Richard Thompson - Rumor and Sigh

His odyssey through British and American folk and rock has taken Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention's initial stabs at becoming England's Jefferson Airplane to deserved status as an inimitable guitarist and songwriter; "possessor of the magic touch," as the Fairport anthem "Come All Ye" aptly dubbed him. Also playing Stratocaster, acoustic guitar, or mandolin, he has written an astonishing body of songs that can time-travel from moor and meadow to factory town and cyberspace and keep both tragedy and farce in focus. This superb 1991 solo album is no exception. Spurred by his darting electric jigs and reels, up-to-the-minute and old as the hills, the set juggles traditional forms and modern production to comment on sex education ("Read About Love"), homicide ("I Feel So Good") and, as always, love gone wrong ("I Misunderstood") or tragically interrupted ("1952 Vincent Black Lightning," at once a gentle parody of Beach Boys car songs and a rigorously constructed acoustic ballad). --Sam Sutherland Amazon.com

One of the best - from one of the best

Richard Thompson really is astonishing. From early collaborations with Nick Drake, definitive British folk with Fairport Convention, gorgeous folk duets with ex-wife Linda, scalding guitar solos with Loudon Wainwright, guitar mentor to the Golden Palominos, to the real meat and bones: his solo stuff. Who else has been churning out albums for 40 years, and seems like he might still be yet to peak?

'Rumour and Sigh' is of course his breakthrough success from 1991, and certainly one of his handful of best albums (and that's a handful from a pretty big bunch). What matters here is the sheer strength of his songwriting. Never mind that he's also a great vocalist and jaw-dropping guitarist.

The classic song most usually cited is 'Vincent Black Lightning 1952', and with good reason. It's a phenomanally good folk song which manages to be heartbreaking, angry and evocative all at once, while Thompson's acoustic guitar pyrotechnics go almost un-noticied because the song is just so damn strong.

Of course it doesn't stop there. There is the heartbreak of 'Behind
Grey Walls', where he sends his 'darling' to an old age home, and she walks away without even recognising him. The doctors say 'she'll never be right again' - or the beautifully nasty 'Read About Love' (horribly similar to my own experience), where he the singer is punished for asking about sex, until he recieves a book at age 14 'It's cover was plain / Written by a doctor with a German name). Having read it seven times he demands to know why his girlfriend doesn't 'moan and sigh'.

I'm missing other brilliant songs. Jumping over them, truth be told, to mention the closing 'Psycho Street' - a fascinating, invogorating, terrible song in which middle class England (including the bloke who pushed his lawnmower 2000 miles on his knees, in a parody of Thompson's own Sufi Islam) are lampooned, ending with the prescient and sinister story of a jealous woman who mails her rival a 'beauty treatment' which contains acid and disfiguring chemicals. She winks at her husband, 12 years before you-know-what and says 'pre-emptive strike'. It's hard to know what to say.

Musically the production is sometimes perhaps just a little smooth, but that's the only fault I could find with this album, and it's a minor one. There are plenty of times when it's edgy and in your face, too.

Stylistically this runs the gamut from acoustic folk to cranked up rock to experimental weirdness. The only consistent thing is Thompson's songwriting, demanding voice, and effortlessly brilliant guitar.

At the moment they're offering it with 'Mock Todor' - probably his other best album of the 90's. A good idea. September 9, 2008

Includes one of the best songs of all time.

Emotional. Charged. Wry Humor. Great guitar and vocals by RT. Treat yourself to a great album... May 14, 2007

Buy this album. Now.

OK, this is one of the greatest albums EVER. It contains 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, one of the greatest songs ever recorded. It has a bunch of other great songs by this one-of-a-kind artist, including I Misunderstood, Keep Your Distance, and God Loves a Drunk. Richard Thompson is in league with Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello as far as songwriting & Jimi Hendrix as far as guitar playing. Need I say more? If you think you know rock and folk music, but don't know about Richard Thompson, you have some listening to do. Also highly recommended: Watching the Dark, an excellent retrospective that will bring you up to speed. Carry on. February 25, 2007

Great Songs and Music for us '60s fugitives.

`Rumor and Sigh' and `Mock Tudor' are two albums, issued about eight (8) years apart which, like Joni Mitchell albums of the same period, share a strong common style and subject matter. I'm inspired to review these Thompson albums I am hearing for the first time by my having done reviews of several early Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny albums, plus the fact that Thompson is still very much in the musical news, having recently appeared at Buckingham Palace with the royals in the company of other English 1960's bred pop music luminaries such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Paige, and Jeff Beck. To distinguish himself from the guitar heavies, he described himself to Queen Elizabeth as a `singer / songwriter', which fits his talent to a tee. The queen was amazed that he did both.

