Thompson, Richard - Dream Attic 2 x CD deluxe edition (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-PRPCD X064
“Dream Attic heralds the return of Richard Thompson, one of the most distinguished guitarists and songwriters of our time, with a magnificent collection of 13 new songs. This deluxe edition includes a bonus CD of all 13 tracks performed as acoustic demos.
Penned during a short and inspired burst of creative outpouring, the songs were performed during a West Coast tour in February 2010 and the bulk of the performances that made the album come from three shows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. "I don't think musicians playing on their own are particularly interesting, it's only when they play in front of an audience that something interesting happens" said Thompson in an interview at one of the shows.
The album opens explosively with "The Money Shuffle", which Thompson says is "dedicated to our good friends on Wall Street who did such a fine job lately...it's just a mild satire". The resulting take is the antithesis of mild, building towards an absolutely scalding guitar solo. From this bracing start, the sequence rolls through traditionally rooted balladry ("Among the Gorse, Among the Grey", an intriguing, sharply-drawn character study ("Here Comes Geordie), image-filled observations ("Burning Man") and recollections of bygone eras ("Demons in Her Dancing Shoes"). "Sidney Wells" is a traditional murder ballad in modern dress, "Crimescene" is a raging reaction to the inexorable aging process. "A Brother Slips Away" is a moving elegy to friends the 61-year-old Thompson has lost within the last year and "Big Sun Falling in the River" is a bouyantly Beatlesque instant classic.”
“In 1971 Richard Thompson made an impulsive decision to leave Fairport Convention, a group he helped found, in order to release his own albums. It didn’t pay off. At least, not commercially it didn’t – while Henry the Human Fly was well received by his fanbase, it apparently remains Warner Brothers’ lowest-selling album of all time.
Still, some 40 years, an Ivor Novello and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award later, Thompson has managed to turn things around a bit. The last decade has seen him release three studio albums on top of career retrospective Walking on a Wire and provide the soundtrack for Warner Herzog’s moving Grizzly Man documentary, while his recent tenure as Artistic Director for London’s Meltdown Festival resulted in the programming of a diverse range of artists from Seasick Steve to Elvis Costello.
The bulk of Dream Attic was recorded over three shows at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall in February of this year. Citing his preference for live performance over studio labour, the record is, somewhat unusually, a new set of songs delivered in a live setting. This emphasis on spark and energy pays dividends.
Thompson’s lived-in voice and dazzling prowess as a guitar player are evident from the offset: The Money Shuffle is a wry, Wall Street-baiting stomper that opens with the inspired line “I love kittens, and little babies…” before ripping apart the hypocrisy and nonsensical attitudes that lie at the heart of modern commerce, all over blistering guitar solos and leavening saxophone. The record then dives headlong into stark balladry, contemplative jams and reflections on eras past and friends departed (Stumble On is wonderfully restrained, while A Brother Slips Away is real heart-on-sleeve stuff, couched in regret and sentiment). Big Sun Falling in the River even boasts a Billie Jean-approximating bassline, and the ascent towards the record’s closing bow is nothing short of magical.
The musicianship is sound throughout, and though a few of the tracks here could benefit from a trim round the edges (the majority clock in at well over five minutes apiece), it’s difficult to begrudge a group of this collective talent spinning off each other as these songs meet their inevitable, well-earned applause. Although not unanimously blinding, Dream Attic is replete with the kind of deft flourishes and considered wordplay that fans of the singer will be more than familiar with. Chalk up another triumph, then.”-James Skinner
- LabelProper
- UPC805520110648