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Richard Thompson (musician)

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Richard Thompson
For other people named Richard Thompson (musician), see Richard Thompson (musician) (disambiguation).

Richard John Thompson (born 3 April 1949 in Notting Hill Gate, West London) is a British musician, best known for his guitar playing and songwriting.

As a guitarist Thompson is notable for the breadth of his influences — which range from Buddy Holly and James Burton via Les Paul and Django Reinhardt to less likely influences such as pipe player Billy Pigg — and for his penchant for improvising rather than relying on worked out solos for each song.

Over a long career (he first recorded in 1967 as a member of Fairport Convention), Thompson has received much acclaim from his peers and has consistently been well-regarded by critics. While he has never become a household name — even his best-known albums have enjoyed only limited commercial success — he has earned a reputation as a skilled and compelling live performer and a consistently vital recording artist. In August 2003, Rolling Stone magazine listed Thompson as #19 on its list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[1] He continues to write and record new material and plays many live shows each year.

Biography and Career

Early life and career (1949 to 1972)

Richard John Thompson was born in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting Hill, West London, England. He grew up in a household full of music and books. His father, a Scot, was an amateur guitar player, and several other family members had played music professionally. Whilst still at school, he formed his first band "Emil and the Detectives" (named after a book and a movie by the same name) along with fellow classmate Hugh Cornwell on bass guitar, later lead singer and guitarist of The Stranglers.

Although, like so many musicians of his generation, he was exposed to and embraced rock and roll music at an early age, he was also exposed to his father’s collection of jazz and traditional Scottish music. All these various styles were to colour Thompson’s playing in the years to come.

By the age of 18 Thompson was playing with the newly formed Fairport Convention. It was Thompson’s guitar playing that caught the ear of American producer Joe Boyd. Largely on the strength of Thompson’s playing Boyd took them under his wing and negotiated them a contract with Island Records.

It was about this time that Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as an outstanding guitar player, started writing songs seriously. This seems to have been out of necessity — Fairport Convention were essentially a cover band at first.

"I remember saying to Ashley after a gig, that I was kind of embarrassed about doing the material we were doing, because it seemed that we should have outgrown doing covers — even though it was only 1967 — it somehow wasn’t good enough and other bands were writing their own stuff and we should too. I remember being angry and saying to Ashley this isn’t good enough, we’ve got to get some original material... and stuff started to trickle through." [2]

By the time of Fairport’s second album, recorded and released in early 1969, Thompson was starting to emerge as a songwriter of distinction. As Fairport’s lineup and their sound evolved, Thompson continued to grow in stature as a player and as a songwriter with compositions like "Meet On The Ledge", "Genesis Hall" and "Crazy Man Michael".

In January of 1971 Thompson announced that he was leaving Fairport Convention. His decision seems to have been instinctive, rather than a calculated career move.

"I left Fairport as a gut reaction and didn't really know what I was doing, except writing. I was writing stuff and it seemed interesting and I thought it would be fun to make a record. And at the same time — 70-71 — I was doing a lot of session work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career." [2]

In April of 1972 he released his first solo album Henry the Human Fly. The album sold poorly and was panned by the press, especially the influential Melody Maker magazine. With time "Henry" has come to be more highly regarded, but at the time the critics' response hurt both Thompson and his career.

By this time Thompson had struck up a relationship with the singer Linda Peters, who had sung on Henry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married, and Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career.

Richard and Linda Thompson (1973 to 1982)

The first Richard and Linda Thompson album, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight was recorded in May 1973 in short time and on a small budget. Largely because of the petrol shortage in Britain and its impact on the availability of vinyl for records, "Bright Lights" was held back by Island Records for nearly a year before being released in April of 1974. The album was well received by the critics, though sales were less than stellar. The record is now regarded as one of the highlights of Thompson’s career and a masterpiece of English folk rock.

Thompson’s lyrics expressed a rather dismal world view, and it has been suggested that the bleak subject matter of his songs helped to keep his recordings off the hit parade. A more likely explanation was given by ex-Island A&R man Richard Williams in the BBC TV documentary A Solitary Life — Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings.

The Thompsons recorded two more albums — Hokey Pokey and Pour Down Like Silver, both released in 1975 — before Richard Thompson decided to leave the music business and the couple moved to a Sufi commune in East Anglia.

