Search - Richard Thompson :: Sweet Warrior

Quite Literally Stunning

Thomas D. Ryan | New York | 05/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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"

Superb.

power | London, UK | 05/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

At The Top Of His Game

Bob Dubery | Johannesburg, South Africa | 06/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."