Richard v. Linda Thompson on "I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight"

Poor Little Beggar Girl might be my second favorite song on the album, and the title track is great too

only song i don't like on record is "little beggar girl" so richard i guess
xpost, lol

aw but it's a funny ass song, and one that's needed to break up one sad ass album

i like my melancholy straight up. they did the whimsy thing a little better on Hokey Pokey, though overall that's a much inferior album

Oh the poor they will be rich, and the rich they will be poor
That’s according to Saul when he wrote down the law
And I’d much rather be rich after than before
For I’m only a poor little beggar girl

how can you not love that?

i think it's linda's affected way of singing on that song that grates (it has been years since i've heard it, maybe i wouldn't mind it now)

I actually like her more on that song. I find her a bit flat on some of the sadder tunes, although "Has He Got a Friend" works very well

"Has He Got a Friend For Me" is just a punch in the gut.

While "End of the Rainbow" is more like a series of kicks in the face.

This method of comparison loses steam at some point, though.

good thing End of the Rainbow stomps on your face with cleats just as you've had a chance to catch your breath

hahaha xpost!

It's good that you listed the title song twice for Linda since it's reason enough for me to prefer Linda, but couple that with "The Great Valerio" and it's a winner. Even on the great "When I Get to the Border" (one of my favorite opening tracks ever) it's Linda's backing vocals that stand out for me.

Richard probably has the best song on the album (Cavalry Cross)

No. Refuse to pick a favourite, they're all good. Of the 'folk' songs, "We Sing Hallelujah" is the best.

Should have just been a poll of yr favorite song.

So when I vote for Richard, I'm really voting for "When I Get To The Border." Which is in 7/8, IIRC. Should be mentioned on the unusual metric thread.

"Down Where The Drunkards Roll" is quite possibly the saddest song about drinking I own, which is saying a lot.

"When I Get To The Border." Which is in 7/8, IIRC

Actually, most of the song is in standard time but the instrumental solo-trading part at the end is in 15/8.

I am put off by Linda's voice but the ones she gets here are the stuff

this is not a fair question

This record is so close to perfect. I can't pick favorite ANYTHING on it.

Actually, most of the song is in standard time but the instrumental solo-trading part at the end is in 15/8.
Yeah, that sounds about right.

yeah not a fair question ... this one's about as perfect album as either of them have ever been involved in. maybe pour down like silver and shoot out the lights come close, but this one is tops for me. but since i have to, i voted for linda -- if only for withered and died.

The epic (like 15 minute) version of "Calvary Cross" on Richard's "(guitar, vocal)" album is AMAZING and mind-melting.

I voted for Rich, but it's a tough question. On this album especially LInda comes very close; on "Pour Down Like Silver" (my other fave R< LP) Dick dominates.

It's Linda.

it's Linda

Lin-duh. The title track hits McVie levels of sultry insecurity.

total tie, it breaks my brain to think about this one

also ian i dont agree that PDLS is such a clear win for rich

yeah I'd go for Linda on Pour Down Like Silver also, at least on singing (I think that's what we're talking about): her vocals on "For Shame of Doing Wrong" beat Richard's, and the best song, "Dimming of the Day", is all Linda.

I wound up voting Linda, but glad to see this is contentious. I love this album so much.

er, sorry, i wound up voting RICHARD

Only thing bad about this album is the album cover.

I think the album cover is great.

Yeah. What is beef with cover?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

Any truth to the rumor that Richard wrote "End Of The Rainbow" for his daughter??

If so...WTF???

True

'You little horror' ....?

backed by full house-era fairport. linda looking v cute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bm4fZHv5j0&feature=related

Actually, most of the song is in standard time but the instrumental solo-trading part at the end is in 15/8.

those (the instrument-trading coda) might be the finest few minutes of richard thompson on record!

well that or "dargai"

'When I Get To The Border' is my favorite song on the record, but weighing the record overall I would have to have voted for Linda.

Just saw that "Bright Lights Tonight" video for the first time and my first reaction was wow — Linda sounds terrible. That's probably the worst I've ever heard her sing (actually the ONLY time she's sounded bad to these ears). Could have been the tail end of a show or a long tour, but still. Sounds like she's in the early stages of that hysterical dysphonia that came with the divorce, when she lost her voice for a couple years. This was shot in 1981, after all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/arts/music/the-thompson-family-band-performs-at-city-winery.html?ref=music

No Linda at NYC gig, but:
The songwriter Teddy Thompson, Richard and Linda’s son, gathered new songs and arrangements from his relatives via overdubbing and some shared sessions for the album “Family” (Fantasy/Concord), released last year; Linda Thompson has songs on the album but is not on the tour.

From his decades-long catalog, Richard Thompson chose some songs he had recorded with Linda before their divorce, and praised her as “the matriarch.”

thompson family album is pretty solid! i think linda steals the show w/ "Bonny Boys" but it is all good.