It was not apparent from their records at first, but the Thompsons had embraced the esoteric sufi strand of Islam in early 1974.[2] I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight was recorded before this conversion, but released sometime afterwards. The songs for the second Richard and Linda album, Hokey Pokey were similarly written some time ahead of the album's recording and eventual release. It was Pour Down Like Silver, with its cover photo of a turbaned Richard Thompson gazing out at the world, that tipped the public off to the Thompsons' growing preoccupation with their faith. Their son Teddy Thompson, who also became a singer-songwriter, was born in 1976.

The trilogy of albums released either side of his sojourn in the commune was heavily influenced by Thompson's beliefs and by Sufi scripture, but in the long run his spiritual interests (he remains a committed Muslim) have not notably influenced his work — or at least, not to the extent they have in the case of Cat Stevens who initially renounced secular music altogether after adopting the Muslim faith. Thompson's religion manifests itself more obliquely in his work — for example, one of the most striking songs off 2003’s The Old Kit Bag is "Outside of the Inside", a sarcastic post-9/11 critique of the fundamentalist mindset, which Thompson usually introduces in concert as "a Taliban's view of the world".

In 1978, Thompson decided to take his family out of the commune and go back to their old home in Hampstead. He also decided to return to making music, partly because, as he commented at the time, he'd come to realise "that [he] wasn't really any good at anything else".

Joe Boyd had already invited Richard Thompson to play on Julie Covington’s debut album. With studio time and the American session musicians hired to work on the Covington album available, the Thompsons went back into the studio to record under their own name for the first time in three years.

The resulting album, First Light was warmly received by the critics but did not sell particularly well. Neither did its follow up, 1979's harder-edged and more cynical Sunnyvista. Chrysalis Records did not take up their option to renew the contract, and the Thompsons found themselves without a contract, but not without admirers.

Gerry Rafferty had booked the Thompsons as the support act for his 1980 tour, and had also used Richard as a session player on his Night Owl album. Rafferty generously offered to finance the recording of a new Richard and Linda Thompson album which he would then use to secure a contract for the Thompsons. Richard Thompson fell out with Rafferty during this project and was not happy with the finished product. Nevertheless Rafferty kept his side of the bargain and presented the album to several record companies — none of which expressed interest in signing the Thompsons. Rafferty did not recover his investment.

About a year later Joe Boyd signed the Thompsons to his small Hannibal label and a new album was recorded. Shoot Out the Lights included new recordings of many of the songs recorded in 1980, and was clearly a very strong album. Linda Thompson was pregnant at the time of the recording, and so the album’s release was delayed until they could tour behind the album. Linda's pregnancy also meant that she did not sing on all of the songs she had sung on the original Gerry Rafferty recordings of songs.

As an interim measure, Richard Thompson decided to arrange for a low-key tour of the USA. This tour was set up by Nancy Covey who had been in UK in 1981 trying to sign Thompson to play at the famous McCabe’s guitar shop in Santa Monica. During this tour Thompson and Covey began an affair, and in December of 1981 Richard and Linda Thompson separated.

On its release in 1982, Shoot Out the Lights was lauded by critics and sold quite well — especially in the USA. The Thompsons, now a couple for professional purposes only, toured the USA to support the album and then went their separate ways. Both the album and their live shows were well received by the American media, and Shoot Out the Lights effectively relaunched their career — just as their marriage was falling apart. In spite of the relative success of the tour, tensions were high between the Thompsons; during one performance, in the midst of one of Richard's guitar solos, Linda walked up to him and kicked him in the shin for no obvious reason.

Richard Thompson at Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2005

Solo (1983 to present)

After a stormy tour of the USA the Thompsons separated professionally. Richard Thompson continued recording as a solo artist. His 1983 album Hand Of Kindness saw him working with Boyd again, but the album was startlingly different from Shoot Out The Lights — swaggering and extrovert where the previous album had been dark and angst-ridden.

With his separation from Linda finalised, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and began to tour regularly in the USA. Encouraged by the success of his solo shows in late 1981 and early 1982 he began to perform solo with increasing frequency as well as continuing to tour with a band. In 1983 and 1984 he toured the USA and Europe with the Richard Thompson Big Band the included two saxophone players in addition to the more usual rhythm section, second guitar and accordion. Set lists included covers of classic rock 'n roll songs and jazz standards such as Tuxedo Junction.

