Comfortable Middle Age

I'm trying to keep this blahg directed more towards newer artists, over old faves.  But the mind goes where it goes and lately I'm happy to rediscover an old fave I hadn't paid much attention to in recent years, Richard Thompson.

Thompson used to be one of my main men, but it tapered off somewhere in the mid 00's and never quite picked up again, though I did keep up with all his releases as they came out.  I was disappointed in Front Parlour Ballads, the last one I actually bought a physical copy of, and since then just picked individual strong tracks as they appeared, eventually compiling them into a couple of collections.  Both of which left me unsatisfied.

I do a lot of compilation CD's.  Very draconian selections by artists.  Obviously, they are highly subjective.  And there is a music-geekery part of me that says its unfair.  After all, these guys put their heart and soul into a full-length album, and I go and trash 90% of it?  Who the hell do I think I am?

Well, a guy who knows what he wants to listen to, at least.

The reality is, there are many great great great artists, who nonetheless have made few, or even no, killer albums.  You know, the kind of great, classic long-player that sweeps you up from the first notes and carries you all the way till the vinyl runs off the final groove (figuratively speaking, of course).  And yeah, I'd rather have one CD worth of killer songs than 10 CDs worth containing one or two killer songs and a lot of filler, each.  

Oh and in case you're asking, look man - a playlist just ain't the same, okay?  If you don't get it, you may be reading the wrong blahg.

As draconian in selection, I also try to program these things in a ways that flows, that tells a story, that carries you along from track-to-track.  And it can't have tracks that make me want to hit the skip button.  I also try to keep each disk at no more than 60 minutes (a full 75 tends to get interminable no matter how good the songs) (that all of this is the result of growing up with vinyl is something I will not dispute.  I even still think in terms of sides, if you catch my drift).  

So what this has to do with Thompson, and killer albums.  Well...

I discovered Thompson, along with many others, when his highly acclaimed Hand Of Kindness came out, to considerable critical hosannas, in early 1983, a time when I was actively seeking new music and new artists (like now), and finding them (like now).  I didn't actually hear Hand for a couple of years, though.  The first Thompson album I ended up hearing was the previous year's even-more acclaimed Shoot Out the Lights, which I soon determined deserved every bit of the acclaim and became a near-daily listen.  Over the next year I scooped up the reissued Thompson 70's classics with Linda, none of which disappointed.  In basic fact, from the time Thompson went solo from Fairport Convention in 1972, till the aforementioned Hand of Kindness - eleven years and only one dud in there (the lifeless First Light from 197, which Thompson has all but disowned), and a couple near-misses (Hokey Pokey and Sunnyvista, which would have made great EPs if the lesser tracks were deleted).  Of the rest, all were excellent and at least three were full-on killers.  After that things get less clear.

The year I became a committed Thompson fan, he issued Across A Crowded Room, his first major-label album since the 70's.  It got sort-of mixed reviews - the gist being "this is really great, not quite as great as the last two but still seriously great", which is about accurate.  Thompson was definitely trying to find a way to get his stuff on the radio (fail) without compromising himself (success)- which would continue for many years to come.  But the songs were still there and, actually, I now find Crowded Room to be one of his best.

As the 80s wore on, Thompson's audience expanded though he never got the Top 40 hit he (maybe) sought.  He kept putting out albums every year or so, and they were reliably good.  That is, they were good - but not great. They always had a great song, or two, or three - or even more (1986's Daring Adventures had more than that).  But even at the time, when I was so devoted I would brook no criticism of RT, I was feeling diminishing returns.  Those handful of great songs were inevitable surrounded by a bunch of good ones, that were quite listenable, had outstanding guitar playing (always), and after one listen you didn't much care if you ever heard them again.  And that was not true of most of his prior output.

This no great sin. Realistically I don't expect artists to bat 1000 all the time.  And there was enough prime stuff on any Thompson album to make it worthwhile.  And so it went for the next dozen-plus years.  And that was fine - except I still kept hoping he had another killer in him.

After the early 00's, though, I began to burn out.  Thompson bailed on the major labels (or they bailed on him), and started putting out albums on indie label Cooking Vinyl.  But The Old Kit Bag (2003) was pretty much cut from the same cloth as its predecessors - some really great stuff, the rest merely good.  Then 05's Front Parlour Ballads, the first Thompson album to feature mostly songs I actively disliked. 

Since then its been diminishing returns.  Thompson has ended up where many artists - maybe all?  eventually end up.  Comfortable middle age.  He still makes good music.  But its been more than 20 years since he's produced a single song I could number among his best work, that I could rank with "Walking On A Wire" or "For Shame of Doing Wrong" or "Tear-Stained Letter".  i found myself listening to each new Thompson release with a feeling of duty, rather than excitement.  He's still a great talent, still a great guitarist, still a fine songwriter, and anything he does is worth hearing.  But the reason my last Thompson comps - which covered the late 90's and early 00's, didn't grab and hold me is because none of the material hit the highs it needed to.  I was left with compilations of good but not-truly-wonderful stuff.  

Which meant I finally scrapped them all and pared my post Across A Crowded Room Thompson collection to four (approx) 60 minute CDs, collecting the cream from 1986 through 2021.  Only 4 of 49 tracks came from the last 10 years.  Some of this is due to diminished output, of course - Thompson only puts out an album every 3-4 years now, versus the almost-yearly schedule he kept up in the 80's/90's.  At 74, perhaps he'll surprise us again before he's done.  Or not.