Richard Thompson - ...and on guitar Vol. 2 (1982)

And now, the end is near, and so we face the final curtain....... After almost exactly a year, we come to the final posts in this series, and I think you'll agree that the it goes out in style. I was hoping to do another volume for Jerry Garcia, but about the time of his last collaboration on the first set, he stopped playing on other artist's records, just writing and producing for them. Similarly, Keith Richards only guested on four records in the 15 years after his first volume ended, so that wasn't on the cards either. The extra-curricular activities of most of the other artists in the series only covered one volume each, so for the penultimate post we have an artist who had no such qualms about spreading himself too thinly, with a decade's worth of guest appearance from the sublime Richard Thompson. 

Track listing

01 Went Down To The Sea (from 'Street Singer' by Mick Softley 1971)
02 The Widow Of Westmorland's Daughter (from 'Jump At The Sun' by John Kirkpatrick 1972)
03 Shady Lady (from 'Bright Phoebus' by Lal And Mike Waterson 1972)
04 Elaine (from 'Urban Cowboy' by Andy Roberts 1973)
05 Momamma Scuba (from 'Fear' by John Cale 1974)
06 Targets (from 'Fantasies From A Corner Seat' by Harvey Andrews & Graham Cooper 1975)
07 Tennessee Blues (from 'Having A Wonderful Time' by Geoff Muldaur 1975)
08 Embroidered Butterflies (from 'Vanishing Trick' by Brian Patten 1976)
09 I Can't Dance (from 'Julie Covington' by Julie Covington 1978)
10 Promises (from 'Slide Away The Screen' by Ralph McTell 1979)
11 Family Tree (from 'Night Owl' by Gerry Rafferty 1979)
12 Old Soho (from 'Voices' by Murray Head 1981)  
13 Wat Ye Wha I Met The Streen (from 'Smiddyburn' by Dave Swarbrick 1981)
14 Old Horse (from 'Out Of The Cut' by Martin Carthy 1982)

Vocal on 'Embroidered Butterflies' by Linda Thompson. 

Richard & Linda Thompson - Watching The Dark (1980)

Richard and Linda Thompson have just released an 8-CD career-spanning retrospective, taking in all the albums that they released together between 1972 and 1982, and included as bonus tracks are some 1980 recordings that they made with Gerry Rafferty for an album to be called 'Shoot Out The Lights'. Although in the end these weren't used, re-recorded versions of some of the songs were included on their final album together, which kept the title but didn't emerge for another two years. After their 1979 album 'Sunnyvista' had sold poorly, Richard and Linda Thompson found themselves without a record deal, but they still toured as the support act for Gerry Rafferty, and in June 1980 they recorded some demo tracks at Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire. Later that same year Rafferty stepped in and offered to finance and produce a new album for them, and then use his contacts in the industry to secure a new contract for them. Sessions took place in September and October 1980, but as the project proceeded there was increasing tension between Richard and Rafferty, with Thompson preferring a spontaneous approach to recording, as opposed to  Rafferty's time-consuming and perfectionist approach. Nevertheless, the album was completed, but Rafferty couldn't interest any record companies and lost in the region of £30,000 on the project. Finally, in the summer of 1981 Joe Boyd signed the Thompsons to his small Hannibal label, and in November of that year they went back into the studio and recorded the album again from scratch, re-recording some of their earlier songs, and replacing others with newly written ones. Although these recording sessions were more enjoyable than the earlier ones, the couple had been experiencing inter-personal problems, and by the time the album was released Richard and Linda Thompson's marriage was over. Ironically, the album that was recorded when the Thompsons' career seemed all but over, and which turned out to be their last album together, was their best selling record, and has been acclaimed as one of their greatest artistic achievements. The Rafferty recordings have surfaced on bootlegs over the years under various titles, but they are now extremely hard to find, with only one track available to hear on Youtube, so enjoy these alternate versions of songs that you'll already know well and see which you prefer. Linda herself has said that she considers some of the Rafferty recordings to be better than the ones which ended up on 'Shoot Out The Lights', so see if you agree.

Track listing

01 Don't Renege On Our Love
02 Back Street Slide
03 Walking On A Wire
04 The Wrong Heartbeat
05 Shoot Out The Lights
06 For Shame Of Doing Wrong
07 I'm A Dreamer
08 Modern Woman
09 Just The Motion
10 Wall Of Death

Thanks to Anonymous for spotting that track 6 was repeated, so now fixed.

Richard Thompson - ...and on guitar (1971)

Most of the posts in this series cover an artists contributions as guest guitarist over a period of five to ten years, but Richard Thompson was so prolific in his guest slots that this album covers just 1969 to 1971, and this was while he was still a member of Fairport Convention, and also a part of Ashley Hutchins' Morris On project, and The Bunch, who were a group of English folk-rock musicians (including Sandy Denny, Linda Peters and members of Fairport Convention) who recorded a selection of classic rock and roll tunes. He has said that when he left Fairport Convention in 1971 he did a lot of session work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career, but by 1972 he'd released his first solo album 'Henry The Human Fly', and that was the start of a very long and extremely well-respected solo career, which still carries on today.
His first guest spot was to provide guitar on Al Stewart's 'Love Chronicles' album, most notably the lovely solo at the end of 'Life And Life Only', and he also played on Nick Drake's 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Later' albums, from which I've picked the classic 'Time Has Told Me'. Marc Ellington is a Scottish folksinger and multi-instrumentalist who has guested with Fairport Convention, starting with providing some vocal support on the 'Unhalfbricking' album in 1969, and he also worked with Matthews Southern Comfort on their self-titled album in 1969, and when Ellington recorded his debut album that same year, he asked Thompson to help out guitar, and The Matthews Southern Comfort link carries on with Thompson's contribution to that self-titled album, for which he wrote and played on 'A Commercial Proposition'. By 1970 Gary Farr had left Gary Farr And The T-Bones to embark on a solo career, and Thompson was invited to play guitar on a few tracks from his second album 'Strange Fruit'. The following year he was on hand to assist John Martyn with his 'Bless The Weather' album, and in what was a very busy year for him, his guitar could also be heard on albums by Sandy Denny, Mike Heron, Iain Matthews, Stefan Grossman, Shirley Collins, and the undeservedly overlooked Shelagh McDonald. The one linking factor for most of these artists is that they operate in the genre of British folk music, which is undoubtedly Thompson's great love, and the fact that so many of our respected folk musicians wanted him on their records just shows the high regard in which he was, and still is, held by his peers. 

Track listing

01 Life And Life Only (from 'Love Chronicles' by Al Stewart 1969)
02 Time Has Told Me (from 'Five Leaves Left' by Nick Drake 1969)  
03 Four In The Morning (from 'Marc Ellington' by Marc Ellington 1969)
04 A Commercial Proposition (from 'Matthews Southern Comfort' by Matthews Southern 
                                                                                                                           Comfort 1970)
05 Old Man Moses (from 'Strange Fruit' by Gary Farr 1970) 
06 Sugar Lump (from 'Bless The Weather' by John Martyn 1971)
07 The Sea Captain (from 'The North Star Grassman And The Ravens' by Sandy Denny 1971)
08 Flowers Of The Forest (from 'Smiling Men With Bad Reputations' by Mike Heron 1971)
09 Odyssey (from 'Stargazer' by Shelagh McDonald 1971)
10 Desert Inn (from 'If You Saw Through My Eyes' by Iain Matthews 1971)
11 Blues Jump The Rabbit (from 'Those Pleasant Days' by Stefan Grossman 1971)
12 Poor Murdered Woman (from 'No Roses' by Shirley Collins 1971)