This song never really grabbed me until I heard this version. Wow.

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

Last night at Richard's 75th birthday party:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rfce3YLqZw

Report on the show:

Midway through, Kami, the daughter of Fairport Convention’s founding guitarist, arrived to sing "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," a rip-roaring classic from his mid-1970s period alongside his first wife, Linda, who sidled on in the background to sing harmony with several other daughters and grandkids. Before Linda left the stage, the divorced couple embraced. “We don’t often get you two onstage, not at the same time,” quipped Kami. “You’re telling me, kid!” Thompson Sr cheerily replied.

Thanks!!
Agree that the xpost Thompson Family album is solid, and that Linda steals the show---for me, she does that every time she sings on here. Also on this 'un, as mentioned in my 2018 Nash Scene ballot comments:

Linda Thompson, My Mother Doesn't Know I'm on the Stage:
Thompson and cohorts---incl. son Teddy, Martha Wainwright,
Mama Mia! star Colin Firth---present a live sampler from the
prime time of British Music Hall, the wry, graceful
turns-with-elbows of which do seem country-Related---
maybe especially to Asheville-before-Nashville
---but the up-front, sometimes brisk declarations
and serenades can veer
way into what
early Brit rock crit Nik Cohn long ago referred to
as "the elaborate sentimentality" of country music.
Subject for further study indeed.

Linda's doing some shows promoting Proxy Music. The caveat is, like the album, she won't be singing due to her ongoing vocal issues, but she will be there as will Teddy and various guests depending on the location. Richard's tour is still going and he'll be coming to the U.S. later this year. Not sure if they'll cross paths again on the road, but regardless pretty awesome they're both touring the same year even if Linda isn't singing. Also Dave Mattacks will be drumming for Richard - nothing against Michael Jerome, who's been a great drummer for RT (and that particular trio has been great these past few decades and thankfully well-documented - tons of high-quality footage on YouTube), but I never saw Mattacks play behind RT before. I only wish Simon Nicol was aboard too and maybe Dave Pegg - that would've been the original Shoot Out the Lights band minus Pete Zorn (who split bass duties with Pegg and also passed away back in 2016), but everyone's probably busy.

ah, that bright lights clip is great. i just interviewed linda about proxy music and — though I'm not sure I conducted a stellar Q&A — she is an absolute delight.

and yeah, would love to see Mattacks with Thompson — one of my favorite drummers of all time.

RT just announced a bunch of full band dates across the U.S. (Anticipated because they announced the NYC date months ago and it didn't seem likely they'd go through the trouble of rehearsing a full band for a single show.)

Do we know who is in the band?

I think Mattacks should be with them the whole leg of the tour, and then possibly whoever else was at his 75th birthday who wasn't a guest appearance.

Does anyone know if the Woodstock dates in July are also full band?

No, those are solo.

He actually posted these to make it easier:

Solo dates

Full band dates

Apologies, just noticed - Woodstock dates are listed there as "RT + Friends"

So at least you'll have guests!

He's playing full band near me, def gonna try to go

Yeah I’ve only seen him solo.

Thanks, birdistheword. RT solo was my last show before the pandemic in February 2020. He was great, but would love to catch him with the full band for something different.

Quick update, Zak Hobbs apparently posted somewhere that Michael Jerome will be back on drums for the U.S. shows (and Hobbs will be in the U.S. tour as well).

Oh cool---really liked the Acoustic Trio alb of '22, with him and Danny Thompson---imagine getting to go to Hawaii *and* see this:
https://richardthompson.bandcamp.com/album/live-from-honolulu

I see Dave Mattacks confirmed that Jerome will rejoin the tour in the U.S. - apparently both he and Hobbs (and Linda!) are actually active on Facebook and regularly visit one of the Richard Thompson groups there.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/20/arts/music/linda-thompson-proxy-music.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1U0.-TGL.Gk5jG31gYnXS&smid=url-share

they nailed that cover!

the cover and album title are so good

OK, so I didn't even know this even existed: a half hour programme from 1981 of R+L+band performing which is on BBC4 right now.

Artily shot in a studio and punctuated by moody black and white shots of city streets and late night people. Rather pretentiously titled, "Richard & Linda Thompson: Nocturnes". Great though, some nifty guitarring from RT and a cover of a Sandy Denny song from LT.

Songs: Night Comes In/ I'm A Dreamer/ I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight/ Shoot Out The Lights/ You're Going to Need Somebody/ Dargai/ Dimming Of The Day/ Night Comes In (Reprise)

Band: John Kirkpatrick, concertina & accordion/ Dave Mattacks, drums/ Simon Nicol, guitar/ Pete Zorn, bass ... and Linda plays a Telecaster on one song!

Why it gotta be a competition