Richard Thompson, Front Parlour Ballads - 46m 55s

Tracks & Durations

1. Let It Blow	4:52
2. For Whose Sake?	2:30
3. Miss Patsy	3:57
4. Old Thames Side	4:03
5. How Does Your Garden Grow?	2:09
6. My Soul, My Soul	5:33
7. Cressida	3:26
8. Row, Boys, Row	2:33
9. The Boys of Mutton Street	2:53
10. Precious One	3:48
11. A Solitary Life	4:10
12. Should I Betray?	3:29
13. When We Were Boys at School	3:24

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Review

This selection of largely acoustic, predominately solo performances finds Richard Thompson trading the guitar pyrotechnics of his electric albums for greater intimacy, vocal subtlety, and emphasis on his storytelling lyrics. Though this is Thompson's first acoustic release of all-original material, "Row, Boys, Row" and "The Boys of Mutton Street" could pass as traditional British folk balladry, while the droll humor and stately musical grace of "Miss Patsy" recall some of Thompson's early work with Fairport Convention. The songwriting is as ambitious as the arrangements are minimal, from the bitter misanthropy of the character study in "A Solitary Life" to the bittersweet yearning of "Cressida" to the hypnotic insistence of "My Soul, My Soul." In "Let It Blow," Thompson applies his sharp wit to the tale of a serial husband with a penchant for quickie marriages, as the weddings signal the end of the romance. Even when he turns down the volume, he never tones down the creative intensity. --Don McLeese

Recommended Richard Thompson Discography

Fairport Convention, Unhalfbricking	Fairport Convention, Liege & Lief	Fairport Convention, Full House
Richard & Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight	Richard & Linda Thompson, Shoot Out the Lights	Hand of Kindness

Front Parlour Ballads is almost entirely acoustic, with all instruments but percussion played by Richard Thompson himself. Despite the basic approach, however, this is not a sparse album. His guitar playing is as complex as ever, and the songs stand comparison with any of his best. The opening track, "Let It Blow," is a funny account of a relationship conducted in the grubby glare of the tabloids, and "For Whose Sake?" and "Miss Patsy" are sterling illustrations of Thompson's ability to frame modern sentiments and stories within time-served folk idioms. "Boys of Mutton Street" starts with a riff which is surely intentionally an echo of Thompson's previously best-known acoustic song, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," and "Solitary Life" sounds like it might be Thompson's take on Radiohead's "Fitter Happier." There has been bizarrely little recognition of the possibility, but after the resounding classics Mock Tudor and The Old Kit Bag, Front Parlour Ballads suggests that Thompson may well be in the prime of his long and extraordinary career. --Andrew Mueller

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