Hand of Kindness

Richard Thompson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hannibal
• ASIN: B000000615
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,460 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #43 in Music > Indie Music > Folk > Folk Rock
  • #67 in Music > Indie Music > Folk > Singer Songwriters

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 11-DEC-1998

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great one, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hand of Kindness (Audio CD)

Everything Richard Thompson touched from '82-85 turned to gold (except on the charts, unfortunately), as this superb album demonstrates. As many have pointed out, it's a logical continuation of the classic Richard & Linda "farewell" album "Shoot Out The Lights."

Any album that opens with the forget-the-pain-let's-rock "Tear Stained Letter" (capped by long, stinging solo by RT) has to be good. And indeed track after brilliant track follows. "How I Wanted To" is a lump-in-the-throat song of regret with a crystalline guitar solo that says as much as the lyrics. "Both Ends Burning" (not included on the Amazon track list) lightens the mood with a rollicking tale about horse racing. The stomping "A Poisoned Heart and Twisted Memory" is the opposite side of "How I Wanted To"--a bitter "good riddance" song perfect to wash away those moments of self-pity after a breakup. "The Wrong Heartbeat" is a wry pop song that should have been a hit (and is a holdover from the Linda era). "Hand of Kindness" is a long, tense track with more sterling guitar. "Devonside" is a beautiful, haunting folk-style ballad. The album concludes with "Two Left Feet," a lighthearted polka that unfortunately Richard played to death in concert over the years...but it sounded pretty fresh when the album was new.

The quality of "Hand of Kindness" became more evident as Richard's albums became choppy and inconsistent after this one. Make no mistake, this is a great one and should be a cornerstone of any Thompson collection.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Post Linda, October 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Lorea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hand of Kindness (Audio CD)

With Joe Boyd producing, and the same personnel, this sonically picks up where the masterpiece Shoot Out the Lights leaves off. Of course Linda's voice is gone but it is not a loss as the album is so forthwright that Richard can anchor the disc. Unlike later Thompson efforts, the song quality is consistent. The spare production and instrumentation puts craft in the fore front, not buried under Mitchel Froom's keyboards. Many point to Rumour and Sigh as his best solo effort, but among some gems a quarter of those songs are busts. This is a tight, singular piece of work, a great flipside to 'Lights.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A man in need, post-Linda, May 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hand of Kindness (Audio CD)

Richard Thompson's first post-Linda release, on which the sardonic songwriter and guitar virtuoso seems to be adjusting nicely to life as a single man. (Historical note: he's remarried since then.) A wrenching ballad like "How I Wanted To" might reasonably be read as an expression of conjugal remorse. Otherwise, though, the guy's in rollicking form, banging out Sherwood-Forest-style reggae on "The Wrong Heartbeat" and an irresistible polka on "Two Left Feet." Thompson has never written a lovelier piece than "Devonside," which sounds like it's been aging in the barrel for the last three hundred years. And the title cut features not only a fine electric guitar blowout but some stealth background vocals from the likes of John Hiatt and Bobby King.