Customer Reviews

Walking on a Wire: Richard Thompson (1968-2009)

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Who is reading this? If you are an RT fan, as I have been since Fairport days, was your first reaction the same as mine: why? I mean, I have every song in this box set on some other cd(s). But I had to have it anyway (as another review noted). It is a great career overview, the recording is pristine - these songs have never sounded better. And when I play RT now I tend to gravitate to his live releases. So I am really enjoying re-visiting these great songs. I would recommend this for the sound quality alone.

If you are not a big fan, or have heard the hype but do not really know his music, it is all warranted. Fairport Convention was a "folk rock" band from the 60's. (I italicize that because they were really so much more). There are only a few songs from this period here. (The box set A Fairport History has a much more comprehensive selection of RT from this period). The tracks here range from the upbeat rock of Time Will Show the Wiser to the folk of Genesis Hall and Crazy Man Michael to the long dirge Sloth, with it's ending guitar workout, RT already showing his chops (and Dave Swarbick adding his usual astounding fiddle). Then a couple tracks from RT's 1st solo effort, which was a great mish mosh of styles (in a good way).

His next period after leaving Fairport was with his wife Linda Thompson. This era produced some of the finest adult rock music ever. The songs are quite varied, acoustic and electric, happy and sad. Actually, together they recorded (lyrically) some of the most realistic love songs I have heard: Walking on a Wire; The Great Valerio; Did She Jump or Was She Pushed; Withered and Died; For Shame of Doing Wrong. This is not greasy kid stuff. These are mature songs for folks whose hearts have been around the block a few times and know the joy and pain of love. RT's lyrics really hit home in expressing these emotions. Balancing these are more upbeat rockers: When I Get to the Border, Calvary Cross, Bright Lights, Wall of Death and Sunnyvista. I am not listing every track, but this period was really strong, RT maturing both as a guitarist and songwriter. And having LT and RT trading vocals added to its strength. Richards playing is generally a showcase for restrained, "smart" guitar. Hero guitar for the thinking person. The electric pyrotechnics are there, but on record he does not go for the epic workouts his live shows are known for. And his acoustic work, well, everytime I close my eyes I hear 2 or 3 guitarists. No, it is not double tracked recording. For the uninitiated, check out the song Shoot Out the Lights (and the CD). Powerful, riveting, frightful, the sound of despair and loneliness at the breaking point with some jaw dropping guitar work. This was recorded as he and Linda's relationship was falling apart, and it is all documented in song. Brilliant.

After their breakup came his long and continuing solo career. Again, it the the variety of songs which is compelling. The common thread is the smart, adult lyrics, many of which all have a touch of cynicism. As well as the guitar. I could not possibly go through all the tracks. There are a lot of uptempo "rockers": Tear Stained Letter (one of his classics), Turning of the Tide, Valerie, I Feel so Good (..."I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight"), Razor Dance, Dad's Gonna Kill Me, Cooksferry Queen. Then the ballads which tell a story: the heartbreaking and fan favorite 1952 Vincent Black Lightening (lightening would be a good metaphor for his guitar work in this, eh?), Beeswing, Al Bowlly's in Heaven, Persuasion. Heck, there are just so many great songs here. The cynicism of She Twists the Knife Again; the poignent I Still Dream and Waltzing for Dreamers; the melancholic confession of I Misunderstood; the achingly lovely She Sang the Angels to Rest. Folks, every song here is truly great. And throughout this period RT always has had a great collection of backup musicians, Pete Zorn and Danny Thompson (no relation) prominent amoung them.

So, if you do not know RT, this is a great place to start, and perhaps all you will need. (His first 3-cd "box" has many of the same songs but balances this release nicely in that it includes a few essentials that are not here. The second box of unreleased stuff is essential for fans, but not the place to start if you are new to RT.)

