Customer Reviews

Sweet Warrior

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't believe that it's been about twenty-five years since Richard Thompson set off on his solo career. I know, some may gripe with that date, (rightly) pointing out his 1972 album "Henry the Human Fly," but he subsequently teamed with then-wife Linda for a series of stunning albums that will remain masterpieces of their genre. I am referring to the part of his career that followed all that hubbub. Either way, I have bought every official album and every `semi-official' website release with his name on it. If you count everything since "Henry," that's about forty albums of material I own, so I feel very qualified when I say that "Sweet Warrior" is Richard Thompson's best collection of songs in quite some time.
The most rewarding aspect of being a fan is when an artist is talented enough to be consistently challenging, yet kind enough to maintain a predictable level of consistency. I have never bought a Richard Thompson record that left me unmoved, but the above characteristics occasionally thwarted one another. Recent works, like "Front Parlor Ballads" and the "Grizzly Man" soundtrack, were interesting, challenging works, but the very nature of these projects rendered them less consistent than I would have hoped. "Sweet Warrior" marks a return to fully realized compositions, with full band accompaniment and what is by now a predictably stunning degree of songwriting prowess. Every song here rewards multiple listens, but a few grow to gargantuan proportions. "I'll Never Give It Up" rocks with a wrath that matches the lyrical intensity, while "Take Care the Road You Choose" may be the most gentle and poignant tale of regret I have ever heard. "Mr. Stupid" is a rocker that captures the sting of divorce by wrapping it in bitter irony, while the upbeat rhythm of "Bad Monkey" (which resembles "Tear Stained Letter") somehow manages to takes a playful look at emotional abuse. The centerpiece, though, is "Dad's Gonna Kill Me," (It took me a while to figure it out - I'm a bit dense - but `Dad' is shorthand for Baghdad), told from the perspective of a soldier who has grown fully aware of his awful predicament. A revealing comment arrives in the song's bridge, when the soldier observes, "At least we're winning on the Fox Evening News."
By now, it's a cliché to discuss the brilliance of Thompson's guitar playing, but he's firing on all cylinders throughout "Sweet Warrior." The band is also top-notch, especially the entrancing accompaniment of Thompson's longtime acoustic bassist Danny Thompson (no relation). It would be rude to call "Sweet Warrior" a return to form, but this collection boasts a thoroughly satisfying combination of intriguing lyrics, fully realized songs, astounding instrumentation, and heartfelt vocalizing. Once it grabs hold, it never lets go. Whether you judge from the earliest phase of his career or from his twenty-five year run of solo releases, "Sweet Warrior" rates with the very best work of Thompson's long and varied career. A Tom Ryan

Boy, I feel like a naysaying nitpicker to rate this album a measly 4 stars, but such are the standards to which Richard Thompson has accustomed me. It's a really good album, just not transcendent like BRIGHT/POUR/SHOOT/KIT. The songs are as polished as we have a right to expect from such a consumate tunesmith, though only a few truly knock me on the head ("Dad", "Johnny", "Guns", "Take Care").

But superlative craft is a given with this guy. For me he truly shines when he's goaded by deeply felt issues: 9/11, mortality, a failing/failed marriage, Margaret Thatcher. When he turns his acerbic scrutiny on fashionistas and suburban living he just sounds like a clever crank.

People like Robert Christgau will quibble about the songs but assert that with RT "guitar's never a problem". That's not entirely true (again with the high expectations). Even a player as original as Thompson can get into a rut, his idiosyncratic riffs sounding like personal cliches. So even worthy collections like AMNESIA and MOCK TUDOR failed to get me off guitarwise. They offered no surprises from a man I cherish for his talent to surprise me, like the first time I saw him live in '85.

