Proper Records (label)
29 June 2015 (released)
28 June 2015
For his new album Richard Thompson brought in Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy to produce, relocated to Chicago and recorded it in nine days. This spirit of adventure follows the successful reboot of his sound on his 2013 album Electric, and Still follows in the same fashion. There are subtle eddies and breaks here and there from Tweedy but on the whole, it’s a natural continuation of his journey.
What you get from the initial spins is that Thompson is musically and lyrically on good form, and out to enjoy himself. The Americana of Long John Silver and the almost bar room boogie of No Peace, No End get their hooks in and the feet a’tappin’. As does the self-explanatory Guitar Heroes which sees Thompson run through a range of influences, one of which this writer is sure is Hank Marvin!
Subsequent plays allows some of the other songs to breathe a little and come to the fore. The enigmatic Broken Doll is one of highlights, while Where’s Your Heart has a sound like its striding over the Atlantic towards the States. Getting back to more traditional fayre there’s the beautiful acoustic Josephine and tankard thumping Pony in the Stable. All in all is an eclectic album that’s both familiar and a little bit challenging too.
