Monday, March 2, 2020

Just Watching the Dark: A Richard Thompson Collection


     I've always been a bit hesitant to put together a Richard Thompson compilation.  I'm certainly a fan, but I feel like my appreciation of his musical virtuosity can't compare to the legions of true believer Richard Thompson fans.  Plus, I don't think my favorite RT albums (Daring Adventures, Mirror Blue, Sweet Warrior) are most other fans' favorites.  But life is short, his career has been long and fruitful, and I felt like doing it.    I also should note that his version of Mose Allison's Parchman Farm is quite dandy, but I had already put together the compilation prior to hearing it.

Download both discs

Volume 1

Guns Are the Tongues
Cold Feet
Sunset Song
The Rattle Within
The Coo Coo Bird
Valerie
Gypsy Love Songs
Sibella
General Taylor
Outside Of The Inside
Shoot Out The Lights
Fully Qualified To Be Your Man
Sweetheart On The Barricade
A Heart Needs a Home
Trafalgar Square

Volume 2

Story of Isaac (Live)
Baby Don't Know What To Do With Herself
Will Ye No Cam Back Again / Cam O'er The Stream Charlie / Ye Banks And Braes
Wrong Heartbeat
Stony Ground
The Money Shuffle
MGB-GT
End of the Rainbow
Small Town Romance
From Galway to Graceland
Mingulay Boat Song
Guitar Heroes
When The Spell Is Broken
Backlash Love Affair
Dimming Of The Day / Dargai

10 comments:

rogue46 said...

Bravo! Thanks for the RT!

FurryBootsCityBoy said...

Any Richard Thompson compilation with "When The Spell Is Broken" on it gets my vote! Great stuff!

Unknown said...

Thank you for this. I'm a big RT fan, but many of these tracks are unfamiliar to me (not the usual/obvious).
DLing now...can't wait to hear this.

Ishkabibliophile said...

@rogue46,

Quite welcome! Hope you like it.

@Furrybootscityboy,

That's one of my top 5 RT songs as well. (And the Bonnie Raitt cover is dandy as well.)

@Unknown,

Yeah, he's not the most prolific musician, but he has been around quite a long time and contributed to an interesting array of projects (like the Hal Willner produced Rogues Gallery and Song of Rogues Gallery collection).

Ishkabibliophile said...

O,

Great blog (though I'm still working my way through all the posts). Just added it to my bloglist.

Ish

0 said...

thanks, really appreciate it.

(i've added you to my bloglist)

molobo45 said...

Is A Re-Up Possible ??
Thank You

Ishkabibliophile said...

@molobo45,

Done and Done!

best,
Ish

WmPerry said...

Wow. I just came across "parchman farm" from youtube on my hard drive - must've got it from you cuz the dates match - and was expecting Mose, because. Woo-Hoo! quite dandy indeed. Richard Thompson always is an example of how to do things in the world, Nick Cave is also - they dont have music careers they have lives that produce music as a way to work with the world. ( i mean, that sounds really pretentious to say, but i think i believe it)
You should find Richard doing "two left feet" live, in seattle i think, on yt. Its a real barn burner like parchman farm, bot he's real playing guitar A'La RT on it - its kind of amazing how he can play so fast and slithery and its not "showing off" or general wankery. Thanks you made my night 2 years later

Ishkabibliophile said...

WmPerry,

I just posted the link to Parchman Farm. :) But I'm listening to the live Seattle version of Two Left Feet and I can definitely see why you'd think of it after listening to Parchman Farm.
I also completely agree with your comments about music as his life work only to add that the guy is also a real entertainer.

Ish