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The End of the Rainbow: An Introduction to Richard & Linda Thompson

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Poor Richard Thompson. Long revered by his peers and his devoted cult following as one the the most gifted singer/songwriter/guitar players ever, he couldn't get arrested if he marched naked in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. When Rolling Stone magazine picked Richard and Linda's Shoot Out the Lights (1982) as the No. 9 album of the Eighties it had by decade's end still sold fewer than 20,000 copies and never even charted in Billboard's Top 200 album chart.

If like millions of other Americans you've never heard of Richard and then-wife Linda Thompson, this is an excellent place to start. The 16 selections collected here are taken from his first four (and only) albums recorded for Island after he left the British folk/rock band Fairport Convention in 1971.

It's pointless to quibble over which tracks got left off this collection. All four of the Thompsons' studio albums (Henry the Human Fly, I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight, Hokey Pokey and Pour Down Silver) belong in any true fan's record library, but (alas) they are out of print and this Best of the Island Years does an adequate job of sampling those albums--including a stunning 13-minute live version of "Calvary Cross" from the odds and ends album Guitar, Vocal.

Thompson could write upbeat songs like "Hokey Pokey," but more often his songs would probe the dark underbelly of the human condition in songs like "The Poor Ditching Boy," "Down Where the Drunkards Roll" and "Dimming of the Day." These achingly beautiful songs are sung by Linda and/or Richard and feature some of the sharpest guitar playing this side of Eric Clapton.

While Richard and Linda's masterpiece may have been Shoot Out the Lights, any of the four Island Records that comprise this collection are worth seeking out. Short of their being individually rereleased, enjoy this generous 77-minute compilation. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This disk contains material from 4 studio albums that Richard and Linda Thompson made for Island Records in the 1970s, and a couple live tracks which have appeared on other collections. This disk is a must if for no other reason than the Island CDs are out of print and the other Richard Thompson anthology ("Watching the Dark") shortchanges the music from this era which I personally believe was his best. The mixes are extraordinarily clear and despite having listened to some of this music for 25 years, I heard things that I had never heard before.

The songs are amazing, reflecting Thompson's interests in rock and roll, being English, England's folk music tradition, and his conversion to Islam. Every track is strong. One of the reasons that I think that this was his strongest period was the presence of then-wife Linda Peters, a highly emotive singer, who provided a healthy counterpoint/balance/tension to Thompson's own voice and guitar. This was particularly important since Thompson tended to record without another guitarist or strong instrumental soloist, so Linda's presence filled out the sound. Her bigger vocal range also allowed him to write more vocally demanding melodies than his own voice could sustain.

I have one quibble with the track sequencing (which is easily enough remedied if one really cares). The live versions of "Night Comes In" and "Calvary Cross" are extraordinary, featuring Thompson on guitar, John Kirkpatrick on accordion, Dave Pegg on bass, and Dave Mattacks on drums. These guys express an understanding of dynamics (i.e. the music gets soft, then it gets loud again)that is unheard of in rock music . The only musical comparison I can make is with John Coltrane's classic 1960s quartet with Thompson in the Coltrane/soloist roll and Kirkpatrick creating the chordal structure a la McCoy Tyner. The two tracks were recorded the same night at the same show. They belong together. It couldn't be done on vinyl because of their length, but there is no reason not to sequence them together on disk.

Finally, the liner notes and documentation are good. Unlike many greatest hits packages (ok, Richard and Linda Thompson didn't have a lot of "hits") the musicians are actually documented. So, if you want to know played the bass on a particular track, you can look it up.

This is an essential CD. Get it. You won't be disappointed.

Richard Thompson is one of the greatest singer/songwriters, as well as guitarists, alive today, yet there are few reviews of any of his lps, either solo, or with the Fairport Convention. Thompson is well known among guitarists and followers of folk music, yet, when I pulled out the old Rolling Stone that showed the greatest lps of the 1980's, in which the amazing "Shoot Out the Lights" was #9, my friends who read it all said the same thing- WHO??? Such is the luck of our hero.

This collection of his amazing Island Records output (almost all of which, sadly, has been long out of print) is a God send for fans of his that don't have these gems, or for novices who have heard the name and want to dabble in his work.

