Richard Thompson: Post-Linda Albums Poll

MISSING: Grizzly Man OST which would be my vote.

I only have Hand Of Kindness of this lot, so I hardly feel qualified to comment, but really, that's a great, great record.

I have them all and Hand of Kindness is still my fav. Rumor and Sigh would be second.

yeah, i don't think hand of kindness is a masterpiece but i prefer it to the rest of the list. the the last 2 i listened to were mirror blue and mock tudor and i think both are really dull. the ones that froom produced have some good songs on them but i hate his style of production. BRING BACK LINDA!

So are Daring Adventures and Mirror Blue worth picking up? Amazon has cheap copies. I always liked "Valerie" and "Beeswing."

I voted for Rumor and Sigh but I don't really love any of these as much as I want to; want to b/c of the records through Shoot Out The Lights and b/c of the way he plays the later songs live: I saw an acoustic show with him and Danny Thompson on double bass in the early 90s, and "I Feel So Good" rocked so hard I though Richard's fingers were going to fall off and his vocal cords were going to pop out. It was hair-raising-ly good but the studio albums don't reproduce it. The acoustic half of "you? me? us?" was ok enough, but I'd love a bootleg of one of those acoustic shows (Roger McGuinn opened, weird night).

Hand Of Kindness, easy. I didn't mind Across the Crowded Room for a couple weeks when it came out I guess, and I was surprised by how listenable Sweet Warrior was a couple years ago, but my impression has pretty much been that he turned into a real drag and bore after the mid '80s, and the third and fourth discs of his chronological new box set Walking On A Wire demonstrate pretty conclusively that my assumption was right. (First two discs are really great, though.)

I would vote for 1000 Years of Popular Music (2003) if it were on the list.

Has Thompson ever recorded a back-to-his-roots Nebraska-stylee acoustic record post-82 (other than the live Small Town Romance)? I get the impression from the little I've heard from these records that most of these songs are sabotaged by poor production.

Daring Adventures, for How Will I ever be Simple Again? and Al Bowlly's in Heaven.... but Beeswing is his best post- Linda song, and maybe one of his best ever.

The first half of The Old Kit Bag is pretty great, also no annoying production touches.

But the second half of "Old Kit Bag" has "Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen," which is a stunner (to my ears).

I'm a pretty big fan of Rumour and Sigh.

I would vote for 1000 Years of Popular Music (2003) if it were on the list.

OTM. Saw him at Gateshead doing a 1000 years show and had some really great moments, not least a version of Shenandoah which had my bottom lip quivering.

Love something on most of his albums, usually one or two killer tracks on each album but usually some although not clunkers, fall a bit short. For the 1-2-3 of I Misunderstood, I Feel So Good and 52 Black Lightning will probably go for 'Rumor and Sigh'.

HoK for me, hands down, though the four or five albums that came after it all feature some stellar songs. I kinda stopped paying attention after that, for some reason.

there's lots of wonderful stuff on Mirror Blue and You?Me?Us? - Mock Tudor is the one that I can't get behind at all.

I have at least one, maybe two bootlegs from '94-'99? send me an email, i can send it over!

that first French Frith Kaiser Thompson record has some of thompson's best port-linda stuff (the second one is kind of a bore tho).

Amnesia is SO much better than R&S: "Gypsy Love Songs," "Turning of the Tide," "Don't Tempt Me," "Waltzing's For Dreamers." Compared to its successors, the Mitchell Froomisms are non-existent.

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I voted for Rumour & Sigh on the strength of Vincent Black Lightning. However, I've since checked out Mock Tudor, and it's pretty damned good. It rocks, in a edgy 50 something kind of way.

I guess I'm the lone vote for Mock Tudor. I guess I'm also the lone fan of "Sibella," which is my favorite late Thompson track.

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