getting into a fight backstage right after leaving the stage. Linda allegedly hit Richard in the head with a bottle, and he came back out to play the encore solo with blooding dripping from his head.

Just saw another story where it said she actually kicked him in the shins in the middle of that performance. Who knows.

Sunnyvista - Love the 5 upbeat tracks on side 1. The 5 more low key songs on side 2 aren't as good--unfortunate since that's where most of Linda's lead vocals are.

Are the Chrysalis R&L lps OOP, at least in the UK? Would have thought somebody would have been trying to keep everything in print.
I think there was a Dekuxe version of Shoot oUt The LIghts a couple of years ago. Was that a limited thing Rhino Handmade or something.

Band I was in used to play Calvary Cross, so that: those big chords were such fun to crash out. We stopped playing it because people used to tell us how it was our best song......

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Are the Chrysalis R&L lps OOP, at least in the UK?

I think Richard has asked the rights holders to keep them OOP. FWIW the art direction on the Sunnyvista sleeve is A+.

Voted "When I Get to the Border."

Which makes me feel good, since I voted for the title track and that was my alternate.

New Mojo has an R + R&L buying guide wit Bright Lights at #1, Pour #2, Shoot #4.

Give us the rest of their top 10 (assuming it also encompasses rt solo)

I too am curious. Presuming Rumor & Sigh or Mirror Blue at #3?

Amnesia?

(Which, amusingly, I forgot about). Amnesia > Rumor > Mirror, I think.

No 3 was Mock Tudor.
I just looked at the new issue on the racks of the Newsagent so don't have a copy at hand for the next few days.

I can support mock Tudor in its live album guise as semi detached mock Tudor. The songs are great but I don't quite get on with their studio recordings

Okay, Mock Tudor is fine & good but I believe that Rumor & Sigh is superior to it.

Which album has "Valerie" on it?

Apparently Daring Adventures (I don't think I've ever heard it)

Pour Down Like Silver is so amazing.
I probably have it Pour>Shoot>Bright>Hokey

Daring Adventures is the first of the Frooms, right? It's got "Al Bowlly's in Heaven."

In general none of the frooms hang together as a full listen for me. They all have some songs on them that are all-time though.

I think they all have one or two or three all timers on them at least, some of them are mostly awesome. His past few are perhaps more consistent, but fewer future canon standouts.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well, every track got a vote, that tells you something.

I will also stan for "Amnesia", definitely in my top 4, the drumming on that album is really monstrous, love it.

Amnesia is pretty fab, and the subsequent albums have too much flimFroomery and CD-era bloat but from which anybody could have burned an an excellent CD-R back in the day.

oooooh wow, tough tie!

Guess I'm not surprised but CC is so dire. Appreciate the feeling but Border and the title track just have more life.

Yeah, I've never loved "The Calvary Cross" either. That opening guitar bit is so captivating that it's always a let down when the song itself turns out to be something considerably more plodding and normal.

I assembled an RT list in February.

Well, every track got a vote, that tells you something.

Well done.

Ah, last post was meant to reply to Alfred.

Lovely results. Good to see this tie and that every track got a vote

"Daring Adventures is the first of the Frooms, right? It's got "Al Bowlly's in Heaven.""

and 'How Will I ever be Simple Again'

good results -- yeah, i think the only song i don't realllllly like here is "little beggar girl."
thompson-related -- the rhino handmade Shoot Out The Lights is on spotify. the live bonus disc has some insanely great stuff on it.

haha I didn't vote because I couldn't choose, could've made the difference

i like this rarity (from around the time of henry the human fly / bright lights, i think)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swrii8xO3dA

This is where I confess I've never been able to really get into any of the other Thompson albums, either solo or with Linda.

Same!

He is definitley best appreciated live.

surprised that anyone who digs bright lights wouldn't find plenty to love on henry the human fly, hokey pokey and pour down like silver — they're all of a piece to me.

yah seeing him live was pretty eye opening/mind blowing

i got a few of Richard's mid-80's albums in a remainder box in new york earlier this year, before i heard Bright Lights for the first time - they were ok, but i have to revisit them having heard this. one of them had a bunch of clocks on the cover

surprised that anyone who digs bright lights wouldn't find plenty to love on henry the human fly, hokey pokey and pour down like silver — they're all of a piece to me

I've never heard "Henry the Human Fly"! But, yes, those first three R & L albums are very much a set.

yah seeing him live was pretty eye opening/mind blowing

He's very funny and engaging. Plus he's just the best guitarist. I've never seen anyone play like that in person.

yeah after seeing him live i gained more of an appreciation for his post-linda years which i always thought were kinda cheezy

(xp) OTM. Also he can't half belt out a song, his singing is so much more powerful than you might expect.

xp kinda cheezy! can't believe you think that.
https://resources.tidal.com/images/cc75bbd5/de97/4229/ba12/b6805c5a1b16/1280x1280.jpg

Great interview with Linda.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/12/they-said-i-was-worse-than-the-sex-pistols-folk-legend-linda-thompson-on-trashing-dressing-rooms-and-losing-her-voice

Excellent thanks
Had never seen this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnP07s_O14Q

Looking for a Richard interview I listened to earlier this week and saw this
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5bCNtLtEvdx9A3IKJI7Eas?si=7ec8d81819e24247
where he's on a show with Lemmy I think.

