Album reviews...
There’s a great song at the end of Richard Thompson’s new album, Still,
called “Guitar Heroes” where the Fairport Convention legend beautifully
mimics some of the players who influenced him, from Django Reinhardt to
Chuck Berry, paying tribute to the styles and licks of the masters who
helped inform him. At the end though, he ruefully admits, “I may be as
good, but it’s never good enough” before telling us, “I still don’t know
how my heroes did it.”
He may well still feel like a student to these guitar greats but, as
humble as he may be about it, he comfortably sits alongside the names he
mentions in his list, and truth be told, he’s every bit as unique:
let’s face it, no one sounds like Richard Thompson. Thankfully, Jeff
Tweedy of Wilco fame, who Thompson enlisted to produce his new album, is
well aware of this fact, and unlike the recent Mavis Staples albums he
produced that very much show Tweedy’s handiwork, this is simply Thompson
doing what he does best and Tweedy wisely giving him the space to
shine.
On Still, Thompson’s songwriting and guitar playing are at
the forefront and closer to the folk rock that made his name rather than
some of his recent more rocky efforts. This is demonstrated beautifully
on the opening track, “She Never Could Resist A Winding Road” (what a
title!), a gentle, lilting number that sounds like an old classic and
slowly builds into a heart-warming Highlands march played expertly by
Mr. Thompson on guitar.
“Beatnik Blues” is a sweet, shuffling affair that recalls his work
with former wife Linda Thompson, and “Broken Doll,” a meditation on
mental illness, has some subtle atmospheric production work courtesy of
Tweedy giving the song an eerie, unsettling feeling. There are plenty of
upbeat numbers, too: “Long John Silver” has a Celtic-sounding riff and a
rousing chorus while “Patty Don’t You Put Me Down” has a cool, bluesy
groove and, most fun of all, the stomping “All Buttoned Up,” about a
girl who won’t give in to Thompson’s advances. You can just imagine how
good all of these will sound live, and the ending guitar solo of “Long
John Silver” is sure to be showstopper.
“No Peace, No End” is probably the most rocking of the tracks and
features some amazingly intricate guitar work by Thompson, but it’s the
haunting “Dungeons For Eyes,” a tale of a shady politician’s dark past,
that shows him as a first-rate storyteller, something he’s sometimes not
fully credited for. This is also heard in maybe the simplest song on
the record and arguably the most effective of the lot, the plaintive and
poetic “Josephine,” featuring Thompson’s hushed vocals and dazzling
finger-picking — it’s a truly a thing of beauty.
Still was recorded in just nine days at Wilco’s studio in
Chicago, giving little room for too much fussing or embellishments, and
this is one of the record’s biggest strengths. In some ways, it’s like
Neil Young’s Le Noise album, where he enlisted Daniel Lanois to
help re-inspire his process and came out with one of his most
personal-sounding records in years. But unlike that album, this record
is not a reinvention or some big collaboration, rather a reminder of
just what makes Richard Thompson so special. It’s his voice, his guitar
playing, his songwriting completely undiluted. Like the album title
says, it’s a first-rate reminder that he’s still Richard Thompson and really, what could be better than that.
Listening to this excellent
live recording from 1978, it’s hard to believe that Andrew Gold wasn’t a
bigger star. Not only did he have a string of perfect pop hits as a
solo artist and in Wax, the ’80s duo he formed with 10cc’s Graham
Gouldman, but he also made huge contributions to the success of other
artists as an arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He
certainly helped Linda Ronstadt become the superstar she deserved to be
thanks to his work on her breakthrough album Heart Like A Wheel, while he also played in her band for four years during the 1970s.
This never-before-released live show comes after Gold had left
Ronstadt’s band and was enjoying some of his biggest success as a solo
with his third solo album All This And Heaven Too, recorded on
the last night of the tour at the Roxy in West Hollywood. You can hear
the grand-finale energy and, even all these years on, it’s clear the
band was having a huge amount of fun (at one point he even calls for
drinks for everyone!). As a recording artist, Gold always had a
soft-rock sheen, but one of the nice things about this release is that
it shows his rockier side, which gives many of the songs an extra punch
in the best possible way.
The set begins with the upbeat country rock of “I’m A Gambler” from
Gold’s 1975 self-titled debut album (apparently Gold did indeed love a
game of cards or blackjack), then he treats us to an unreleased track
from his first band, the Rangers, called “Gambler” in which he tells us,
“I ain’t no gambler but baby this ain’t no game.” Make your mind up,
Gold! In fairness, the Rangers’ track was written by his friend and
bandmate Kenny Edwards (who was also in Ronstadt’s band and a member of
her first band the Stone Poneys), and this little rarity is a lovely
addition to the hits-filled set list.
The two songs you would most associate with Gold are indeed both here. One of them is, of course, “Thank You For Being A Friend,” otherwise known as the theme to The Golden Girls. (That version was sung by Cindy Fee, but the music was pretty much unchanged.) Even back in 1978, seven years before The Golden Girls
first aired, the song causes a huge cheer to erupt from the audience.
Although it was his big hit at the time, I’m sure it wasn’t too hard to
see that this song would become something of a classic and one of Gold’s
signature tunes. “Lonely Boy” is also here, and it’s arguably his
greatest song. Not surprisingly, it’s offered at the end of the set
before the encore, and you can almost hear the audience jumping and
dancing along.
Other highlights include, the plaintive, slowly building piano ballad
“Endless Flight,” and Gold’s making-contact-with-aliens sci-fi song “Oh
Urania (Take Me Away)” which is actually strangely beautiful. “How Can
This Be Love,” a toe-tapping piano-led song that really should have been
the theme to some New York-set romantic comedy (it’s not too late to
fix this moviemakers!) pops up, too.
He also explains his first ever single, “That’s Why I Love You,” as
being written about his then-girlfriend and completed by “her ex-old
man” (Gene Garfin) when he couldn’t think of any more lyrics. One can
only wonder what this woman thought of two boyfriends (one current and
one ex) collaborating on a song about her, but the result at least is
particularly sweet: “It’s the smile upon your face, it’s your style and
your grace, and that’s why I love you.”
The whole thing ends with Gold going back to his Beatle-obsessed
roots with rollicking versions of “Doctor Robert” and Chuck Berry’s
“Roll Over Beethoven” as the encore and a great ending to a real
feel-good show.
Omnivore has done a
particularly good job with the packaging, too, particularly for a live
album (so many are minimum-effort affairs). The nicely designed booklet
features never-before-seen photos from that night and affectionate and
interesting liner notes by Gold’s friend and bandmate Brock Walsh.
Gold sadly passed away last year at the much-too-young age of 59, but
this album is a great tribute to his talent and a nice reminder of just
what a first-rate songwriter and performer he really was.
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