Top twenty guitarist of all time? I love how rock magazines and critics have to rank things. If you, as I, have seen RT live both acoustic and electric he is beyond compare. Sure, there are other guitarists just as "great", though with different styles. How do you compare them? You cannot. But the things RT is capable of doing and his mastery of both the electric and acoustic are unparalled. One thing this box lacks, with one exception, is any of his epic live guitar workouts. I have seen him drop jaws many times with Shoot Out the Lights, Calvary Cross, Can't Win, Jerusalem on the Jukebox, Night Comes In, and others. (On his 2nd box set box I always had issue with the "guitar workouts" included on it; I have dozens better on numerous bootlegs). But here, we do get one gem: Hard on Me. I saw him do this a couple of years ago at the Tralf in Buffalo, and words cannot describe the workout he exercises on this song. I watched his hands so carefully, but the notes, the bends, it was all a blur of virtuosity. Again for the uninitiated, this song (especially the last 5 minutes) is a perfect example why RT has the reputation he does. (For further proof listen to the aforementioned acoustic work on 1952 Vincent Black Lightening). I kind of wish they included a couple more of these live killers, but, oh well, whatever, never mind.

Yeah, there are some favorites I would have like to have seen included, but I am not even going to bother listing them. RT picked this set, so who I am to quibble? I will echo another review: you gotta have this release. I love music and love lots of different kinds of music, but I cannot think of another box set that is top to bottom this good. Thanks Shout Factory. While Rhino still does a few good things, I appreciate that there are some labels that consistently get it right. Shout Factory is one of them. Attention all mature adults seeking intelligent rock written just for them: go buy this and enjoy it!

Richard Thompson is without question one of the world's greatest guitarists. Box sets are nothing new for Thompson. Rykodisc released the 3 cd "Watching The Dark" in 1993, Free Reed released "RT" a 5 cd totally unreleased set in the mid 2000s, and now the wonderful people at Shout Factory have added Thompson to the list of musicians they have honored with boxed sets. Thomposon himself along with former Rhino producer David McLees produced this 71 track compilation. The immaculate digital remastering was done by former Rhino sound man Bob Fisher. While both the 3 and 5 disc Thompson sets shone due to the number of previously unreleased tracks, "Walking On A Wire" shines because it contains selections from all 34 albums released by Thompson between 1968 and 2007. This means numerous albums by Fairprort Convention, several lps done with ex-wife Linda Thompson, and many solo Thompson efforts. The result is an amazing amalgamation of musical presentations. It appears that if an instrument has strings Thompson is a master of it. The same can be said of all the different musical styles presented in "Walking On A Wire." Rated as the 20th greatest guitarist by Rolling Stone magazine, Thompson certainly proves the point here. From gentle folk to full blown rock and roll and everything in between Thompson shines on each and every track. Some may complain at the lack of unreleased material, but to them I say, buy this set, give it a listen, and I dare you to say the tunes have ever sounded so good. And unless you own each and every album individually this set should be absolutely essential to your collection. A true musician's musician, Thompson doesn't have a big name, has never the fame he so richly deserves, and in fact seems to have done everything in his power to remain out of the limelight. Well his time to shine is at hand. Shout Factory has once again outdone themselves. If you enjoy British folk music, or appreciate guitar prowess this set is definitely for you. Most definitely.

Richard Thompson has been the recipient of a rare honor, a third box set while still at the height of his powers and while still producing quality original music. But I think the case for this particular box set is strong. The first two box sets were not intended for people unfamiliar with Richard Thompson's music, but for long-term fans. Both WATCHING THE DARK and RT contained scads of performances not previously released, and relatively few of his familiar great songs. WALKING ON A WIRE, on the other hand, has virtually all of Thompson's finest music, whether with Fairport Convention, with his ex-wife Linda, or from his solo career. This instantly becomes the number one Richard Thompson album, the one essential introduction to his genius.

I sort of miss the late seventies and early eighties, when some of us who were huge fans could shock people who were unfamiliar with his work by playing them a few of his best songs. Rolling Stone put is well a few years later upon the re-release of several of his best albums, including I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT. They asked people to imagine never having heard of artists of the caliber of Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Hendrix, or Pete Townshend, but that their albums were suddenly released out of nowhere. That was what they compared the release of several of Thompson's best albums twenty years ago. Thompson is astonishing on three levels. First, he is a shockingly great guitarist, admired by his fellow musicians everywhere. Second, he is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in music, his songs performed by many of the world's finest musicians. Third, he is a highly accomplished singer, able to sing his and others' compositions with tremendous passion. As a guitarist, he has few peers. For those who define great guitarists in terms of speed he may not be as impressive as some, but if you define brilliance in terms of musical innovation, he is, in my opinion, the best guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. The musical combinations he comes up sometimes are jaw dropping. His long solos, which he mainly saves for live performances, are astonishing. He might play, for instance, a solo that lasts for two minutes during which he plays continuously two strings at a time. His prowess is so extreme that even the abysmally silly Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists rated him #19 (something that probably embarrassed those in front of him, who all know they can't carry his guitar pick). If you listen to the two solos he plays on the otherwise pretty average song "Hard on Me" from MOCK TUDOR, you hear guitar playing that seems to come from an alternative dimension. Much of the uniqueness of his guitar playing stems from his basing much of his chords on the English folk tradition rather than, unlike nearly every other rock guitarist, American blues. The most impressive thing about Thompson as a guitarist is that he is always willing to subjugate his guitar pyrotechnics to the songs. If the guitar doesn't enhance the song, he doesn't play something merely to be impressive.