My curiosity was fuelled by the question of why Fairport Convention, with such great talents as Thompson and Denny working together, should split up into three relatively less successful entities. On Thompson's part, I am certain he had no interest in spending the next 35 years touring England and the States playing various versions of `Matty Groves' over and over again.

Instead, Thompson seems to have turned into the troubadour of the suburban neurotic, those invisible middle class characters seen in films such as `American Beauty' and `War of the Roses'. After all, the blues covers poor blacks, country and western covers poor white rednecks, Dylan and Mitchell and their kin cover intellectuals, Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground, and their copiers cover substance abusers and extreme misfits. So, who sings for the people who fantasize about child molesting, arson, alcoholism and vandalism, but do nothing about it?

Of these two albums, the earlier, `Rumor and Sigh' addresses this audience much more directly than the latter, which uses somewhat more subtle material, including, I believe, a sly reference to a character in the stage play, `Cats'.

Both albums give us pleasantly diverse instrumental settings for the songs. To old hippies like myself, I can hear lots of 1960's echos and no trace of modern Rap or Hip Hop influences. Like Mitchell and great short story writers throughout history, Thompson is able to take a small slice of life and illuminate it for those of us who do not have fantasies of arson or vandalism.

For those familiar with Fairport Convention and not familiar with Thompson's later work, this is a lot different than `Unhalfbricking'. It is more different in style than, for example, Robin Williamson's later work is different from his `Incredible String Band' performances.

If you must choose one or the other album, `Mock Tutor' seems just a bit more polished, but I think `Rumor and Sigh' is just a bit more gritty, which may have stronger appeal to the Lou Reed fans among us.
August 27, 2005

Catchy, funny, misanthropic, poignant, amazing...

1991 was probably a great year for Richard Thompson. "I Feel So Good" could be heard on countless radio stations. Listeners kept asking "who is this guy" and some maybe even picked up a few of his earlier releases. In that year, and thanks to that song, many many people heard Richard Thompson's music for the first time. Capitol marketed this album like no other Thompson album hitherto. At that time everything probably seemed ok between Thompson and his first major label. He has since fallen out with Capitol. They unceremoniously dumped him after 1999's "Mock Tudor". An indie label, Cooking Vinyl, released his latest CD (also worth a listen) and "Rumor and Sigh" is one of the few albums from Thompson's Capitol years to remain in print.

The album well deserves a continued and long life. From the first to the last song it keeps its delicious solidity. One of the best darn albums openers ever, "Read About Love", hammers out a story about a man who thinks he knows women because he's "read about love". It contains some of Thompson's most entertaining but disturbing lyrics (it's hard to decide if one should laugh or cringe at the story being told): "So Why / Don't You Moan and Sigh? / So Why / Do you sit there and cry? / I do everything I'm supposed to do / If something's wrong it must be you / I know the ways of a woman / I've read about love". This track deserves a place in Thompson's song Hall of Fame. "I Feel So Good", arguably a "hit", is a catchy sadistic number that happily found its way onto the airwaves. How many intelligent musical portraits of sociopaths can one hear on pop radio? Hmm... there are so many... it's easy to lose track... but here's a hint... NEXT TO NONE!!!!

Most, if not all, of the songs on this album stand out like neon on black velvet. Some, however, stand out even more, including: "Grey Walls" with its accurately morbid picture of mental illness; the solo acoustic "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" about a motocycle enthusiast who meets his end in the fine tradition of tragic folk songs; "Keep Your Distance" continues Thompson's almost obsessive theme about obsessive love - anyone and everyone can likely identify with the message here; "God Loves A Drunk" waxes on the problems of life, choices, and religion. The album ends on a very very bizarre and incongruous note. Is "Psycho Street" a pardody? An attempt at humor? An attempt to shock? Juxtaposed with the rest of "Rumor and Sigh" it almost seems misplaced. Nonetheless, Thompson was probably just having fun, which he greatly deserves after producing such an amazing album.

"Richard Thompson for Beginners" would suffice as a subtitle to "Rumor and Sigh". No better album exists to introduce a curious skeptic to Thompson's music. Though a great place to start, it's not a great place to end. This album represents only one mere phase of Thompson's long and diverse career. Hopefully those taken in will look to his other works after lapping this one up. October 3, 2004

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