|
|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 157 responses total. |
mcnally
|
|
response 56 of 157:
| 
Jun 17 23:20 UTC 2002 |
Someone was kind enough to send me another recent live Thompson release,
a copy of "Two Letter Words" that they'd picked up at a show and had
autographed for me. Pretty good performances, and much appreciated for
the live versions of stuff from the "Mirror Blue" album. I despised the
Froom-produced studio versions so much that it's nice to see my opinion
confirmed that the album had some good songs underneath all of the
execrable production.
|
krj
|
|
response 57 of 157:
|
Jun 18 02:30 UTC 2002 |
That's some new definition of the term "recent..."
The Richard Thompson website says that "Two Letter Words" dates
from 1994. :) There have now been four of the official bootlegs.
|
mcnally
|
|
response 58 of 157:
|
Jun 18 02:45 UTC 2002 |
Looks like the shows where it was recorded took place in 1994 but I don't
recall seeing it for sale at the last RT show I went to (Seattle, 2000..)
so I was assuming the CD was compiled and released after that. I'm probably
wrong..
Anyway, they're good performances..
|
dbratman
|
|
response 59 of 157:
|
Jun 19 21:30 UTC 2002 |
In this sort of music, 1994 is ultra-recent.
|
krj
|
|
response 60 of 157:
|
Jun 19 23:22 UTC 2002 |
Re: RT official bootlegs selling at concerts: I think a couple of things
have happened. First, RT is no longer under a contract with a major
label in the USA. Major labels don't generally want their artists
selling CDs at gigs because it makes the CD retailers unhappy
about the competition, assuming that the artists' CDs have anything
resembling decent distribution.
Second, with the opening of an official web-site, I think RT
has brought the authorized bootlegs "in-house," so to speak.
The first three such discs were done on the Flypaper imprint by
Frank Kornelussen for the very-loosely-organized RT fan club.
But the 2002 release is on Beeswing Records, which would appear
to be RT's own, new, label.
|
mcnally
|
|
response 61 of 157:
|
Jun 19 23:41 UTC 2002 |
Isn't this a hopeful sign of things working out the way that technology
optimists say they should: technology empowering the skilled but
marginalized musician to bypass the major labels and distributors to
make a go of it by selling directly to the listeners?
RT definitely isn't the first to go this way, but I sure hope it works
out for him..
|
krj
|
|
response 62 of 157:
|
Jun 25 21:28 UTC 2002 |
The new Maddy Prior CD is due out on July 8 or so in the UK.
It's billed as Maddy Prior & The Girls, the title is BIB AND TUCK,
and the track list on amazon.co.uk looks promising.
I don't know what the state of Park Records distribution is in the USA;
it'll probably be just as cheap to order it from amazon.co.uk, since
after the VAT refund it should be about 10.5 UKP.
|
krj
|
|
response 63 of 157:
|
Aug 5 04:06 UTC 2002 |
More dinosaur news:
Linda Thompson, ex-wife of Richard, has a new album out on Rounder,
her first releast in 17 years, titled FASHIONABLY LATE.
Lots of press coverage: the BBC has an interview with her on their
web site, and Carson mentioned that NPR's weekend morning edition
had a feature on her today.
Peter Knight's website reports that there will be a Steeleye Span
tour (UK only) and album late this year. The lineup, if I remember
correctly, will be: Maddy Prior, Peter Knight, Bob Johnson, Rick Kemp,
Liam Gennocky on drums. Essentially this is the classic, and also late
1980s, lineup, with a few changes: Tim Hart's never coming back,
apparently old drummer Nigel Pegrum isn't either, and longtime bassist
Kemp (Mr. Maddy Prior) replaces Tim Harries, who held the bass slot
for the late 1980s and 1990s.
The album will be re-recorded "greatest hits," selected by fans who
voted at the Park Records web site.
Other than that, I'll just mention that we love the new Coope Boyes
& Simpson album.
|
krj
|
|
response 64 of 157:
|
Aug 12 21:04 UTC 2002 |
I've just been handed a note listing a Linda Thompson appearance
at the Ark for October 21.
|
carson
|
|
response 65 of 157:
|
Aug 15 03:57 UTC 2002 |
(the NPR piece on Linda Thompson can be heard in RealAudio at
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/wesun/20020804.wesun.18.ram. it's a twelve
minute piece that includes snippets from the album.)
|
carson
|
|
response 66 of 157:
|
Aug 31 16:32 UTC 2002 |
(CNN.com has an article on Linda Thompson this weekend.)
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/31/arts.us.linda.thompson.ap/i
ndex.html
(note that the URL wraps.)
|
krj
|
|
response 67 of 157:
|
Sep 1 23:25 UTC 2002 |
Thanks carson! I didn't expect to see such a nice story about Linda
in the mainstream, since her commercial presence is almost nonexistent.
|
anderyn
|
|
response 68 of 157:
|
Sep 3 00:18 UTC 2002 |
Linda and Teddy Thompson are coming to the Ark in October or November.
|
scott
|
|
response 69 of 157:
|
Sep 3 00:41 UTC 2002 |
Linda Thompson is listed for Oct. 21.
|
krj
|
|
response 70 of 157:
|
Sep 8 01:35 UTC 2002 |
NP: MacAlias, HIGHWIRED. A duo of two Scottish women, Gill Bowman &
Karine Polwart. Karine is better known as the singer for Malinky,
a hot new Scottish traditional band; in this act, they are doing
mostly singer-songwriter originals with a faint tinge of country,
with a couple of songs by Trad or Robert Burns mixed in.