Perhaps Thompson's only weakness is that his songs are better than his albums. By that I mean that Thompson has written scores of great songs, but he has few truly great albums. Even his very best albums have weak songs on them. On the other hand, even his worst albums have some great songs. For instance, on YOU? ME? US?, generally considered one of Thompson's worst albums, there is one of my favorite Thompson songs, the heartbreaking "She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair." As a result, his songs are stronger than his albums. Sadly, before now there was never a single collection that put Thompson at his best on display. And Thompson is hardly the only great song writer who potentially is better represented by an anthology than by individual albums. Leonard Cohen has some truly weak albums that nonetheless have some stunning individual songs. This collection shows Thompson at his very vest and it puts his virtues and major quirks as a songwriter. One of the great paradoxes of his songwriting is that he is in concert a funny, warm, compelling, endearing individual, while many of his songs are thunderingly depressing. The most extreme example may be "The End of the Rainbow," a song off I WANT TO SEE TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT, in which the singer addresses a small baby as "a little horror" and after recounting the ways that his or her life situation is a nightmare, tells it in the chorus, "There's nothing at the end of the rainbow/There's nothing to grow up for anymore." In one of the greatest songs -- "Shoot Out the Lights" -- on his and Linda's finest album, he depicts a murderous/suicidal man in the throes of despair. In another song on that same album someone wonders if a person who died was the victim of a suicide or a murder. The darkness of his songs is shown in his first box set, WATCHING THE DARK. When you see Thompson in concert of you hear him interviewed, he comes across as someone passionately in love with life, someone filled with the joy of living. You end up wondering if he is masking a despairing view of life through his light-hearted banter or uses his bleak songs as cathartic release. But alongside the despair are also songs of such heartbreaking beauty that they can sometimes be overwhelming. "Dimming of the Day" is an extraordinarily gorgeous song, one that can function as either a love song to someone who keeps the singer's life from falling to bits (as performed by Richard and Linda or by the Coors or by Emmylou Harris) or a burning blues (as performed by Albert Lee or Bonnie Raitt) or even a hymn (as performed by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, in perhaps my favorite version of the song). (That song also shows up in a surprisingly effective version as part of the diegetic music as performed by diegetic in John Sayles's film LIMBO).

In the past I recommended that anyone interested in learning more about Richard Thompson buy a number of his best discs. A basic Richard Thompson album would consist of UNHALFBRICKING and LIEGE AND LIEF; from his period with Linda I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT and the great classic SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS (and if those please, HOKEY POKEY and POUR DOWN LIKE SILVER); and from his solo period HAND OF KINDNESS, AMNESIA, MOCK TUDOR, and FRONT PALOUR BALLADS. But even at that it leaves out too many great songs. Granted even WALKING ON A WIRE leaves off a lot of great songs, but it leaves off a lot less than buy any 8 or 9 individual Richard Thompson albums. This is not just the best entry into the music of Richard Thompson, it is one of the finest albums you can possibly get.

Finally, I want to address a trend in some mainstream reviews of the album (though not by my fellow reviewers here on Amazon). Some reviewers have complained that the album contains nothing that hasn't been released before. Well, precisely! The one great lack in the discography of Richard Thompson has been a collection of his best work. As I mentioned above, the first two boxed sets focused on previously unreleased material. To complain that a third box set is flawed because it doesn't contain previously unreleased material seems simply absurd. Such a box would not have filled a need. This one does.