The focus of the lp is mainly his lps with then-wife Linda- "I Want See the Bright Lights Tonight," "Hokey Pokey," and the religiously tinted "Pour Down Like Silver," with a track from Richard's 1st solo effort- "Henry the Human Fly" (still reputedly the worst selling lp Island ever released). The interplay between Richard's wonderful guitars with either his melancholic vocals ("The End of the Rainbow" is a great example) or Linda's ("The Great Valerio" a prime example) made for some downright dreary works that brimmed with raw emotion.

Despite the mysterious lack of material from "Shoot Out the Lights," their last lp before their divorce, more from Richard's "Guitar/Vocal" lp, ("Calvary Cross" does grace this lp) or from their "First Light" lp ("Restless Highway" or "Died for Love" would have made great additions to this lp), this Island anthology does a great job introducing the world (many for the 1st time) to the amazing artistry of Richard Thompson. Hopefully this 1st stop will not be your last.

For thirty years I have been a closet Richard and Linda fan. While fashions have ebbed and flowed (in folk, as well as everywhere else) I have stuck to my belief that the series of Island albums sampled here constitute one of the absolute pinnacles of recorded folk music. I could not count the number of times I have listened to these songs.

Lots of people have taken the view that "Shoot Out the Lights" was the best Richard and Linda album. Others lean more towards "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight", or even "Henry the Human Fly". "Sunnyvista" has had its champions as well, though not all that many. Personally, for me it was always "Pour Down Like Silver" - which is very well represented on this compilation.

Nearly three decades later, I haven't changed my mind. I still get a chill down my spine when the sombre and majestic swing of "Night Comes In" kicks in, or when I hear the plaintive melancholia of "Dimming of the Day".

If you think folk music should be endless rollicking jigs and reels, or hokey stories about ghosts, goblins and alienated ne'er do wells carving up morally stunted aristocrats, then perhaps this music is not for you. For much of it is slow, lots of it is melancholy and confessional, and the lyrics definitely have a tendency to take you into reflective states.

Not all of it - "For Shame of Doing Wrong", "When I Get to the Border" and "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" swing with the best of them - but the basic overall message you will take away from this set of songs is that life is not always a bowl of cherries. Do not play it at parties. If you do, it will be last CD that is played that night, believe me. But not every record is, or should be, a party record.

What is contained here is a set of superb singer-songwriter folk songs delivered with genuine emotion and soul, underpinned with a love of real life, and created with a profound recognition of the spiritual need for human beings to draw on each other for support and comfort.

These songs will stay with you for a lifetime. At their peak, Richard and Linda were the quintessential husband and wife team (with all the tensions and compromises that entails), with perfectly complimentary skills. It does not hurt that there are a killer set of musicians in the background doing their thing as well.

It all went a bit pear-shaped later on, but this is the real stuff. Whether it be the extraordinary live version of "Calvary Cross", or the gut-wrenching existential crisis of "The End of the Rainbow", it is doubtful that you will listen to this CD without being affected.

This is the best collection assembled so far, of the best period, of some of the best artists of the medium. Richard and Linda have gone on to to other great things - but this set of songs is very likely what they will be most remembered for. If you haven't caught up with this period yet, this CD is the perfect way to do so.

So many have said Richard Thompson could have been Eric Clapton had commercial success not eluded him. That's doing Thompson a major disservice. Clapton's not even a fraction of the songwriter Thompson is,and ol'Slowhand plays blues, whereas Thompson is astonishingly much more versitle. I have no idea why Richard and ex-wife Linda Thompson weren't huge and I won't venture to guess. I will say that Thompson is one of the greatest songwriters in popular rock ever. This disc is proof, although I would recommend the individual albums over this compilation (those being : I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT, POUR DOWN LIKE SILVER and SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS).

Key to the fertile period this package chronicles is ofcourse, Linda Thompson, who is perhaps my favorite female vocalist of all time. She has more edge, honesty ,passion and pathos than any singer I've heard in rock since Joplin (but don't think I'm making any comparisions other than on an emotive level).

One thing that makes this compilation worthwile is the live version of CALVARY CROSS, Thompson's surreal and epic ode to his dark muse with stellar guitar playing and lines like "I'll hurt you till you need me".

