Customer Reviews

Henry the Human Fly (Reis)

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Despite the fact that this recording has the indelible reputation of being the worst selling album in the Warner Brothers catalog, it stands up with any of its classic contemporary recordings, and here's why. Thompson had just departed the greatest folk rock band of all time, Fairport Convention, just one year after Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings. The band just could not contain his enormous talented knack for writing original material based on traditional Scottish themes. Take Liege and Lief's Crazy Man Michael (1969), for instance. There's a story that continues all the way to Rumor and Sigh's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (1991). Henry kicks off like gangbusters with Roll Over Vaughn Williams and one never knows if it nods to Williams or Chuck Berry or both! The listener is bombared with electric notes at a mile a minute--I wouldn't doubt he used every note on that strat of his. Shakey Nancy brings up some of the best Celtic music in the genre, and features Sandy Denny playing some pretty piano. The Angels Took My Racehorse Away is a hilarious take on the death of a thoroughbred with an unlikely pairing of country rock-a-billy guitar licks with John Kirkpatric's accordian working a cajun twist. Backing vocals ably supplied by Sandy and Linda, this is one of the album's standout tracks. The Old Changing Way is a timely piece about sharing in time of need, while The Poor Ditching Boy is a lament on an untrue lover. Vocals are twisted with rage and sadness in his ballads and deadpanned in the lighter tracks such as Twisted. Humor abounds here with Cold Feet and Nobody's Wedding with the traditional Maire's Wedding jig tagged on. Shady characters such as Alice the Butcher and the wild boy chopping up the floor add all the intrigue of a Hitchcock mystery. A woman's shape is likened to the topography of a country side village in Wheely Down. Although this is Richard's first album proper, he handles this song cycle like a seasoned pro. Here is an album that, to the uninitiated, is strange at first hearing, but the returning listener is rewarded with a beautiful odessey. (Richard is a veteran of over 40 albums from 1968 to present under his own name, Fairport and two under French, Frith, Kaiser & Thompson. He has contributed on probably hundreds of albums in addition. One of the most under-appreciated guitar players, he has been compared to everyone from Eric Clapton to Django Reinhardt. He comes highly recommended by the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Elvis Costello.)

Richard Thompson's first solo album has a lot to recommend it. Not only was it the worst selling album in Warner Bros. history, it was pretty much panned across the board. To top it all off, it's nearly out of print at the moment. I'm sure the Halloween get up on the cover didn't help either. All the more reason to seek this out. No self respecting Richard Thompson fan is complete without it.

It's no surpise that he doesn't quite shake off his Fairport trappings. Most of the band can be found in the credits. Yet, Thompson still manages to find his own voice while keeping Fairport's Medievil contrivences at bay. Mordant, playful and arcanely witty, HENRY is a perfect introduction to "rock's best kept secret". Here, Thompson's able to flesh out what was hinted at in his last outing with Fairport. "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" was certainly a highlight off of FULL HOUSE and it would have been right at home on HENRY.

While "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" does nothing for Thompson's Doom & Gloom reputation, it's a memorable start. Imagine the reel & jig of Fairport's signature sound cut with early, more acoustic Black Sabbath. If Thompson was concerned with mainstream success, why kick off your first album with a refrain like "live in fear! live in fear!"

"Nobody's Wedding" might come off as a little too cute for it's own good but haunting lines like "why is the wild boy chopping up the floor" come to the rescue. "The Poor Ditching Boy" ranks as one of Thompson's most underrated ballads. Thompson's skill really comes to fore on this one, preceeding later gems like "Beeswing" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" by 20 years.

"The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" may have escaped WATCHING THE DARK's retrospective notice but is nevertheless a Thompson classic. Still a staple in his live shows, his solo here will drop your jaw while his words rip out what's left of your heartstings. A near impossible feat in this day & age. Another neglected standout is "Wheely Down". With lyrics that sound swiped from some prophetic Book of Doom, he hints at a personal, almost inconsolable loss. "Mary & Joseph"'s demetented Salvation Army stylings give Tom Waits a run for his money long before SWORDFISH TROMBONES. By the album's end, you're left "sitting in a bar, face down in a jar". The last line you hear is, "something tells me, I'm twisted".

Not only does Thompson surpass his work with Fairport Convention here, he manages to establish a unique voice for himself. A voice precociously ahead of it's time. From his more recent collaborations with Mitchell Froom on down to classics like BRIGHT & SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS, Thompson travels in a world that is part Dickens, part Poe, and a little Monty Python. And yet, for all of HENRY's tinkers, whores and doomsaying, he still manages to be far more topical than the thousand or so Glam Rock bands of the time. A buried treasure.