SWEET WARRIOR is another story entirely. The guitar playing throughout sends shivers down my spine. Thompson's fretwork is so energized here, so playful and fresh, even if it never hits the nail-your-scalp-to-the-wall wail of SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS. "Bad Monkey" almost sounds like a kids song (where is that kids album anyway?) but the guitar breaks are nuts! I bet it will be this tour's encore rave-up, finally replacing "Tear Stained Letter". And virtually every track is like that. From a guy who's nearly 60. It really sounds like he's bringing an entire life's worth of wit and chops to bear. Total fireworks. God bless him.

On another note, Thompson's singing has come a remarkably long way since HENRY (a much abused album studded with treasures). I think it peaked on KIT BAG. But now that he's got some breath control he's holding notes in these long, deep sighs. Sorry, I liked it better when he bit off his lines like hunks of meat, a la ACROSS A CROWDED ROOM.

Of course, this is like complaining about the height of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Thompson's a treasure, and SWEET WARRIOR is another worthy effort. As he's written, "There's some who dare, and some that shine, and some who only drag behind". Richard Thompson often dares and always shines.

This is the strongest Thompson album in years and time might prove it to be one of the best albums in his already extensive and high quality catalog.

Richard Thompson and his studio collaborators (inclduing the underheralded Michael Jerome on drums, Nickel Back's Sara Watkins and the marvellous Danny Thompson on double-bass) deliver a set of marvellous performances here. These tracks have a real spark to them - they sound like a bunch of great players playing live rather than a bunch of recordings laid down in a studio. All the fireworks here come from the players and their instruments - this album is not big on studio trickery being used to beef up the sound.

And in this considerable company Thompson still shines with his guitar playing. In terms of his own playing and of delivering convincing performances Thompson is at the top of his game here. He remains a technically elite player, but as always the technique is not there for it's own sake but is used to get the message across. His solos here are sometimes biting and half-a-step away from being totally crazed ("Bad Monkey" , "I'll Never Give It Up") and at other times unbelievably tender without being cloying (EG "Take Care The Road You Choose").

The album deals broadly with war in various realms of life. Two of the standout tracks address modern warfare from different points of view.

"Dad's Gonna Kill Me" is in the first person with the narrator describing, in GI slang-laced language, the confusion and terror he experiences in Iraq. "Guns Are The Tongues" is set in Ireland but the tale is more universal: A femme fatale seduces an inexperienced and awkward young man into doing her lethal dirty work. The latter track is a show-stopper as Thompson and Co slowly up the tension and then explode (pardon the pun) into the song's mighty chorus. This is a considerable performance and one of the finest things Thompson has laid down in the studio.

Oh... and at the age of 58 and after 40 years as a professional musician Thompson still rocks mightily and with utter conviction.