Overall there is a black, twisted sense of irony to these songs, which is what makes Thompson so great. He is not afraid to be bitter or pessimisstic. One can see his influence on the young Elvis Costello with barbed lines like "I feel for you you little horror" (from the unrepentant END OF THE RAINBOW).

Stand out tracks featuring Linda's talents can be found in the woeful resignation of DIMMING OF THE DAY, not to mention in the country-styled suicide note, WITHERED & DIED. She also manages to put a real sense of desperation into the seemingly jaunty ditty, I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT. The couple's perverse sense of humor is never more evident than on DOWN WHERE THE DRUNKARDS ROLL.

NIGHT COMES IN showcases Richard's guitar skills and BEAT THE RETREAT shows his power and restraint as a vocaist.

Though no tracks from their so called "divorce" album, SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS are included this is still a wonderful introduction to their work. Still, I would recommend you pick up BRIGHT LIGHTS, SILVER, & SHOOT to get the full story...END

...and little more, in truth. (And I'm a big fan!) It's worth noting that, in the UK, Universal released this collection under the title The End of the Rainbow: An Introduction to Richard & Linda Thompson, because let's face it; an introduction is just what this is.

RT's solo '72 debut, Henry the Human Fly, is woefully underrepresented here; just "Roll Over Vaughan Williams" and "The Poor Ditching Boy," although these are certainly among his best songs. (For my part, I'd have added "Nobody's Wedding" and "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away.") And although all four of the studio albums represented within are now available on CD, it's very telling that HTHF was not remastered by Island. Instead, the independent (and quite excellent) British label Fledg'ling has done the remaster, without bonus tracks I might add. RT has nothing good to say about the Island remasters; given that it's really Universal (Island being a mere shadow of its former self these days) doing the job, I can't entirely blame him.

As others have mentioned, fully 60% of I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is represented here; Bright Lights was R<'s masterpiece, however, so it's not unwarranted. The missing tracks are "We Sing Hallelujah," "Has He Got a Friend for Me," "The Little Beggar Girl" and "Calvary Cross" (instead represented by a live version from the out-of-print anthology [guitar, vocal]). Hokey Pokey is also given short shrift, and while it was probably the slightest of the couple's three Island albums, it still isn't bad--I would have welcomed the inclusions of "Smiffy's Glass Eye" and "Old Man Inside a Young Man" or even "I'll Regret it All in the Morning." And of course, Pour Down Like Silver, Richard & Linda's last effort before retreating to their Sufi Muslim commune for three years, is represented by half its tracks, although the choices are ones you can't argue against too strenuously; I still might have added "Streets of Paradise" or "Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair" to the tracks included here. Lastly, "Dimming of the Day" has had its instrumental second half, "Dargai," lopped off completely.

All that said, this is a good place to start for those wishing to dig into RT's solo (i.e. post-Fairport) works. It's not terribly necessary, however, for the more serious fan who will seek out the individual albums, and the die-hards will also want to seek out remaindered copies of First Light and Sunnyvista (the couple's two albums for Chrysalis that no one has yet seen fit to bring back--hey, Fledg'ling, are you listening?) and Shoot Out the Lights. SOTL is the chronicle of the couple's breakup and Richard's move into completely solo work. But you should definitely start here.

Some say Thompson's too fatalistic. You'd be fatalistic too, if you'd made some of the most brilliant music of the half-century and nobody was listening to it. Can you imagine what it must be like for this guy, to have written things like "Beat the Retreat" and "Calvary Cross" and not be recognized? His only time in the spotlight came during the early '80s when he was big with all the critics. Even they have moved on, however: these days his albums (which continue to be amazing) get positive but passionless reviews. And, as usual, no sales.

Many of his greatest albums have fallen out of print. Just makes me shake my head in pity -- sort of like watching Dubrovnik get bombed (early '90s reference there). Until those classics return to print, this best-of compilation is a pretty fine alternative. You'll find a peerlessly evolved musical sensibility, yoked to a talent that can support it. As writer and guitarist, Thompson is both ferocious and exquisite.

Since all these tracks are pre-divorce, they include wife Linda, whose singing didn't so much sweeten Thompson's work as deepen it. Since she's been gone, a certain dimension has been missing from his music.