For those already heavily invested in RT recordings this may be unnecessary. I had the early Fairport stuff, the (guitar, vocal) compilation, the Watching the Dark compilation, the Live at Crawley 1993 set with Danny Thompson and Mirror Blue. This fact put me right on the fence. Watching the Dark really covering some of the best material on this set. Mirror Blue is also well covered here. That being said, this set really has an edge in a couple of regards. Discs filled to the brim with well chosen tracks, chronilogically sequenced, for one. The first rate remastering being another. For me the deciding factor was all the newer material that I did not already have and the price being reasonable. This is a nice encapsulation of a musical journey worth hearing. If you're already invested, go see this guy, "live", again. One way or another, get your RT on. His talent, these songs, they are a deserving tandem. Cheers.

Now, like some, I have to admit there are a few gripes - why, for example, did they not include "When the Spell is Broken" from Across a Crowded Room? I would have preferred that track to "Little Blue Number," but this is really a minor quibble, on the whole. Everything here is essential RT material, from the early Fairport tracks to the most recent studio cuts from Sweet Warrior; I found the inclusion of tracks from his and Linda's two Chrysalis albums (First Light and Sunnyvista) to be most welcome, as neither is currently in print, and even finding many of the Capitol albums (beyond just the Action Packed anthology, Rumor and Sigh or Mock Tudor) can be a dodgy affair.

So yes, I would like to have seen "When the Spell is Broken" and possibly "Layla" (not the Clapton song) from First Light included, and there is nothing featured from Front Parlour Ballads, but if you have most of the albums already, it may not be entirely necessary. The remastering job here is excellent, however, the track production details not so much. But for someone looking for a solid career-spanning overview of Richard Thompson, Walking on a Wire is otherwise perfect. Well done, Shout! Factory.

Richard is one of the few truely self-effacing musicians to come down the pike. He's in their with the likes of JJ Cale when it comes to standing in the shadows, and liking it. Even though their styles are not similar--they are both uniquely gifted. One should never take for granted the dazzling career of this extremely talented artist. Coming out of an English folk/ballad background, and in love withe American popular music, he developed a unigue sound which can only be described as "Richard Thompson". His passion and technique are always a marvel to behold. His taste is impeccable. The song selections are excellant and the "Sound" of these cd's is breathtaking. Technology was put to superb use in the remastering of the songs. It is almost like hearing them all for the first time. A stunning achievment in all categories. Highly recommended!

I came late to the camp, reading about two of Richard and Linda Thompson's albums being in the Rolling Stone Top 100 of the past 20 years (this was about 1988), and began my own 20 year catch-up with all things RT.

Not only is he one of the greatest folk/rock guitarists of all time, but also one of the finest songwriters. Not to mention one of the best and most enjoyable live performers you could ever see.

And here in one box set you get a tremendous introduction to his entire career... I can see from the song selection that this is an absolute 5 Star stunning collection. If you don't have any RT, or just a little, this is essential. If, like me, you have a TON of live stuff, studio stuff, etc... it's probably still essential, just because you GOTTA HAVE IT ;-)

Can't wait to see my annual RT "all request" show in Saratoga, CA. Buy this box set. It will make you a better person and might even help global warming.

I was interested in Fairport Convention as I like British folk from that era - Nick Drake, Roy Harper, and to some extent even Pink Floyd - and I'm fascinated by the stunning Sandy Denny, the only person to ever accompany Robert Plant on Vocals on "The Battle of Evermore." And from Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention you naturally have to wander backwards to Richard Thompson. I've watched some YouTube videos of him, what a guitarist, what a performer, what a quick tongue. And I was curious to hear more of him, so I invested in this box set, which wanders along all of the phases of this amazing musician's career. This box set is rather old school as it doesn't have any special adornments, but is quite functional - it covers all of the phases of Richard Thompson's career, starting with his work with Fairport Convention, moving on to his work with his (then) wife Linda, before going into what he's done since and on his own. The booklet has lots of great photos of a young Richard, skinny and shy and a bit odd-looking, and without a guitar strapped around his neck, before getting to pictures of Richard either posing with bandmates or performing somewhere. In early years you see the young man with long, curly locks, and later on bearded with a beret.