He is one of the greatest songwrters and guitarists. He is a legend.
He adds that, although, the album wasn't assembled thematically, on reflection it seems to keep returning to the subject of "combat, in love as well as in war." The songs and guitars on "Sweet Warrior" are equally electrifying - including the acoustic ones - but it is a particular treat in the electric guitar department. "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" may prove the first great, enduring song about the current war in Iraq.
Richard says that his new CD is "a kind of a war record, not just political war but also domestic war or relationship war. There's a sweetness to it as well".
Unlike last year's Front Parlour Ballads, this is for the most part an electric Thompson offering, the first such since 2003's The Old Kit Bag, and first impression is very much that the man hasn't lost his touch one iota, the quality of songwriting is uniformly high throughout, consistent to a fault you could say, and the whole affair is unmistakably "RT".
That doesn't mean it's predictable, just predictably brilliant. But then, we'll feel like... biased.Richard's signature electric guitar work had always been rated very highly indeed, and he's unique among exponents of that instrument in still being able to reduce the listeners to tears (of whatever kind) with the sheer expressiveness of his playing.
On "Sweet Warrior", Richard get the chance to open up and stretch out on 68 minutes' worth of music containing 14 new songs that run a typically varied Thompson gamut from reflective doom-and-gloom and tenderly yearning romantic creations to vitriolic bile and provocative, scathing political comment.
Almost half of these new songs are likely to be considered Thompson classics. For most of the time Richard's backed by his current core touring band (Michael Hays on rhythm guitar, Taras Prodaniuk on electric bass, Michael Jerome on drums and Judith Owen on harmony vocals), but for just over half the tracks Danny Thompson takes over on acoustic bass, while two feature Joe Sublett on tenor sax and a further three Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins on fiddle, and one ("She Sang Angels To Rest") even has a string-trio arrangement.
So as you'll gather it's not a bland unadventurous stock-electric-combo sound, and Richard himself injects imaginative colours into the mix with occasional bursts of mandolin, whistle, accordion, autoharp, harmonium, hurdy-gurdy and organ.
Individual highlights include the almost unbearable melancholy of the beautifully-paced "Take Care The Road You Choose" and the mournful closer "Sunset Song", the almost cinematic narrative sweep of "Guns Are The Tongues", the powerful soldier's-eye-view of "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" (the inspiration for the album's title?), the less-is-more neo-classical understatement of "She Sang Angels To Rest", and the deceptively cheeky nod to traditional song within the pithy commentary of "Johnny's Far Away".
Elsewhere, "Bad Monkey" rings the changes on its opening Tear-Stained riff and develops into a satisfying retro-rocker in the best Thompo twist-the-knife tradition (and I'll bet it comes with a killer guitar solo live!), whereas "Francesca" is a moody ska-inflected number with deep twang underpinning the enigmatic questioning of the lyric and "Sneaky Boy" is an edgy Costello-style putdown; only the humdrum riffing of "Mr Stupid" palls on repeated hearing perhaps.
Vocally, Richard i's on splendid form throughout this set.
"Sweet Warrior" will shortly come to be regarded as one of the finest in the Thompson canon.

Thompson takes the album title from Edmund Spenser's Sonnet LVII: "Sweet warrior when shall I have peace with you?" The lyrical thread connecting the 14 brilliant pop gems here is war, both real war as in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ireland, and the emotional combat of lovers.

This album is astonishingly good. Thompson's craft just grows stronger with the years, in contrast to so many musicians who are not able to sustain their early inspiration.

For me, what really sets it apart are the political songs: "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, "I'll Never Give It Up," which is Bush and bin Laden trading insults, and "Guns Are the Tongues" about the Irish Republican Army's guerilla war in Northern Ireland. It was "I'll Never Give It Up" which led me to pick up SWEET WARRIOR. I'm not sure why I missed it on its release in 2007, but that song was a highlight of the live show I saw recently. I remember seeing Thompson and his band perform "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" on TV back in '07 and being quite impressed with the song from the point of view of a U.S. soldier. I guess I was distracted.

"Take Care the Road You Choose", "She Sang Angels to Rest" and "Sunset Song" are beautiful sad songs, the last with one of Thompson's trademark bad protagonists. "Poppy-Red" features a very strong melody, the sort that sticks in your head for days, and a very unreliable narrator. "Mr. Stupid," "Bad Monkey," "Sneaky Boy" and "Johnny's Far Away" are all up-tempo character sketches, either about humans behaving badly, warning against same, or playing to stereotypes.

Richard Thompson is a one of the finest songwriters working today, and one of the best guitarists. SWEET WARRIOR is one of the best in a long line of his excellent albums.

I think that the cd's he put out in the 90's and '00's are better then this offering. This does not have the guitar solos and storytelling that I love so much in RT's music. Just my opinion! Also - why is "Dads gonna kill me" listed as an I-tunes exclusive? It is on my cd!
Get this cd if you are a die-hard but if you are looking for some winning cd's check out: Rumor, Mock, Kit bag and Austin live from RT.

Death, taxes and another good RT album. SWEET WARRIOR is another fine addition to Thompson's long resume that stretches back to Fairport Convention in the late 60's. It's a good album, but not without a couple issues.

