11. Richard ThompsonSweet Warrior
I had to get Richard Thompson in. I could have put him in almost anywhere down the decades we’ve been covering because he’s the only artist I can think of from 1967 who has continued to make work of a consistently high standard year in, year out, ever since. Everyone else has had lulls or quiet periods where they’ve gone into rehab or whatever. The Stones have lasted longer, but then they’ve made some really dodgy work along the way. Whereas Richard Thompson has made great album after great album. There’s been something like 43 albums since the debut in ’67, and he continues to write songs and record them and put them out. This one was a particularly vintage year. I picked it because it has songs on it like ‘Needle And Thread’, which he can do solo with an acoustic guitar. It’s like a tour de force. It’s like watching Jimi Hendrix singing and playing at the same time. He came in once with his guitar and did an hour on-air around the time of this album. Just remembering him doing those songs and things like ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ acoustically, in his own style, was fucking amazing!
His back catalogue is phenomenal, and what’s great about it is that there’s always an edge. It’s so easy, as artists get older, to lose their edge and just write self-indulgent nonsense about your cat or some ridiculous thing. But there’s always a bit of vinegar in his lyrics and a bit of vitriol, a kind of punk almost. He never relaxes into the sentimental or the cosy.
To get listen to the album, head to Grooveshark
