ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2010 No. 19 – RICHARD THOMPSON – Dream Attic

It’s another winner from Richard Thompson, simple as that. Even without any seismic shifts in his folk-rock sounds for a good 20 years there’s very little reduction in the impact when he puts out new music. Thompson’s Brit-honed songwriting, still crafted with a few instantly recognizable brush strokes, remains fresh by gently shifting each albums emphasis. We’ve seen full band electric albums followed by home recorded, purely acoustic sets; there’s also been the one disc electric, one acoustic offering of ‘You Me Us’ and the suburban concept album ‘Mock Tudor’. With this years ‘Dream Attic’ the ruse is one we’ve seen Neil Young and R.E.M. play in the past; new material recorded in a live setting. To tell the truth though, the live thing is nothing more than a gimmick; you only notice the presence of an audience briefly a couple of times at the end of tracks and Thompson’s band sound is so organically tight both live and in the studio that there probably wouldn’t be much difference in end product wherever he recorded. Such is Richard Thompson’s feel for music, empathy with the requirements of a song and full dynamic range in his guitar playing, he rarely misses his target.

Richard Thompson is a living, working example, in this time of massive music industry collapse, of how a musician can make the job work without the mechanics of a major label securing Saturday night mainstream TV exposure or muscling in on the Radio 2 playlist. He uses the internet to communicate with and update his audience with incredible regularity, he plays all the time in decent size, regularly sold out venues, is always involved in two or three projects even finding time to curate this years Meltdown festival, appearing with 95% of the artists involved. Showing entrepreneurial acumen he utilises his website to monopolise his own bootleg market, offering up a mouth watering supply of live albums for hardcore followers which probably make Thompson a good deal more money than he ever enjoyed on Capitol records. All this while remaining unshackled, unlike say Bob Dylan or Lou Reed, by the constraints and pigeonholing one or a few big crossover hits can impose on an artist. Richard Thompson has created for himself one of the most enviable working environments in music today and he doesn’t waste his position. The final track on ‘Dream Attic’ is perhaps the greatest example of why this man is still in full command of his powers; practically every Richard Thompson album has at least two or three solid signature classics and ‘If Love Whispers Your Name’ is one of those. When writing about love and nailing it like this, there aren’t many who can touch the music of Richard Thompson.

Have a listen to the whole album here:

Free music - Dream Attic