The book delivers an absolute MUST HEAR before shedding this mortal coil.
Let’s talk Richard and Linda Thompson, I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight!
315 Richard and Linda Thompson – I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
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3 responses to “315 Richard and Linda Thompson – I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”
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Long time listener first time commentator. A couple of comments. I remember a lead review in Rolling Stone of four albums of the Thompsons in which I Want to See the Bright Lights tonight received 5 ⭐️. I agree with everything the panel said it is truly a bleak but brilliant album. Bruce Hornby (?) did a great review in his book of album reviews in which he said something along the lines Thompson’s album is brilliant but you wouldn’t want to live there. My only disappointment is your not commenting on Richard Thompson’s guitar playing. I believe he is often overlooked if not unrecognised as belonging in the pantheon of great electric guitarists.
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Wow I like this track
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This is the saddest fucking album in the world and I absolutely love it. In “Withered and Died” at 25 seconds Linda sings “tells” in such a way that just absolutely breaks my heart. Same thing when she sings “it only costs a pound” one minute into “Down Where the Drunkards Roll”. Chills. Literal chills.
Linda Thompson’s voice is so sad and so beautiful. Richard Thompson is one of my all-time favorite guitarists and plays with a level of emotion and expressiveness that I can’t really think of someone comparable. The sequencing is also really well done. They ease you in a bit with the opening track which is depressing but also kind of fun; then Richard goes HAM on guitar with “Calvary Cross;” and then when you are about to kill yourself after “Withered and Died” they give you “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” and “Down Where the Drunkards Roll” which are incredibly bleak, but fuck-it-let’s-get-drunk bleak, and so bring you up for the second side to break your heart good and proper by the time it gets to “The End of the Rainbow” a song where a baby is informed that life is nothing but misery and that it has nothing to grow up for.
If I had to criticize this album for anything, I’d say that the second side starts off a little slow and “The Great Valerio” is not what I would have chosen for a closer. But those are quibbles. This album is great. Listen to it, get depressed, and have yourself a ball. Or a bawl. Or both.
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