In 1972, I found a promo copy of this album on Reprise. I knew him from Fairport Convention, and even though I was only luke-warm on many of his albums with his then-wife Linda, this album has stayed in my collection and I consider it one of the most perfect albums of the 1970's.

Everything just jells; cleverly written, rather strange songs, amazingly crisp, simple arrangements, and oh, that guitar work.

My favorite track is probably "Painted Ladies", which contains a wonderfully gloomy piano accompaniment by none other than the late Sandy Denny!

I have continually owned this album since 1972 and this Fledgling reissue is top notch. The sound is perfect and the packaging is terrific....and unlike the previous CD issue (on Hannibal), this one reinstates the wonderful liner notes about Gabriel and God....one of the most clever short-story notes ever found on the back of a record album!

Run out and snap up a copy for yourself.

I would wager that this is an album with which even most diehard Richard Thompson fans have little familiarity. It has always been an obscurity, scarce as the proverbial hen's tooth. I feel blessed to have found a copy, over thirty years after I (darn it all!) bypassed the vinyl version in the record store.

This album was the blueprint for all of Thompson's subsequent 1970's albums ("Bright Lights", "Hokey Pokey", "Pour Down Like Silver", "First Light" and "Sunnyvista")and it is of the same high quality, boasting a clutch of his finest songs. It opens with the great 'crow in a graveyard' jeer of "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" . The guitar work on this song probably put cramps in the fingers of many who tried to emulate it. The lyrics can be heard as an announcement of Richard's intentions: "Don't expect the words to ring too sweetly on the ear.." he warns.

Most of Richard's tunes take the point of view of the commoner--the person at the bottom of the heap, who is fresh out of luck. The combination of gallows humor and pristine musical beauty endears Richard to his fans and bewilders those outside his cult. If you like this album, you'll like all of Richard's work. If you don't get it, you never will.

My favorite tunes from "Henry" are "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" (a lighthearted romp compared to the rest).. "Shaky Nancy" which seems to echo an old Byrds tune ("If You're Gone", maybe?), "Painted Ladies", "The Old Changing Way" (absolutely a classic), and "Twisted". This is a good album for any aspiring songwriter to study intensely.

It grows on me with every listen.

Richard Thompson has, in the last decade or so, finally received his due as one of the finest songwriters/guitarists to emerge out of the UK folk-rock school of the early 70s -- although I'd wager a wad that many of his present-day listeners are sadly unaware of this stunning early work. A founding member of the legendary Fariport Convention, he also lent his amazing guitar to sessions by many other artists (notably the late Nick Drake), always showing up ready to contribute some masterful, tasteful playing. He also released a series of (mostly) good solo recordings, as well as some with his then-wife Linda. This, his first outing under his own name, is quite simply stunning in both musicianship (besides Richard, the album features a veritable who's who of the 70s British folk scene) and songwriting -- and it has stood well the test of time. Put it on and turn it up.

Richard's spine-tingling guitar opening to 'Roll over Vaughn Williams' lets the listener know that something special awaits. His sense of humor -- dark and thoughtful, yet playful -- is at work on many of these tunes. His fans have come to know and appreciate it well -- thankfully he has retained it through the years. The second track, 'Nobody's wedding', is a prime example of that humor -- it contains cloaked references to several musicians of the day who were known for -- shall we say unbridled celbrations? The line '...why is the Wild Boy chopping up the floor', for example, is reportedly about Keith Moon.

The third track, 'The poor ditching boy', is a heartwrenching look at what lost love can do to one's heart and soul: 'With her scheming, idle ways, she left me poor enough. The storming wind cut through to my skin, but she cut through to my blood'. The album continues with 'Shaky Nancy', a portrait of a seemingly broken woman who no one really knows well, but who is possessed of a mysterious, unnameable strength: 'She'll send you a message and turn to stone -- she's a hard girl, Nancy'.

Then it's back to Richard's humorous side, with 'The angels took my racehorse away', in which he tells the sad story of a beloved racehorse who was poisoned ('I believe it was that bookmaker from Crial -- I believe that he put one in her pail...'), but still manages to tell it with a bit of a smirk.

One of the album's showpieces is 'Wheely Down' -- Richard's image-building talents are in full play here. He begins likening a woman's body to a landscape: 'She womanly lay like the lay of the land, the land around Wheely Down -- and every curve was a high high hill to hang above the town', then turns his attention to the land itself, those who dwell upon it, and those who prey upon them, ending with a haunting image: 'All things must change within the earth -- the moving and the lame. For the worms will rot the miller's wheel, and the rats will eat the grain, and the armies of deliverance are run into the ground, and the kestrel turns in the empty skies, on high over Wheely Down'. The modal drone of the arrangement is perfectly written and executed, a brilliant accompaniment to these lyrics -- it's a great example of sound painting.