I didn't like this at all on first listen many months ago, but
it sounds better today.
|
krj
|
|
response 71 of 157:
|
Oct 26 10:29 UTC 2002 |
Very nice Linda Thompson article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10562-2002Oct24.html
|
dbratman
|
|
response 72 of 157:
|
Oct 29 00:05 UTC 2002 |
I didn't even know about her longstanding voice problems.
|
krj
|
|
response 73 of 157:
|
Dec 9 03:59 UTC 2002 |
Geezer news: the new Steeleye Span album should be out.
http://www.parkrecords.com/ss7.htm
The title is "Present: The Very Best of Steeleye Span" and it's
new recordings of their favorite tracks as selected by a
website poll. It's a 2-cd set with 17 tracks.
I forget all the details of the lineup, but Maddy Prior is back in
the band as the only female voice, and Bob Johnson is back on
electric guitar. There is a somewhat alarming report that
Johnson dropped out of the December tour due to "a minor heart
condition," being replaced for the tour by a recent Albion Band
guitarist, Ken Nicol.
There's also a report that the Albion Band has broken up, after about
15-20 years of more-or-less continuous existence and with a career
going back to about 1972. The various Albion Bands were Ashley Hutchings'
third great folk rock band, after he'd been involved in the founding
of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. The Albion work from the 1970s
is some of the greatest British folk-rock; the band was wildly uneven in
the early 1980s (Twila likes this period, but I gave up on them for
a few years) and then rallied at the end of the 1980s before the wheels
fell off in the 1990s. The last few Albion CDs I bought were
pretty dire; I don't even try to buy them all any more.
|
anderyn
|
|
response 74 of 157:
|
Dec 9 15:08 UTC 2002 |
I do like early 1980s Albion, but I also like earlier Albion. I agree that
1990s Albion is not so good. :-)
I'm looking forward to the new Steeleye. (Will have to see if it's available
Stateside.) Nice lineup of songs and folks.
|
krj
|
|
response 75 of 157:
|
Dec 9 20:10 UTC 2002 |
I wouldn't expect US distribution until after Christmas; the album was
only released at the end of December. Park Records may still be having
US distribution problems: I don't recall having seen Maddy's last
two albums (GOLD FRANKINCENSE & MYRRH and BIB & TUCK) in American bins.
(Park's previous US distributor, if I remember correctly, went out
of business maybe a year ago?)
|
dbratman
|
|
response 76 of 157:
|
Dec 9 22:17 UTC 2002 |
Well, I hope PRESENT is a good album. The return of Prior is a good
sign, because I didn't like the sans-Prior albums at all. I very much
liked the Harries-Genocky rhythm section period, and I wonder what a
Kemp-Genocky one will sound like. (The web page says "a classic and
much-loved line-up", but these two guys never played together in a
regular Steeleye lineup.)
As for the selection of tracks, there's not a one I dislike, though
there are certainly a few I'd be happy to dump in favor of others
omitted which I like much better. Of course "Gaudete" and "Long
Lankin" are there, the two songs without which no Best of pre-reunion
Steeleye could be complete, and it's amusing to see "King Henry" (which
I've always considered a rough draft for "Long Lankin") there as well.
Interesting that there's only one post-reunion song, though: "Let Her
Go Down", which I suppose is one of the better non-Prior numbers from
SAILS OF SILVER.
|
krj
|
|
response 77 of 157:
|
Dec 11 22:19 UTC 2002 |
Mike Harding (BBC Radio 2 folk show host) played "Blackleg Miner"
from the new Steeleye album on today's show. It's the opening track,
so if you can find the show on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2
you can go right to it.
It's always great to hear Maddy's voice, and I'm sure I'll buy this
eventually, but the instrumentals were kind of blah, and I'm in no
rush.
David: I've never had any patience for the song "Let Her Go Down,"
it always triggers a bit of a gag reflex. The English Country Blues
Band has a *much* better shipwreck song, "Wreck of the Northfleet;"
of course, they didn't write that one, it comes from an old broadsheet.
|
dbratman
|
|
response 78 of 157:
|
Dec 13 20:22 UTC 2002 |
Ken, I wouldn't mind if you gagged at the entirety of SAILS OF SILVER,
but I don't see where "Let Her Go Down" is worthy of being singled
out. For me, the most gaggy moment on the entire album is one line
in "Gone to America": "I asked if I could see him, and they said no."
Hm, it seems stupider in context.
Anyway, the whole album is inferior examples of songs done better when
they were adapted from folk sources. I'm sure that "Wreck of the
Northfleet" is a better shipwreck song than "Let Her Go Down". Heck,
even "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a better shipwreck song
than "Let Her Go Down" (despite its own famously gaggy line, "As the
big freighters go, it was bigger than most"). But "Let Her Go Down"
hardly stands out on SAILS in respect of better examples. How
about "Longbone" as the poorest ever Bob Johnson monster song, eh?
|
dbratman
|
|
response 79 of 157:
|
Dec 13 20:24 UTC 2002 |
I should add also that while I was, and continue to be, tremendously
impressed by the instrumentals of Steeleye's Genocky period in the new
songs, I haven't been so impressed by most of their remake songs. A
couple of exceptions: "Padstow" on TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT worked a bit
better than the original, and "Twa Corbies" on TIME is just amazing.
|
krj
|
|
response 80 of 157:
|
Jan 6 20:41 UTC 2003 |
From a UK mail order firm I have an announcement of an
upcoming Richard Thompson album: "The Old Kit Bag," due early
February in the UK. No further info yet.
|
