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In 2021, his book Beeswing: Losing my Way and Finding my Voice, 1967-1975 was released. [12] Published by Algonquin Books, it is mainly a memoir of his life as a musician from 1967 to 1975. Thompson continued releasing "official bootlegs" on his boutique label as an additional source of revenue – all live recordings. Wilcox, Tyler (28 April 2015). "Richard Thompson:: Beatnik Walking". Aquarium Drunkard . Retrieved 29 April 2015. Upon its release in 1982, Shoot Out the Lights was lauded by critics and sold quite well – especially in the U.S. [36] [37] Richard Thompson OBE - Graduation - The University of Aberdeen". Abdn.ac.uk . Retrieved 14 September 2018.

guitar, vocal) is a 1976 album by Richard Thompson. [1] It was released by Island Records as a career retrospective after he and his wife Linda had gone into semi-retirement from the business of making and performing music following the release of Pour Down Like Silver (1975). Thompson started to re-engage with the world of professional music in 1977. He played on an album by Sandy Denny, and had undertaken a short tour and started recording with a group of musicians who were also Sufis. Thompson asked Joe Boyd to produce these sessions, and two days were spent on the initial recordings. Boyd recalls that the sessions were not a success: "It was really, I felt, very poor. I didn't have much confidence in the musicians that he was working with. The atmosphere was very strange and it just didn't seem to work." [29] He can imitate almost any style, and often does, but is instantly identifiable. In his playing you can hear the evocation of the Scottish piper's drone and the melody of the chanter as well as echoes of Barney Kessel's and James Burton's guitars and Jerry Lee Lewis's piano. But no blues clichés. [15]

Popular performances

As regards effects, he has made significant use of modulation and vibrato type effects pedals, most notably the Univibe and emulations thereof. BeesWeb – Catch of the Day". Richardthompson-music.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012 . Retrieved 22 April 2012. Richard Thompson was born in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting Hill, West London, England. His father, a Scot, was a Scotland Yard detective and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. While attending William Ellis School in Highgate, he formed his first band, Emil and the Detectives (named after a book and a movie by the same title), with classmate Hugh Cornwell, later lead singer and guitarist of the Stranglers, on bass guitar. 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. [22]

Thompson writes that he neglected their son Jesse for years, that he was “immature and irresponsible”; father and son get on well now, he says. Lionel Richie scores first British No 1 in 23 years". The Independent. 6 July 2015 . Retrieved 8 January 2020. a b Denselow, Robin (30 September 2019). "Richard Thompson at 70: on love, loss and being a Muslim in Trump's US". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 August 2023. In 1992, he performed with David Byrne. Their joint acoustic concert at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights, New York on 24 March, produced the album An Acoustic Evening, which was released the same year. [46] 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 2003 BBC TV documentary Solitary Life: Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings. [18]Denselow, Robin (30 September 2019). "Richard Thompson at 70: on love, loss and being a Muslim in Trump's US". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. 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. Linda Thompson was pregnant at the time of the recording, so the album's release was delayed until they could tour behind the album. Breathing problems arising from her pregnancy also meant that Linda could not sing the lead part on some of these songs as she had done on demo tapes and the Rafferty-produced recordings. Thompson’s work as a solo artist has vacillated in style and approach — from the exuberant commercial pop of Daring Adventures and Rumor And Sigh to the mostly downtrodden gestures of You? Me? Us? and Mirror Blue. Throughout, the fundaments of his persona and his uncompromising nature have never wavered. No punches pulled, no concessions made, no fabulous makeovers to appease the masses. To be a Thompson fan is to take him as he is and expect nothing else. To be fair, that isn’t always easy. By the 1970s, Thompson had begun a relationship with the singer Linda Peters, who had sung on Henry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married at Hampstead Town Hall and honeymooned in Corsica. [25] [26] Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career. [ citation needed]