In 1985 Thompson returned to the big league when he signed with Polygram and received a sizable advance. He also married Nancy Covey and moved his home and his working base to California. Across A Crowded Room was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to have Boyd as producer.

After sales failed to match the critics’ praises Thompson was under some pressure to repay Polygram’s investment with a hit album. In 1986 he released Daring Adventures which was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Mitchell Froom. Daring Adventures, with its rich sound, markedly different production and use of American session players was perceived by some as evidence of Thompson’s increasing "Americanisation". Perhaps more significantly the album continued the trend, begun with Across A Crowded Room, of Thompson’s songs moving away from the seemingly personal and towards the character sketches and narratives for which he has since become famous. Froom and Polygram had plans to target college and the growing "alternative" markets with Daring Adventures. Sales improved, but not by enough.

Polygram declined an option to renew the contract. Thompson’s management negotiated a new deal with Capitol Records and Thompson released a string of albums between 1988 and 1996 with Froom in the producer's chair.

For a short while a late career commercial breakthrough, like that enjoyed by Bonnie Raitt, seemed likely. The Grammy nominated 1991 album Rumor And Sigh sold well and a single, "I Feel So Good," achieved some chart success. The song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" from Rumor and Sigh remains the most requested song on National Public Radio [3]. Unfortunately, a boardroom shake-up at Capitol saw Thompson fan and champion Hale Milgrim replaced by Garry Gersh; Thompson's next album Mirror Blue was held back for almost a year before being released; and Rumor And Sigh's success was not capitalised on.

Mirror Blue was released in 1994, and Thompson took a band on the road to promote the album. This band was the smallest that Thompson had put together so far. He was joined by Dave Mattacks on drums, Danny Thompson on double bass, and Pete Zorn on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, mandolin and various wind instruments. This lineup toured with Thompson the following two years, and all subsequent Richard Thompson Band lineups have been built around Zorn and Danny Thompson.

Richard Thompson at the Cambridge Folk Festival, 2006

Thompson continued recording for Capitol until 1999, when Mock Tudor was recorded and released. In addition Thompson modified his deal with Capitol so that he could release and directly market live, limited-quantity, not-for-retail albums. The first of these was Live At Crawley, released in 1995. These "authorised bootlegs" are well-regarded by Thompson fans.

In 2001 it was Thompson who refused the option to renew a contract, and he parted ways with Capitol. Hereafter Thompson would fund the recording of his own albums and have them distributed and marketed by smaller independent labels.

Ironically the move away from big labels and big budgets brought a bigger marketing push and healthier sales. 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.

Two new releases are schedued for 2007. Sweet Warrior, a collection of new songs recorded in Los Angeles will be released towards the end of May on Proper Records in the UK and on Shout! Factory elsewhere. In early August Island Records will release a live Richard and Linda Thompson album compiled from recordings made during the November 1975 tour to promote the Pour Down Like Silver album.

Side projects and collaborations

Over the years Thompson has participated in many projects with other musicians. Often these projects allow him to participate in music and experiments that would not fit well on his own albums.

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 and Nick Drake.

During the same period he also worked on two collaborative projects. 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. “The Bunch” were almost the reverse conceptually – a grouping of English folk rock musicians (including Sandy Denny, Linda Peters and members of Fairport Convention) recording a selection of classic rock and roll tunes.

Thompson has continued to guest on albums by an array of artists, from Crowded House and Bonnie Raitt to Norma Waterson and Beausoleil and folk artists like Cathal McConnell and Bob Davenport.

Richard Thompson with Fairport Convention's Dave Pegg at Cropredy, 2005.

Since the early 1980s Thompson has appeared at Fairport Convention's annual Cropredy Festival, both in his own right and as a participant in sets with current and previous Fairport members (He once joked that Fairport Convention are a bit like the Hotel California: "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave"). These sets are seldom confined to performances of songs out of the Thompson or Fairport Convention canons, and in recent years some surprise offerings have included the soul classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (with Thompson backed by the Roy Wood Big Band), The Beatles's "I'm Down" and even "The Lady Is a Tramp".