The four CDs don't have any special packaging, but the tall and slim 60-page booklet is very nice, with a long essay and tons of rare photos. It has essays by a few different people, but doesn't give much information about the 70 tracks on the album other than songwriting credits, although it runs through a "selected album discography and sessionography" that runs down who played what on these albums. The set starts with "Time Will Show The Wiser", a not-so-interesting but pleasant song written by American songwriter Emmett Rhodes, then picks up with "Meet On The Ledge", where we get our first snatch of Sandy Denny vocals, which come in right after the male vocals, and is stunning. The rousing chorus is also fantastic.

Most of the songs on this set get five out of five stars for me, but even there I have found plenty of amazing standouts. "Crazy Man Michael" has great Sandy Denny vocals (which Sandy Denny vocals aren't great, though?), "The Poor Ditching Boy" is a great Scottish ballad that Richard did solo just after he left Fairport Convention, and he sings it with a strong strong voice.

"The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" is rousing rock, and you can hear prominently Linda Peters, who later became Linda Thompson, singing background vocals. There are 21 songs from the Linda Thompson era and most of them are stellar. Linda's voice is a bit like Sandy's, but purer, stronger (while maybe a little less soulful), and she sounds a lot like Nathalie Merchant. "Withered and Died" is practically a country song that is mainly taken by Linda's strong voice, with a few squirmy solos by Richard. "Down Where The Drunkards Roll" is a gloomy Celtic song with weird organ sounds, with nice backing vocals by Richard singing in his deepest deep voice. "The Calvary Cross" has this crazy Eastern mystic intro that bends weird notes all over the place, then becomes a shifty and mellow groover with lots of reverb, sung by Richard. "Dimming Of The Day" is probably the most mellow song I've ever heard; David Gilmour does a great version, although his stately voice and splendid enunciation don't quite have the soul that Richard and Linda do. This music is so beautiful. It is coupled with a very nice instrumental called "Dargai." The song "Strange Affair" is a truly beautiful song sung by Linda, very understated with lots of emphasis on her voice, with some nice backing by Richard. "Sisters" is a very good song, supremely sung by Linda with a piano and guitar accompaniment, the lyrics are among the most intense I've ever heard, with lines like "Don't call me your sister and put a knife through my heart". Wow. "Man In Need" is a crazy old pub rocker sung by Richard that is a lot of fun, while "Shoot Out The Lights" is a freaked-out rock number. "Wall of Death" is one of Richard and Linda's best songs, they have a fantastic harmonisation, singing "Let me ride on the wall of death one more time." Beauty from end to end. "Walking On A Wire" is pretty corny, despite being the song that the collection is named after; nonetheless, it has some incredible solos in it. More to my heart is "Tear Stained Letter", which sounds easily like a rollicking little something that the Pogues could have written. Lots of great lyrics, like "My head was beating like a song from the Clash/ It was writing cheques that my body couldn't cash." "Beat The Retreat" is a song with just Richard and his guitar, it sounds so incredibly anguished, each note and each tone is just from the bottom of his soul. Splendid! "Turning of the Tide" is a musty old rocker, with its pickup about pickups. Crazy. "I Misunderstood" is a song that, at the offset, doesn't sound so fantastic, more like just another '80s ballad, until you get to lyrics like "But I misunderstood/ But I misunderstood/ But I misunderstood/ I thought she was saying 'good luck'/ She was saying 'good-bye'" That song is followed immediately by what is probably the best song in the selection, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a tale sung by Richard on solo guitar about a woman who meets the rider of the title motorbike, who tells her "Red hair and black leather/ My favourite colour scheme." The song is like a Scottish shanty, but it is set in a modern time, and tells the tale of a doomed 21-year-old, his girl and his bike. Beautiful, with great singing and fantastic guitarwork.

The later songs are not as great, but there are a few nice selections, like the new wave rocker "Razor Dance", which has some nice lyrics, starting off with "After the death of a thousand kisses/ Comes the catacomb of tongues." "Persuasion" is a beautiful ditty sung with Neil Finn of Crowded House fame. "Hard On Me" is a rocker that is just full of really fantastic solos. "A Legal Matter" is a rockin' acoustic number, sung with real attitude. "I'll Never Give It Up" is good rock 'n' roll, while "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" is the real deal, storytelling with violin accompaniment and backup vocals, and "She Sang Angels To Rest" closes the box set with a 2007 recording that wrings out the emotions on acoustic guitar. Great. Everyone must own this box set.

