13 Rivers

Those who read my earlier post [ Richard Thompson (Musician) ] know that I only learned of veteran musician Richard Thompson this morning thru a serendipitous series of wanderings on Spotify. After looking at the Wikipedia page on Thompson, I discovered that he's been recording with a number of groups, as well as doing solo work, since the late 60's

Thompson's latest studio album was the 2018 CD 13 Rivers. Before going to his latest, I took a listen to his earlier work to get a better feel for his progression to 13 Rivers.

Three of the 10 singles on Spotify's playlist for Thompson were from his sixth solo album, released in 1991, Rumor and Sigh.The album earned Thompson a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992. This would be a good place to start.

I won't review Rumor and Sigh here, only say that I was impressed. From the earlier album, I went on to his latest. I really like this recording. 

Wikipedia describes it this way:

"13 Rivers was written after a period of difficulty for Thompson's family with songs that stick 'close to a vision of darkness, gloom, and noise'.Thompson explains that the songs were written in a 'fairly tight time period of about six months', giving them a sense of commonality. He states that 'many of these songs came to him as a pleasant surprise and that feeling of grabbing the creative urge and running with it is what comes across throughout the running time' "

In a review written when the CD was first released, the reviewer says that many of Thompson's diehard fans have said that Thompson needs to be heard live to be fully appreciated. Those folks have argued that it's difficult to feel the "strident energy of his stage performance onto a studio album". Well, as that reviewer went on to say, Thompson has managed to produce a high energy recording with this album.

The guitar playing is magnificent. Thompson was certainly not resting on his laurels (or his hardies) on this one. After my recent disappointment with Al Di Meola's latest, I feel like I deserve to be pleasant surprised. I was with 13 Rivers.