I know how Amazon reviewers always pick their personal favorites and just gush, gush, gush. But *trust* me on this one.

With its clean remastered sound, a length of 79 minutes, and thoughtful track selection, this is an excellent collection from the Thompsons' work in the years 1973 - 75. It includes several of Richard Thompson's most notable melancholy songs, but there are also some more lively and slightly more cheerful songs which illustrate well his innovative synthesis of rock 'n' roll with traditional English folk instruments.

The collection opens with two songs from Richard's first solo album after leaving Fairport Convention, before moving to the first three albums he recorded with his wife Linda. More than half the classic album 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' is included, although the next two albums 'Hokey pokey' and 'Pour down like silver' are more sparsely represented than I would have liked. Two tracks are included from the 1976 collection 'guitar, vocal' - one a beautiful alternate version of 'A heart needs a home' but the other a sprawling 13 minute live version of 'Calvary cross'. This may have been good as a live performance, but it doesn't hold the CD listener's attention very well when it basically just consists of three repeated chords. I would far sooner have had 3 or 4 other album tracks of conventional length instead, and the opportunity of providing an even more comprehensive compilation has therefore been lost. However, it is so good to have this music available again that I cannot do other than give the album a 5 star rating and thoroughly recommend it as an introduction to one of folk-rock's most significant figures.

What a shame it is that (as of this writing) the first three Richard and Linda albums are virtually impossible to find. In an age when their even-more-obscure friend Nick Drake has managed to secure a sizable cult following (long after his death), Richard and Linda's first three albums have failed to re-emerge to take their rightful place in music history. The Thompsons' final album, "Shoot Out the Lights," is generally regarded as their best, probably because it fits in nicely with the way Richard and Linda have been mythologized--as a dysfunctional couple whose best music was the result of marital tensions. That's not the way I see it at all.

On the albums "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," "Hokey Pokey," and "Pour Down Like Silver," Richard and Linda worked beautifully together. Linda's wonderful singing style, which had as much to do with inflections as with the sound of her voice, inspired Richard to write the best songs of his career--songs that were so perfectly matched to Linda's personality that it sounded as if she had written them herself. (And I would not be surprised if she had considerable creative input during this time, though she never received any songwriting credits as far as I know.)

Because the quality of these three albums was so high, any "best of" compilation could not help but be filled with great music, and this one certainly is. However, it is not an accurate representation of the music that Richard and Linda made during this time. It's the Thompson myth that rears its head once again, resulting in a collection that is tilted way too far in the direction of doom and gloom. And it doesn't help that the first two songs, taken from a Richard solo album, don't fit in at all because they were recorded before he learned how to sing.

When I listened to this CD (I purchased it for a college radio station I was involved with a couple years ago) I thought how great it could've been had it been livened up with songs like "We Sing Hallelujah," "The Little Beggar Girl," "Georgie on a Spree," "Mole in a Hole," or "Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair." While there may not have been room to add all of these, the compilers could have bumped some of the more downbeat songs like "Withered and Died," "The Great Valerio," or "Never Again." And the absence of the original version of "Calvary Cross," perhaps their best song, in favor of a 13-minute marathon version, is downright unforgivable.

If you really need to hear Richard and Linda's early work and you are simply unable to get ahold of the original albums for a reasonable price, then this disc may be worth your while. But what we really need are re-releases of the first three albums with enough publicity to generate some critical buzz and get this music back into the public eye, where it belongs. And as fans, let's acknowledge the fact that the Thompsons were not all doom and gloom, and that their vision also included small but significant amounts of humor, fun, and the unstated joy of two people making great music together.

This is a well-chosen collection that is a pretty good introduction to Richard and Linda Thompson's work together and a fine starting point for anyone eager to explore Richard Thompson. However, neophytes should be aware that the new release does not include any tracks from the brilliant "Shoot Out the Lights", which most fans regard as their greatest achievement. If you are indeed a neophyte, you might consider grabbing the new collection plus Shoot Out the Lights, and you would then have a magnificent and reasonably comprehensive overview. By the way, if you haven't heard it, the guitar solo on "Calvary Cross" on this new collection is stupendous and alone worth the price of admission.