Front Parlour Ballads

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In 2014, Thompson released Acoustic Classics, [54] an album featuring acoustic renditions of 14 songs from his back catalogue, on his Beeswing label. A favourite of both Robert Plant and Elvis Costello, Thompson has also been covered by acts as varied as feminist punks Sleater-Kinney, REM, David Byrne and, most recently, Mark Ronson, who covered the 1974 title track of Thompson’s album with first wife Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight. Prior to this she covered global government debt from London, with a particular focus on the debt crisis in Greece, Ukraine and Venezuela. The 3-CD set Watching the Dark combines his better-known songs and previously unreleased live and studio tracks.

Despite this, certain notable artists plough their own furrow (pardon the gratuitous agricultural pun) to bring us new sounds inspired, among other things, by the musical traditions of the British Isles.What can one say that has already been said by others about the master of electric contemporary folk other than this is album is truly superb with the normal underpinning of RT's gravely voice and incredible mastery of the guitar in his laid back style. However, a shake-up at Capitol saw Hale Milgrim (Thompson's champion and fan within the boardroom) replaced by Garry Gersh. Thompson's first two self-funded releases, 2003's The Old Kit Bag and 2005's Front Parlour Ballads, did well in the indie charts on both sides of the Atlantic. He also treats us to his nimble-fingered playing on acoustic guitar and mandolin on tracks like the bright and breezy "One Door Opens" and the gentle "First Breath".

Thompson took to the road with a stripped-down " power trio" band on a multi-month tour on both sides of the Atlantic to promote the new album. He mentions that Nick Hornby was interested in turning the tour into a film script “about a decade ago… The kids were all for it. His deal with Capitol was modified so that he could release and directly market limited-quantity, live recorded, not-for-retail albums.The resulting album Dream Attic, released in August the same year, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. The trilogy of albums released before and after his sojourn in the commune was heavily influenced by Thompson's beliefs and by Sufi scripture, but in the long run his religious beliefs have not influenced his work in an obvious manner. If I could pick on a fault of my youth, it was the fact that I would kind of steamroller over women who didn’t have that strength.

The new LP is unlikely to have the public suddenly screaming over the man who's been described as looking like a 'typical polytechnic lecturer', but in his own relaxed way he will probably win people over gradually, whilst maintaining that fabled position of artistic independence. This taut collection showcases his rocking side with tracks like "Jealous Words" and "A Love You Can't Survive", which are resplendent with his swerving, restless electric guitar lines.He led the FT’s data-driven coverage of the pandemic, exploring its impacts on health, the economy and wider society. Morris On was recorded with Ashley Hutchings, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Mattacks and Barry Dransfield, and was a collection of English traditional tunes arranged for electric instruments. Later in 1969, Fairport re-grouped with a new drummer, Dave Mattacks, and also invited the well known fiddle player, Dave Swarbrick, to join. In between leaving Fairport Convention in early 1971 and releasing his debut solo album in 1972, he undertook a large amount of session work, most notably on albums by John Martyn, Al Stewart, Matthews Southern Comfort, Sandy Denny, Mike Heron and Nick Drake. mu:zines is the result of thousands of hours of effort, and will require many thousands more going forward to reach our goals of getting all this content online.

For live work, his acoustic guitars are fitted with a Sunrise pick-up and an internal condenser microphone. For this reason, the Thompsons' fans often refer to the Shoot Out the Lights tour as "The Tour from Hell". His 1991 song " 1952 Vincent Black Lightning" was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME 100 Songs" list of the best English-language musical compositions released between 1923 and 2011. Prior to using a Stratocaster with Fairport Convention he used a Gibson Les Paul with P-90 pick-ups.Longtime fans will likely gravitate to the musical equivalents of comfort food--the weepy ballad "Happy Days and Auld Lang Syne", the revved-up rocker "I'll Tag Along" and the brooding melancholy of "First Breath". That morning they were driving back to London from a Birmingham gig, approaching the last service station on the M1. Produced by John Chelew (of John Hiatt and Blind Boys of Alabama fame), it was recorded quickly with a minimum of overdubs and just a handful of musicians (double-bassist Danny Thompson, drummer Michael Jerome and background vocalist Judith Owen). Mirror Blue was released in 1994, to often negative reviews sparked by the production decisions that Thompson and Froom took.