I have given my brother writing assignments before, basically because I like to hear him talk about things he loves. He has a site where he does just that from time to time. He has written pieces on Nirvana, The Replacements, and, most recently, Elvis. The new documentary, “Color Me Obsessed”, currently touring America, is about Replacements fans and my brother is interviewed for the film! A month or so ago, I asked him if he could write something up on Richard Thompson, one of my brother’s idols. Brendan complied. As always, I am happy and proud to present to you, my brother – Brendan O’Malley.
From Galway to Graceland
By Brendan O’Malley
I’ve been playing guitar for roughly 25 years, the first 5 on and off and the last 20 regularly.
If I won the lottery later today and dedicated the rest of my natural life to the instrument and was lucky enough to live until I was 100 years old, on my dying day I wouldn’t be able to touch Richard Thompson at his absolute worst.
I first became aware of him in college through the 1982 album “Shoot Out The Lights”, attributed to Richard & Linda Thompson.
The couple had recorded it in 1980 under trying circumstances while Linda was pregnant. They were divorced by the time of the album’s release.
It was named one of the decade’s best albums by Rolling Stone and something about the review fascinated me to the point that I went out and bought it, never having heard a note of Thompson’s music before. To say that I was blown away would be an understatement. The combination of songwriting and guitar virtuosity is extraordinary. Add the fact that these heartbreaking songs are being sung by a couple in the middle of a breakup and it becomes almost impossible to listen to. It makes Fleetwood Mac look like the last song at a junior high dance.
I seem to be drawn towards music figures that never quite achieve the level of success that their talent merits. The Replacements. Terry Reid. The Fatima Mansions. Richard Thompson is another. If you ask any half-knowledgeable guitar player about him, they all simply shake their heads. He makes Eric Clapton look like a novice. And for whatever reason, he simply never had the kind of mainstream success that could make him a household name.
I crusade for these types of artists. Don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those people who begrudge anyone their success. Eric Clapton EARNED it. I have little patience for fans who use their love of one artist as a weapon against another. At the Los Angeles screening of Color Me Obsessed, the film about fans of The Replacements, some drunken idiots booed every time The Goo Goo Dolls came on screen. As if their mainstream success meant that they weren’t qualified to be fans of The Replacements??? Stupid.
But I will make the extra effort to bring fans into the various folds of fandom that I enjoy. To do this, I am going to do a cross-promotional thing here. I am going to try and funnel all of the Elvis Presley energy channeled here on Sheila’s site towards Richard Thompson.
Mr. Thompson has made that quite easy because he wrote the song “From Galway To Graceland” which might be the most poignant expression of fandom ever. He imagines an Irish housewife who journeys to Memphis, believing in her heart of hearts that Elvis is her man. The storytelling in that song is impeccable. It renders analysis superfluous. He creates a movie in your mind.
When we think of guitar geniuses, we tend to imagine dramatic poses, screaming leads, and blaring amplifiers. Yet the subtle things Thompson does in this acoustic song are just as good as any extended electric solo. I have watched video of him playing it and I cannot for the life of me figure out how he is making all the sounds by himself. It is as if there are 3 guitarists.
Nope. Just him.
I’ve highlighted only a fraction of his work. He’s been recording and performing since the late 1960’s. He has never had a fallow period. Excellence personified.
One of my absolute idols, too. I have all his work and then some. His guitar playing came first but the emergence of his song writing was quite another unnatural talent as well. The characters in his songs have all the vitality of great short stories, fully fleshed out, equals with Bob Dylan and Ray Davies for sure.
Thanks!
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Preston – so cool you stopped by! His stuff is so moody and rich – I wondered if you’d ever utilized his music in one of your movies as background?
Huge Thompson fan. I don’t agree that he makes Clapton look like “a novice,” only because they really come from very different schools of guitar playing. However, I can’t think of anyone like Thompson who matches his virtuosity on his instrument with such astonishing songwriting chops. It’s like having Hendrix and Dylan be the same person.
And yeah, what you said about it sounding like there are 3 guitars. You go see a solo acoustic Thompson show and close your eyes and that 12 string sounds like an orchestra.
Also, I believe they scrapped those 1980 sessions (some of the cuts show up on the Watching the Dark compilation) and then re-recorded the album with a different producer in ’81 or ’82.
He is an exceptional talent. I have a couple of his records, Shoot Out the Lights for sure. Need to get more.
Great piece about a much under appreciated artist. Mock Tudor, his album from the late nineties is also a killer. By the way guys , this is the perfect bookend to the piece I read in the WSJ this morning on Guy Clark, another brilliant but under appreciated artist. Thanks.
Hope you aren’t just preaching to the converted here Brendan…The world can never have enough RT fans! Hadn’t pulled out Shoot Out The Lights in ages. Listening now!
That comment about his guitar sounding like multiple instruments is spot-on. In that respect, Thompson reminds me of Robert Johnson. When I first listened to Johnson, all I could think was “Really, this is the guy who shaped popular music for half a century?” But it wasn’t until I paid attention that I realized he was essentially playing his own basslines and occasionally wrenching a third guitar out of his chords. Thompson has his flashy playing, but it’s the density that makes him so striking.
Also, I MIGHT have totally spent an hour or two listening to RT after reading this.
RT has done a few soundtracks, most notably “Grizzly Man.” I do have a soundtrack from an Australian film he did called “Sweet Talker” from the early 90s. There he did an instrumental version of “Persuasion” which he later added words to and made as duet with his son, Teddy. Would I use his music in a film, I dunno. His lyrics could easily overpower anything on the screen. I would be interested in making a short film one day using a story from any of his vividly emotional tunes. Something like ‘Psycho Street’, ‘Beeswing’, ‘Grey Walls’ or countless others.
Cheers!
Grizzly Man!!!! Amazing soundtrack…
You make me want to run out and purchase any of his work. Wonderful post.
Another subtlety I enjoyed in Shoot Out the Lights was saving the most biting lines to be delivered by Linda. He broadcasts his mea culpas just like a guitar solo line.
I confess (apropos to Brendan’s comment above) I’m not a big Goo Goo Dolls fan (nor the Gin Blossoms, for much the same reason) — they channel the Replacements more than they do anything else, to my ear. Not original. On the other hand, Westerberg thought enough of the Goo Goo Dolls to produce an album, if memory serves, and he’s a lot better qualified to serve as the steward of his talent and vision than I am.
And like I should talk — the band I was in during the ’90s, we’d do soundcheck, and people would say, “Yeah, that Hüsker Dü thing you got going is okay, but it’s not really my cup of tea.” :-P
Ken – Ha!!
Totally agree with you – Richard Thompson – what a singer-songwriter. Saw him perform in Bristol a few years back with his legendary side-kick Pete Zorn…..another unbelievable multi-instrumentalist.
His rhyming is stunning viz:
“while they’re turning hard to Port in the Bahamas,
He’s turning her right out of her pyjamas”!!
Classic