Search - Richard Thompson & Linda :: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

Top 50, of all time

M. S. Thomas | Kyoto, Japan | 03/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How could a man so young be so bitter? And how could it all sound so great, even so life-affirming? Not a misstep on the record, every song here is written and exists; these are not just words set to music, they have the quality of folksongs transmitted orally over generations. Some of the really world weary, misanthropic songs that would pervade 1975's Pour Down Like Silver, but there is a little bit more af a joyous atmosphere working here, despite songs like "The End of the Rainbow": "Life seems so rosy from the cradle/ but I'll be a friend, I'll tell you what's in store/ there's nothing at the end of the rainbow/ there's nothing to grow up for anymore."



A true folksinger, Thompson is so at home in the genre that he is not even working within the genre, but has become it in a way... Linda Thompson has, in my opinon, one of the most affecting, if not strictly beautiful, voices I have ever heard. Listen to her on "Has He Got a Friend" where she begs for a date: "If you know someone who's graceful and wise/ doesn't mind girls who are clumsy and shy/ I don't mind going with someone who I've never seen." Or on "Down Where the Drunkards Roll": "You could be a gambler who never drew a hand/ you could be Lord Jesus, all the world would understand/ down where the drunkards roll." Her voice floors me, leaves me shaken with goosebumps."