Thompson has displayed a penchant for the avant garde as well, working with former Pere Ubu singer David Thomas's grouping The Pedestrians on two albums in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In the 1980s, he was associated with a loose-fitting group called The Golden Palominos, who were led by drummer Anton Fier and included at times on stage and on record Jack Bruce, Michael Stipe, Carla Bley, John Lydon, Bill Laswell and others. He has worked with experimental guitarist Henry Kaiser, most notably as part of the ad hoc aggregation French Frith Kaiser Thompson with whom he recorded two albums. In 1997 he worked with long-time friend and band member Danny Thompson to record a concept album Industry that dealt with the decline of British industry. A year later he worked with early music expert Philip Pickett on the acclaimed Bones of All Men which fused renaissance tunes with contemporary music.

In recent years Thompson has devised and toured his show 1000 Years of Popular Music. The inspiration for this came when Playboy magazine asked Thompson (and many other music industry figures) in 1999 for their suggestions for the "top ten songs of the millennium". Correctly guessing that Playboy expected most people's lists to start at around 1950, Thompson took them at their word and presented a list of songs from the 11th century to the present day. Perhaps not surprisingly, Playboy didn't use his list, but the exercise gave him the idea for a show which takes a chronological trip through popular music across the ages. Thompson acknowledges that this is an ambitious undertaking, partly because he reckons that he is "technically unqualified to sing ninety per cent of the material", and partly because of the spare musical setting he restricts himself to: besides his acoustic guitar, he's backed by singer/pianist Judith Owen and a percussionist. A typical performance would start with a medieval round, progress via a Purcell aria, Victorian music-hall and Hoagy Carmichael and climax with Thompson's unique take on the Britney Spears hit "Oops!... I Did It Again."

In 2004 Thompson was asked to create the soundtrack music for the Werner Herzog documentary Grizzly Man. The score, which was recorded over a two-day period in December, 2004, brought Thompson together with a group of improvisational musicians, mostly from the San Francisco Bay area; video footage from the sessions was edited into a mini-documentary, In the Edges, which was included with the DVD release of Grizzly Man.

Retrospectives and tributes

Thompson has been well-served by compilers of retrospective collections. These are partly aimed at curious new listeners who are interested in hearing more of him, but are also essential purchases for more committed fans, since they contain material which is unavailable elsewhere. 1976's (guitar, vocal) was a collection of unreleased material from the previous eight years of Thompson's appearances on the Island label. The 3-CD set Watching The Dark is a generous combination of his better-known songs and previously unreleased live and studio tracks. Action Packed is a compilation of tracks from his Capitol releases, plus three hard-to-find songs. Finally, in 2006, the independent label Free Reed released RT - The Life and Music of Richard Thompson, a 5-CD box set consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased performances of songs from throughout Thompson's long career.

Thompson's songs have been extensively covered; for example, "Dimming Of The Day" has been performed by artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, David Gilmour, The Five Blind Boys From Alabama, and The Corrs. There have been several tribute compilations of other artists' interpretations of his work, including: Capitol's Beat The Retreat: Songs By Richard Thompson and Green Linnet's The World Is A Wonderful Place: The Songs Of Richard Thompson, both released in 1994.

Thompson's guitars

Please note: The following two sections detail guitars that Thompson has been pictured playing or that he has acknowledged use of during interviews. They are not intended to be exhaustive listings of guitars owned by Richard Thompson.

Electric guitars

Thompson is often associated with the Fender Stratocaster guitar, having been seen using such a guitar in concert since his days with Fairport Convention. More generally he has long been a user of guitars with single coil pickups, preferring the sound of such guitars to those equipped with humbucking pickups.

When Fairport Convention signed their first recording contract in 1967 Thompson was playing a Gibson ES-175.[4] He soon changed this guitar for another Gibson, a gold top Les Paul with P-90 pickups - a move to the thinner, more biting single-coil sound. This guitar later passed into the ownership of John Martyn.