This compilation merits a five star rating for the quality of the sonic remastering which, for most of the tracks, is noticeably superior to all other previous "red book" CD releases and close (if not equal) to audiophile reissues, such as the Gold CD version of "Shoot Out The Lights" released a number of years ago, and some recent Japanese-manufactured remasters (as with "I Want To See The Bright Lights").

I gave it four stars, however, for the song selection. Concededly, it is difficult to challenge inclusions or omissions from a four decade (and still growing) body of work that overall is so consistent and often powerful or sublime or both. Obviously, people have favorites and can disagree even with Richard Thompson who chose the songs for this (hopefully still mid-career) retrospective. No fan will be fully satisfied other than with a burned CD of their own making.

What bothers me, though, is the lack of any EXPLANATION for certain inclusions or omissions. Other reviewers have noted the absence of "When The Spell Is Broken," a complaint with which I certainly concur. But there are many others, including "Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair" (from "Pour Down Like Silver"), all three of the best songs from "Hokey Pokey ("Missie How You Let Me Down," "Jennie" and the heart-wrenching "How Will I Ever Be Simple Again"), the incomparably haunting "Ghosts In The Wind" from the "Across A Crowded Room" LP, and perhaps the most significant omissions from "First Light" ("Restless Highway," "Sweet Surrender" and the exquisite "Pavanne"). And where is "Don't Renege On Our Love," the superb opening track from "Shoot Out The Light" that, along with the last track, "Wall Of Death," made Thompson's solo reputation on FM radio in the U.S.?

Understanding that Thompson could only include a few tracks from each album, I still don't get WHY the two OK but otherwise unmemorable songs chosen from "Hokey Pokey" (i.e. "I'll Regret It All In The Morning" and "Old Man Inside A Young Man") are substituted for the three listed above.

And that is the heart of it. While fans (or even Thompson himself) can earnestly but pleasantly disagree about some of these choices, the booklet which accompanies this package provides absolutely no explanation about why certain, less familiar songs were included while others that Thompson played live in his set for years were discarded.

Also, the essays in the book are far too hagiographic. For example, the essayist notes that, despite the crumbling of Richard and Linda's marriage and cross-accusations of infidelity (but especially by Linda against Richard, inasumuch as they had just a child the year before, fer chissakes), their 1982 tour of the U.S. was musically successful. Well, that's mostly true, except that on stage they came close to physical violence at times (and I think that Linda did walk off the stage once or twice), the strain was clearly visible on their faces and the tension was palpable, making the music more dramatic but for those close to the stage quite disconcerting. I am not saying this to damn Richard -- domestic relationships are often sundered, both Linda and Richard have had lasting second relationships with each resulting in additional children, their son Teddy has been instrumental in bringing the two to some resolution and I have remained an unabashed fan and close listener of Richard's solo efforts -- but only to say that the essays leave out any CRITICAL perspective, inquiries or discernment. And to the extent these essays paint a completely flattering and glowing portrait due to omissions of other facts, then they are mendacious. For a multi-decade and expensive retrospective, such abdication of critical appreciation as well as judgment is unhelpful to new listeners and, frankly, a slight to long-time fans who already have many of these songs but are shelling out some pretty serious bucks to buy them again.

So, I hope this helps long-term fans make their decisions. For potential new fans, I would recommend passing over this box set and starting with Fairport's "Liege and Lief" (recently released in remastered form with bonus tracks or in a 2-CD Deluxe Edition), Richard and Linda's "I Want To See The Bright Lights" and "Shoot Out The Lights" (both of which have been remastered with bonus tracks) and from Richard's solo career, "Hand Of Kindness" and "Across A Crowded Room." From there, if you're as moved as are so many others by the songs and the high quality of the musicianship, move on to Richard's solo "Rumor and Sigh" and R&L's "Pour Down Like Silver." While I (and many others) especially favor Richard's post-Fairport, pre-R&L solo effort, "Henry The Human Fly," I think that it is a bit more quirky and difficult to appreciate unless you already are a Fairport fan.

as a long time fan (about 40 years) i found this set to be a great overview of richard thompson's career and would easily work as a introduction to the various styles and periods of his work.