Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4

Subject: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Noreen
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 06:06 PM

Richard Thompson: Master Tapes on BBC Radio 4 now.

About the making of Rumo(u)r and Sigh :)

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Noreen
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 06:21 PM

bbc mastertapes

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Noreen
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 06:35 PM

Next week is Martin and Eliza Carthy talking about Anglicana... or Angelicana as the continuity announcer just called it :/

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Leadfingers
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 06:51 PM

Richard Thompson is juat a tad Shit Hot as a player , writer and general performer

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 07:06 PM

My least favourite Richard Thompson record.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 07:14 PM

Thanks Noreen, looks interesting.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 01:50 AM

Mastertapes is a great series, it really seems to get musicians talking at their best - the Wilko Johnson episodes from a couple of weeks ago were just really special.

They're on long-term availability on the R4 website (although I don't know whether non-UK listeners have restricted access) - well worth listening to, even if you're not initially that intested in the featured artist.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 04:05 AM

No problem listening in Germany. The 'B' side comes later.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 04:18 AM

I should probably give this a listen even though I never liked 'Rumour and Sigh' very much. In fact it was the last new Richard Thompson record I bought and I'd bought everything he brought out up to that point.

I always felt that after the split with Linda an undercurrent of misogyny crept into his writing, starting with 'Hand of Kindness'. There's quite a lot of that on 'Rumour and Sigh', in my view. And he's never tackled subjects like alcoholism (God Loves A Drunk)or politics (Mother Knows Best - there's that misogyny again!) with the insight or subtlety of other writers. I still can't listen to 'Psycho Street'.

Plus when he was working with Linda (and before that, with Sandy Denny) he had someone else's voice to write for. That, for me, was when he produced most of his best work. He got a lot wordier in his lyric writing after that, as well. Compare the economy of songs like 'Beat The Retreat' or 'Dimming Of The Day' with the later stuff like 'Beeswing' or '1952 Black Lightning' - the later songs don't, for me, give the listener's imagination space to fill in the blanks, which is what I always liked about his earlier stuff.

He still hits the bullseye occasionally - 'Keep Your Distance', from 'Rumour and Sigh', is one of his best songs, for me, as is 'King of Bohemia'.

There's a brilliant essay by George Orwell called (I think) 'The Benefit Of Clergy'. It's ostensibly about Salvador Dali but it discusses how certain artists get to a point in their careers where they become almost exempt from normal critical standards - they become icons, and any opinion that is less than reverent becomes a form of heresy.

Thompson has arguably attained that status for folkies, as have Christy Moore, Martin Carthy, June Tabor, Nic Jones, Dick Gaughan and a whole raft of artists of that generation. Not their fault - I suppose our generation of folkie-inclined punters like to feel secure in our admiration for people we've been listening to all our adult lives. It all just feels a bit - well, safe, I suppose. Maybe that's only to be expected at our age.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Will Fly
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 06:39 AM

Oh, I love "I Misunderstood" and "Why Must I Plead" - the latter, in particular, has one of the most understated guitar riffs RT ever recorded.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: melodeonboy
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 06:56 AM

Slight thread drift, but does anyone know if the BBC are going to issue a DVD (or CD!) of the concert Richard Thompson did recently when they closed down the Television Centre (it was that, wasn't it?)?
I thought it was brilliant.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 10:12 AM

Good programme, must listen to the B side - let's hope there are some questioners who don't relapse into worshipful burblings confronted by Richard!

Re Chris B's points, the earlier songs are certainly often more economical. But "Beeswing" and "Black Lightning" are modern takes on the ballad form - ballads usually contain specific detail. And these songs do work - after all they're practically traditional songs by now ("And down to Knoxville they did ride" - has some guy in the US recorded that version yet?)

Richard tells stories from a character's viewpoint, and he's not preaching from some pulpit or other. They are stories, not biographies. OK there are some polemics like "Mother Knows Best" but he wasn't having a go at women - he didn't like the situation in his home country at the time he wrote it. To misquote a famous remark (by Peter Cook?) "It's not that I'm against female Prime Ministers, just THAT female Prime Minister".

Anyway, I've sat at his feet (sometimes literally) for nearly fifty years now and will continue so to do. Amen.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 10:50 AM

I think Beeswing and '52 Vincent will be sung a hundred years from now. Just hope I can still remember the words then.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 11:04 AM

I think the 'Amen' illustrates Orwell's point rather well.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 01:53 PM

Why are folks not just happy to listen to something that sounds bloody good without deep analysis of the lyrics - I despair.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Bainbo
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 03:15 PM

Edthefolkie:
"And down to Knoxville they did ride" - has some guy in the US recorded that version yet?


The Del McCoury Band . I love RT's version. But I love this at least as much. It just works so well.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Bainbo
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 03:29 PM

Oh. and "God Loves A Drunk" isn't about alcoholism. Not the way I read it, anyway.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 03:38 PM

I've been happily listening to stuff that sounds bloody good since about 1947. And sometimes analysing. That's what humans do.

Never bothered to analyse "Nellie The Elephant" or "Green Onions" though, I just dig 'em man. (Oops! Hang on, I must go down to the piano and analyse how Booker manages the chord progressions on that Hammond. Nellie can wait.)

Update - side B of Mastertapes worth it just for Richard's performance of "God Loves a Drunk". Pretty alarming coming through the PC screen!

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 04:25 AM

Oh. I've just listened to the programme. I didn't realise he'd actually namechecked Del McCoury and the Knoxville reference.

Subject: RE: Richard Thompson: Master Tapes Radio4
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 02:12 PM

I missed half of Richard's Knoxville reference too as I was dashing between the PC and the bathroom! Anyway, thanks Bainbo, have now listened to Del McCoury's version & it's great.

BTW a Black Lightning recently went for £246k at auction, cripes. I have no idea if the buyer or seller was called Molly. Maybe RT should get a rakeoff, not just the auctioneers.