The remaining tracks are all equally fine. 'The new St. George' is a stirring call for the people to rise up and throw off the lies that have shackled and enslaved them and poisoned the earth. 'Painted ladies' is a lovingly rendered tribute to 'women of the evening' and the comforts they offer. 'Cold feet' offers a humorous look at courtship. 'Mary and Joseph' gives us a 'sligtly' different look at Jesus' parents -- 'Mary is in stitches, tied down on the bed, while Joseph plays a ukelele standing on his head'. 'The old changing way' is a tribute to the vanishing Tinkers and their way of life, lovingly admonishing: 'You must share with your nearest till the end of your days...' The album ends with yet another humorous tune, an appropriately-delivered ode to over-indulgence of libations: 'I'm sitting at the bar with my face in the jar, and something tells me I'm twisted'.

Everything works here. The wry humor and irony make us smile -- the sadder songs could wring tears from a compassionate conservative (well, maybe that's a stretch...) -- and the playing is simply amazing. No one else sounds like Richard Thompson on guitar -- and his voice is unique as well. Many, many people have discovered Richard Thompson's talent over the last 10-15 years -- those who haven't heard this album are in for a pleasant surprise: he's always been this good!

Richard Thompson's initial solo outing singled his emergence as a major voice in folk rock music. As his career blossomed, so would the confidence of his voice. However, his unique writing skills were clear from the outset. Tangental, oblique, call it what you will his tack on the emotional world,and the capacity to nail a feeling to a powerful image is all here.At this point of his journey his folk background is more evident. You could picture his themes quite easily as ballads from an earlier epoch. But the concision that has marked his writing ever since is breathtaking.

In 1969 England I was a teen student and took the great music of the 60"s pretty much for granted,it was all good stuff and the pure energy and musical genius of the time was everywhere.Fortunately I was turned on to the folk-rock movement easily as the only radio station i.e.B.B.C.1 was very open to all genres and the sounds of Fairport Convention were regularly on the airwaves for a balanced view of the music scene as opposed to the tunnel vision of many U.S. stations.You can imagine my joy when Fairport"s guitarist went solo and soon released an album using his band nickname as the title.My early favourites from this gem were Painted Ladies and Roll Over Vaughan Williams but as the years went by and I travelled the world I converted the vinyl to the new cassette technology and 30yrs later that tape has survived and my American wife has been delighted by the songs like The Angels Took My Racehorse Away and Nobody"s Wedding but I love the mournful laments like The Poor Ditching Boy and The Old Changing Way ,especially driving long distance along the beautiful highways of America .I"m so glad I kept that tape close to me all these years and finally the genius of Richard Thompson is being widely recognised.and so its together we"ll roam the old changing way

I'm writing this review partially from memory. This was a favorite early 70's album, but in recent years I've only heard about half the tracks. This was RT's first statement after leaving Fairport Convention, where he pioneered revolutionary fusion of traditional ballads and rock. This album was an admirable step forward, reaching heigths that he only occasionally touched during the Richard & Linda years and only truly exceeded with Rumor and Sigh almost 2 decades later. There are some throwaways here, but the best songs are rich with humor, invention, and emotion. I haven't heard "The Old Changing Way" in 15 years, but it still moves me to tears. If any CD ever tempts me to spend $25 for an import, it would be this one.

I'll keep it simple. Get all the Richard Thompson you can get your hands on. I know you will want to thank me later, but that won't be necessary. I saw him in concert playing solo. Having a band with him would have been superfluous. I put him up there with Stevie Ray and Jimi for guitar-playing and Dylan for lyrics. He has wit that can make you laugh one moment and an emotional wallop that pierces your heart the next. Richard has never played a false note or sung a contrived lyric. One caveat; he is not for the simple-minded or those who are into faddish music. This is time-less, near-perfect music that makes you think and feel. Thank God for Richard Thompson.

Supposedly Island Records' worst-ever seller when it was released in 1972, I think "Henry" remains R.T.'s best work. It is certainly one of my all-time top ten albums, period, and I am overjoyed that it is again in print. Sure, the album's stylistic quirks and sometimes somber tone may have put off a lot of fans at first, but later these same elements (with the edges smoothed down a bit) developed into part of Thompson's signature style. For example, "Wheely Down" is downright apocalyptic, though in a 17th century/Slade the Leveller sort of way. My favorite track, the striking "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" -- believe it or not -- conveys a sense of dread about life in the '70s that foreshadows the Sex Pistols and "No Future" four years later. It's not all doom and gloom, however: "The Angels Have Taken My Race Horse Away" is an upbeat, exhilarating number about, umm, a dead horse. It also features an immaculately fractured solo that I think is an example of Thompson's best guitar playing, and backing vocals by the future Linda Thompson! If you give this album a chance, it will get stuck in you and will become part of your life's soundtrack. I promise.