& the one I heard this week which is current
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4K6lez0e8FfYg5GKJZZL96?si=ae505645dacd452a

This album is obviously alltime, but jeez, I could vote for any of these:

The Calvary Cross
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
When I Get to the Border
Withered and Died
The End of the Rainbow
The Great Valerio
The Little Beggar Girl

But I would probably vote for that last one. I have such an irrational love for the narrator's cheerful cynicism, how it's almost worth it to her to be in her desperate situation just to be able to pull one over on these rich assholes.

the linda interview ignited one of my occasional attempts to enjoy nick drake but lol no dice, p good songs (some of them) but such a boring voice

The fact that Linda's brother is Brian Pettifer always kind of blows my mind.

xp switched to pour down like silver, much happier now*

*= sadder but in a good way

mark s, Bryter Layter is the one if you don't like the other two. the instrumentation and songwriting is more "fun" and less obviously folky

yes i know them all, i have the 1986 fruit-tree CD set and i've owned bryter layter on vinyl since i was a teenager -- BL is perkier yes but i think it's time to accept i am just not drawn to his voice

There's like three instrumentals on it, or sumthin', too.

some good bits in this interview

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

Thanks for that!

Never heard of the connection between the title track and Up on Cripple Creek, but now I can't unhear it.

Why are Pour Down Like Silver, First Light and Sunnyvista not on Spotify?

Must be a regional thing, they're there for me.

They’ve never been on US Spotify as far as I know. Which is a little odd as Hokey Pokey is also on Island but, unlike PDLS, available. The other two are both on Chrysalis. Weird.

RT has long blocked the availability of the two Chrysalis albums in the states since the CD era.

There's some tracks from PDLS available on US Spotify via their Island Best of... comp from 2000. I listened to "Night Comes In" from it the other day.

I went to the City Winery show where the guest singers were Tammy Faye Starlite, Amy Helm, Jenni Muldaur, Syd Straw, John Grant, Vicki Peterson, and Martha Wainwright. Teddy was the bandleader and provided either harmonies or a duet vocal for nearly every number, though he also took lead vocals on a couple of songs ("The Great Valerio" and the last song, "Those Damn Roches"). Basically everyone sung a song from the new album and another that Linda previously recorded (usually with Richard). Band was excellent though I'm sorry to say, except for David Mansfield (who I would know from his work in Heaven's Gate and with Bob Dylan alone) I can't remember their names.

It was a fun evening, with some especially raunchy jokes from Tammy Faye Starlite and Syd Straw that I wouldn't have the courage to tell myself, but it turned into a surprisingly moving show as well. Obviously quite a few people on that stage had parents who made their names in music, and it was startling for me to see Amy Helm for the very first time because she shares the distinct profile that her father had, a feature that for whatever reason I remember very well. When Martha Wainwright introduced "Or Nothing at All" as the song Linda wrote specifically for her, she mentioned that some people thought she sounded like her mother when she sang it and added that it was likely intentional. That remark really opened up the show for me. The album addresses the loss of Linda's voice, where she finds another way to put something out into the world and continue to leave a new imprint in it. And in a lot of ways, I think that's what she, Maria Muldaur, the late Kate McGarrigle, and the late Levon Helm have also done through their children - to be clear, they're their own people, but there's no doubt their parents had a big hand in introducing music into their lives and influencing their voice.

At the end, Linda (who had been sitting in the audience all this time, apparently in partial anonymity) joined them all onstage as Teddy took lead on "Those Damn Roches," and she was visibly moved. (She also sang background vocals with everyone else.) After the show was over, she actually went back to her table, so I decided to go up and say hello, maybe get an album signed. I let a few people cut in front of me who clearly knew her but very quickly I was packed in by a lot of people who knew her at some point - it might've taken a moment for her to recognize someone (after they explain when/why they knew her) but she was clearly overwhelmed and overjoyed. It was wonderful to see her this happy, but I suddenly felt like I had no business being there, especially when she grabbed my arm at one point as she looked at all the faces around her. I tried to make up for it by offering to help a few people take their pictures rather than have them resort to selfies, but it still felt awkward. Eventually I managed to slip away but what a great evening - at the end of the show Teddy thanked the audience for letting him to do something wonderful for his mother, and it was indeed a beautiful gift.

"Down Where the Drunkards Roll" absolutely slaying me today, what a song

Yep

Otm

the electric piano on that track, god yes
i think that and when i get to the border are my two faves on the record

calvary is just an embryo for live jammin

those deep backing vocals too

fwiw the version of this I just ripped (bonus (?) LP from the "Live (More Or Less)" 2LP, US Island 70's pressing), sounds significantly better than the Carthage reissue to me

ysi?

i have been listening to a pbthal vinyl rip

does yr ilxmail work Jon?

yesh

“Has He Got a Friend for Me” deserved better - devastating vocals from Linda.

I have that Live (More or Less) 2lp and yes always thought it was an excellent sounding record