By the time of his exit from Fairport Thompson was playing a late 1960s Stratocaster. This was soon changed for an earlier 1950's model. He was closely associated with this guitar for many years. This particular Stratocaster is not currently servicable. [5] [4]

Thompson still uses a Stratocaster, an early 60's example [6], in concert and in the studio, but is most often seen with a light-blue solid-body guitar custom built by luthier Danny Ferrington. This has a Gibson P-90 pickup in the neck position, a Stratocaster Alnico pickup in the middle position, and a Fender Broadcaster pickup in the bridge position. This guitar has three volume controls (one for each pickup), no tone controls and strat-style 5-way pickup selector switch. [5]

Other electric guitars that Thompson is known to own or have made significant use of are

  • A blonde solid body guitar custom-built by Danny Ferrington. This guitar originally had two pickups. A third pickup was added later.[5] Photos of Thompson with this guitar in its two pickup guise appeared in the booklet accompanying the 1993 Watching The Dark compilation. The guitar, with the extra pickup, was used during the 1999 Mock Tudor tour and can be seen in the closing scenes of the 2003 BBC documentary.
  • A powder blue Danelectro U2. Sometimes seen in publicity photos and used during the recording of the Mock Tudor and The Old Kit Bag albums. [7] .
  • Fender Telecaster. Some early photos of Richard and Linda Thompson show a Telecaster in use. There are photos of Thompson playing a Telecaster at the Cropredy Festival in the mid-80s.
  • A Kellycaster Blackguard. This is A Telecaster copy made by Kelly Guitars, with a third pickup added by Thompson's Guitar technician Bobby Eichorn. [5] This guitar has been used in concert since 2003 and was used for the photo for the front cover of the Front Parlour Ballads album.
  • An Eastman Uptown AR805-CE. This is a semi-acoustic, arch-top guitar with a single pickup. This guitar was used for some photos for the Front Parlour Ballads album. [5]

Thompson has made intermittent use of Roland's GK-1 pickup and GL-2 synthesizer over the years. He made use of these devices on 1979's Sunnyvista album and has occasionally used them in concert.

Acoustic guitars

Since the early 1990s Thompson has made extensive use of Lowden acoustic guitars for both live and studio work.[5] For live work these guitars are fitted with Sunrise pickups. The signal from the pickup is fed through a pre-amplifier and some effects pedals (typically a delay pedal and a UniVibe) before being passed into the mixing desk. [5]

Lowden released a Richard Thompson signature model in 2007.

During the time he worked with then-wife Linda, and for some years thereafter, Thompson used a Martin 000-18. Thompson still owns this guitar, but says that it is not servicable and needs repair. [4]

Thompson also owns a few unusual acoustic guitars made by Danny Ferrington. An example of these guitars can be seen on the cover of the Small Town Romance and Hand Of Kindness albums. In the 2003 BBC documentary he can be seen playing an acoustic Ferrington baritone guitar in his office whilst working on a new composition.

In 2006 Thompson auctioned a Rick Turner RS6 acoustic guitar. He had occasionally used this guitar in concert. The proceeds from this sale were donated to charity.

See also

The "gear and tunings" FAQ on Thompson's web site.

Discography

Further information: Richard Thompson discography

With Fairport Convention

Solo or with Linda Thompson

* = Credited to Richard and Linda Thompson

Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson

The GPs

French Frith Kaiser Thompson

Philip Pickett and Richard Thompson

The Bunch

Soundtracks

Compilations

Fan club and boutique label releases

(these are not available in retail outlets but can be purchased via Thompson's web site or at concerts)

DVDs and videos

  • Across A Crowded Room (video - 1985)
  • Live in Providence (DVD - 2004)
  • Live From Austin, TX (DVD - 2005)
  • 1,000 Years of Popular Music (DVD+2CD - 2006)

References

  1. ^ Rolling Stone: The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Accessed 2007-2-19
  2. ^ a b c Humphries, Patrick, Richard Thompson - The Biography, Schirmer, 1997. ISBN 0-02-864752-1
  3. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A243-2001May31?language=printer
  4. ^ a b c Gear and Tuninqs Q&A. Accessed 2007-04-26.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Richard Thompson gear and tunings FAQ. Accessed 2007-04-26
  6. ^ "MORE Questions and Answers". Richard Thompson official webside. 2006-10-13. Retrieved 2007-04-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Beesweb interview. Accessed 2007-04-26
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