This time out I'm a little underwhelmed by some of the songs Thompson has offered, specifically MR STUPID, SNEAKY BOY and BAD MONKEY (TWO LEFT FEET redux?). These bile tinged tunes are not among the best that he's recorded and seem almost cheap in their cranky emotions. FRANCESCA is an indifferent reggae workout and I swear I've heard the opener NEEDLE AND THREAD on at least one or two of Thompson's previous records.

That being said there are plenty of great songs and strong performances here. The topical DAD WIL KILL ME (Dad being Baghdad) tells a tale of woe from the point of view of a soldier stationed in that horrific situation over a charged arrangement. It boasts two killer lines in "At least we're winning on the Fox Evening News", and "Nobody's dying if you speak double speak", which pretty much sum up the current situation in Iraq. Other highlights are TAKE CARE THE ROAD YOU CHOOSE, POPPY RED and the last three songs, a great sea shanty JOHNNY'S FAR AWAY, the brooding GUNS ARE TONGUES and the serene closer SUNSET SONG, which end the disk in style. Thompson's guitar playing is especially sharp and inspired throughout and the band just plain cooks, even on some of the lesser songs. This album may feature the best overall playing in Richard's long and storied career.

Though far from flawless, SWEET WARRIOR is a strong record that should please most RT fans and could even win some new ones. I would imagine that if he takes this band on the road that there should be some amazing shows featuring some of this material. Judged on it's own this is a great disk, but against the entire Richard Thompson catalog, it's just pretty good.

this is what one has come to expect from mr thompson. great songwriting, great voice, great guitar. what i want to comment on here mostly is that guitar. this is mr thompson's first electric guitar based album in a few years, and the break he took away from it seems to have paid off well. his return to the instrument (at least on record) sounds like someone just discovering their own brilliance, just riding up a peak of genius. the electric guitar work here is astonishing. fresh, creative, and a joy to listen to. makes me wish that i had talent. you go, guy.

For all you RT fans out there, this is IT! Yes, it's the one you've been waiting for, because FINALLY we hardcore RT fans have a CD that we can recommend to or even buy as gifts for the non-converted, and they'll actually GET what the fuss has been about. This is hands down the most accessible RT disc in existence, chockful of songs that would make anyone want to either dance or cry. As critics have been saying, Sweet Warrior represents a return to the more hardrocking form of the 80's and early 90's, but with better [leaner and cleaner] production than those albums had and with bigger, brighter guitar. Also, maybe it's just my ears, but on this CD I finally feel that RT's voice itself has grown to fit the music so well that it's lost its tag of 'an acquired taste.' On both rocking numbers and ballads, his voice sounds as passionate and as adaptable as his ever-astonishing guitar.

While there are two tracks midway through that strike me as slighter and somewhat less accessible [It's Too Late to Come Fishin' and Sneaky Boy], those are easily forgiven, given that every other one of the remaining 12 songs is a standout in its own right. A trait of this album that hasn't been commented on is that, for Richard, it's surprisingly American in tone. In part that has to do with its status as a protest CD, in explicit anti-Iraq War songs such as Dad's Gonna Kill Me as well as in more subtle but equally hardhitting and conscientiously objecting songs such as I'll Never Give It Up and Francesca that sound as if they're aimed at American policies -- but maybe my interpreting them so is just a mark of their universality? Regardless, the only song that sounds distinctly British in content is the brilliantly updated, rock&rolling sea shanty Johnny's Far Away [on the Rolling Sea], about a philandering ceilidh musician on a cruise ship.

Now it's true that for me, as a hardcore RT fan, I miss that distinctive celtic-ness enough that I personally love a few CD's more than this one -- Mock Tudor, Old Kit Bag, Henry the Human Fly, Front Parlour Ballads, and Pour Down Like Silver all feel more Richard to me. However, if I had to recommend one CD to an uninitiated friend, or even had to choose just one CD to take to the gym with me, Sweet Warrior would be the one.

i've got a close freind who has been a long time fan...recently read an article in acoustic guitar about richard which piqued my interest further..this is a very well played`and musical cd..his lyricism reminds one of dylan but less obtuse(not to knock bob)...highly recommended