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Richard & Linda Thompson - Tuesday, Jul. 30, 2013
Nobukazu Takemura - Scope - Thursday, Jul. 11, 2013
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend - Monday, Jul. 08, 2013
depeche mode on shuffle - Thursday, May. 16, 2013
oscillations in the stereolab - Wednesday, May. 15, 2013

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Tuesday, Jul. 30, 2013 | 09:47

Richard & Linda Thompson

today is richard & linda thompson day. i begin with their first album together, 'i want to see the bright lights tonight'. he had established himself with fairport convention, but decided to strike out on his own (or they broke up, i forget). while working on his debut solo album he struck up a relationship with a backing singer. they married and made six or seven albums as a couple. in the middle of those they converted to sufi islam and took a few years off to study it. i've read that richard is still a practicing muslim, but his religion doesn't play a role in his songwriting. the second r&l thompson album i have, 'shoot out the lights' was their last together. though they'd written it before their marriage unraveled, by the time it was released and they toured everything was breaking down. they separated before the tour, and eventually they couldn't bear to work together.

i have two richard thompson albums, including his latest 'electric', and one of hers: 'fashionably late'. the latter title refers in part to her time away from music due to frozen vocal chords. he had no voice until doctors figured out they could inject her with botox and she could sing for a few months.

the couple had two children, teddy and kamila, who now make music in their own right. as far as i can tell neither is as talented as their father, but teddy at least has made a career of it, and that's pretty good.

the first richard thompson album i got was 'you? me? us?', a double-disc release with one electric and one acoustic cd. i got it from bmg music club when they had it on sale. from what i've read, critics derided it as having gauzy, unengaging production, but that's why i got it: i liked soul coughing's 'ruby vroom' so much i looked for other things mitchell froom produced.

i don't recall whether i knew richard thompson's reputation then or if i got that from the description in the bmg catalog, but it was froom's name that sealed the deal for me. i like the results. the songs are great and the production gives them a ghostly, sorrowful feeling. a couple aren't written that way, so the sonic shading distorts the lyrics, but mostly they're gloomy pieces about broken relationships and hard times, written well enough they hit regardless of my mood. the difference now is that i'm too happy for the sadness to linger.

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