Richard amp Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Sublime

Trismegistos | Oslo, Norway | 02/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In our age of hyped-up folkrock artists like Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes, it is a real eye-opener to listen to this album. The music lingers in the borderland between traditional english and american music, giving it a really original flavour.

The opener, the transcendent "When I get to the border" is probably the best "new"(to me) song I`ve heard so far this year, totally unpretentious and original and free. Like Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson attempts & fails to conceal an amazing personality and individuality which seeps through every breath of his vocal work. The same goes for the rest of the album.

Linda`s vocals are a little less original, but more than adequate compared to other singers, and anyway, the imperfections of this album adds up to become perfection as a whole.The title song, for example: A rambunctious, messy, drunken, glorious thing, complete with a marching band and a primitive bassline, totally irresistible. If you`ve heard "The basement tapes", you`ll know what I mean.

Strongly recommended."

The best thing I can say about this album...

a superintelligent shade of the col | minneapolis | 09/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even though it's been in my record collection for many years, I recently listened to it OBSESSIVELY for about a month, every single day. How many albums can provoke that sort of obsession? Every single song is a thriller, a masterpiece. Some songs (particularly Calvary Cross) grew even richer with live-performance development over the years, but that just shows what marvels they were from the start! Other songs, like "The Great Valerio" and "Poor Beggar Girl", appear so richly performed that there's simply no room left for improvement.

Additionally, the balance of Richard's twanging electric guitar, earthy acoustics and mandolins, Linda's dry unaffected alto, and clean, simple production really add weight. The whole thing feels quite natural and timeless.

Timeless. Yeah, that's the best thing I can say. Well, that, and it provokes strange obsessions."

First in a series of classic albums by Richard & Linda

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 02/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thompson's first album with wife Linda listed as a full partner, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" remains one of his best albums. From the stunning opening track "When I Get to the Border" it was clear that Thompson found a perfect partner to harmonize with. Linda's clear, crisp voice accented Richard's gruffer one. Linda sings "Has He Got a Friend for Me" with just the right mournful tone and perfectly captures the mood of the song. The remastering on this edition is quite good. We get lyrics and a brief essay on their musical partnership during this time.

The bonus tracks are all terrific but they do spoil the mood of the album. The first one is the title track played live and it begins right after "The Great Valerio". I'm not sure who sequenced these tracks for remastering but they should have had at least 30 seconds between the last track and the beginning of the bonus material. "Together Again" also recorded live is a terrific performance but the keeper here is "The Calvary Cross" with a blistering performance by Thompson on guitar. All three tracks are previously unreleased.

If you purchased this album previously on CD (or vinyl) it's worth the upgrade for the bonus tracks."

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