PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Richard Thompson returns with a brand new, guitar driven record titled ELECTRIC for Proper Records. Recorded by famed producer Buddy Miller at his home studio in Nashville Texas with Michael Jerome and Taras Prodaniuk completing the core elements of the trio on drums and bass respectfully. Buddy Miller also supplies rhythm guitar where need on the album.
The album opens with Stony Ground which sounds as if it has already been in progress for several minutes before we join the track, stomping and clapping into another tale of small-town scandal. It’s a sneering, caustic critique, and Thompson is the village gossip. Stony Ground is followed by the more mellow but a lot darker Salford Sunday as Thompson reflects on the previous nights failed attempt to woo a woman into his bed on a wet Sunday morning with only a hangover for company as he reads the papers. What makes this song for me is the sublime cross picked guitar lick that runs through the song, since hearing it I just can’t get it out of my head! Great playing from a true master of his instrument.
Woman again feature in the next song the slightly more up tempo Sally B who Thompson hopes will save him by dragging him from the gutter and into her life, featuring some excellent guitar breaks between the verses by Thompson. Stuck on the Treadmill follows with a rant about the dull repetitive nature of most peoples jobs after many years of doing the same one. My Enemy is a another love/hate ballad from Thompson a subject that he appears to be particularly well versed in!
Good Things Happen to Bad People finds Thompson acknowledging that he knows that his future wife has been doing bad things but he still takes her down the isle! Where’s Home has our travel weary troubadour asking if he does actually have some place that he can really call home after all his travelling. Another small thing in her favour finds Thompson acknowledging that something as simple as a nice smile is worth going home for. Straight and Narrow picks up the pace a bit with some nice keyboard work counterbalancing Thompson’s guitar work, but the Snow Goose returns us back to the land of the morose ballad this one featuring the talents of Alison Krauss on backing vocals.
The album closes with Saving The Good Stuff For You is almost a cheery closer from Thompson featuring Siobhan Maher Kennedy on harmony vocals and Fiddle great Stuart Duncan both of whom make appearances on several of the other tracks too. Electric is available as a single CD, as a deluxe CD package with a second disc with a further seven songs, as an LP in heavy weight vinyl from Proper Records and all the normal download sites.
Richard Thompson is going on the road to promote his new album later this month starting on Wednesday 20th February at St David’s Hall Cardiff, and finishing on the 10th March at the Lowry Salford before heading to America , so if you want to see a true master of his craft at work now is your chance. 8/10
Tour Dates:
- Wed 20 Feb CARDIFF St David’s Hall
- Thu 21 Feb BIRMINGHAM Symphony Hall
- Fri 22 Feb BRIGHTON Dome
- Sat 23 Feb BRISTOL Colston Hall
- Sun 24 Feb CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange
- Mon 25 Feb LONDON 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
- Tues 26 Feb LONDON Barbican Centre
- Thu 28 Feb EDINBURGH Usher Hall
- Fri 1 Mar LIVERPOOL Philharmonic Hall
- Sat 2 Mar SHEFFIELD City Hall
- Sun 3 Mar GATESHEAD The Sage Gateshead
- Wed 6 Mar NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall
- Thu 7 Mar BEXHILL DE La Warr Pavilion
- Fri 8 Mar BASINGSTOKE Anvil
- Sun 10 March SALFORD The Lowry
Lineup:
- Richard Thompson Vocals/guitar
- Michael Jerome Drums/backing vocals
- Taras Prodaniuk Bass/backing vocals
Track Listing:
- Stony Ground
- Salford Sunday
- Sally B
- Stuck On The Treadmill
- My Enemy
- Good Things Happen To Bad People
- Where’s Home?
- Another Small Thing In Her Favour
- Straight And Narrow
- The Snow Goose
- Saving The Good Stuff For You
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