1. Time Will Show The Wiser - Fairport Convention, from Fairport Convention 2. Meet On The Ledge - Fairport Convention, from What We Did On Our Holidays (U.K.), Fairport Convention (U.S.) 3. Genesis Hall - Fairport Convention, from Unhalfbricking 4. Crazy Man Michael - Fairport Convention, from Liege & Lief 5. Sloth - Fairport Convention, from Full House 6. Roll Over Vaughn Williams, from Starring As Henry The Human Fly 7. The Poor Ditching Boy, from Starring As Henry The Human Fly 8. The Angels Took My Racehorse Away, from Starring As Henry The Human Fly 9. The Great Valerio - Richard & Linda Thompson, from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 10. When I Get To The Border - Richard & Linda Thompson, from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 11. Withered And Died - Richard & Linda Thompson, from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 12. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight - Richard & Linda Thompson, from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 13. Down Where The Drunkards Roll - Richard & Linda Thompson, from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 14. The Calvary Cross - Richard & Linda Thompson, from I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 15. I'll Regret It All In The Morning - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Hokey Pokey 16. Old Man Inside A Young Man - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Hokey Pokey 17. For Shame Of Doing Wrong - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Pour Down Like Silver 18. Night Comes In - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Pour Down Like Silver
Disc 2
1. Dimming Of The Day/Dargai - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Pour Down Like Silver 2. A Heart Needs A Home - Richard & Linda Thompson, from (guitar, vocal) (U.K.), Live! (More Or Less) (U.S.) 3. Don't Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart - Richard & Linda Thompson, from First Light 4. Strange Affair - Richard & Linda Thompson, from First Light 5. Sunnyvista - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Sunnyvista 6. Sisters - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Sunnyvista 7. Rockin' In Rhythm, from Strict Tempo! 8. Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Shoot Out The Lights 9. Man In Need - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Shoot Out The Lights 10. Shoot Out The Lights - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Shoot Out The Lights 11. Wall Of Death - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Shoot Out The Lights 12. Walking On A Wire - Richard & Linda Thompson, from Shoot Out The Lights 13. Tear Stained Letter, from Hand Of Kindness 14. How I Wanted To, from Hand Of Kindness 15. Hand Of Kindness, from Hand Of Kindness 16. Beat The Retreat (Live), from Small Town Romance (Live/Solo In New York, 1982) 17. I Ain't Going To Drag My Feet No More, from Across A Crowded Room
Disc 3
1. Little Blue Number, from Across A Crowded Room 2. She Twists The Knife Again, from Across A Crowded Room 3. Valerie, from Daring Adventures 4. Turning Of The Tide, from Amnesia 5. I Still Dream, from Amnesia 6. Waltzing's For Dreamers, from Amnesia 7. Read About Love, from Rumor And Sigh 8. I Feel So Good, from Rumor And Sigh 9. I Misunderstood, from Rumor And Sigh 10. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, from Rumor And Sigh 11. Put Your Trust In Me, from Sweet Talker (Original Soundtrack) 12. From Galway To Graceland (Live), from Watching The Dark 13. I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life, from Mirror Blue 14. MGB-GT, from Mirror Blue 15. Mingus Eyes, from Mirror Blue 16. Beeswing, from Mirror Blue 17. Taking My Business Elsewhere, from Mirror Blue 18. King Of Bohemia, from Mirror Blue 19. Don't Roll Those Bloodshot Eyes At Me (Live) - Richard Thompson with Danny Thompson, from Live At Crawley 1993 20. Razor Dance (Voltage Enhanced), from you? me? us?
Disc 4
1. Hide It Away (Voltage Enhanced), from you? me? us? 2. Last Shift - Richard Thompson and Danny Thompson, from Industry 3. Big Chimney - Richard Thompson and Danny Thompson, from Industry 4. Lotteryland - Richard Thompson and Danny Thompson, from Industry 5. Persuasion (Live), from Celtschmerz (Live UK '98) 6. Cooksferry Queen, from Mock Tudor 7. Bathsheba Smiles, from Mock Tudor 8. Hard On Me (Live), from Semi-Detached Mock Tudor 9. G ethsemane, from The Old Kit Bag 10. A Love You Can't Survive, from The Old Kit Bag 11. A Legal Matter (Live), from 1000 Years Of Popular Music 12. Main Title From Grizzly Man Grizzly Man (Original Soundtrack) 13. Al Bowlly's In Heaven (Live), from Live From Austin TX 14. I'll Never Give It Up, from Sweet Warrior 15. Dad's Gonna Kill Me, from Sweet Warrior 16. She Sang Angels To Rest, from Rest Sweet Warrior
as a long time fan (about 40 years) i found this set to be a great overview of richard thompson's career and would easily work as a introduction to the various styles and periods of his work.
A very complete overview Submitted on: 2009-10-05
Now, like some, I have to admit there are a few gripes - why, for example, did they not include "When the Spell is Broken" from Across a Crowded Room? I would have preferred that track to "Little Blue Number," but this is really a minor quibble, on the whole. Everything here is essential RT material, from the early Fairport tracks to the most recent studio cuts from Sweet Warrior; I found the inclusion of tracks from his and Linda's two Chrysalis albums (First Light and Sunnyvista) to be most welcome, as neither is currently in print, and even finding many of the Capitol albums (beyond just the Action Packed anthology, Rumor and Sigh or Mock Tudor) can be a dodgy affair.
So yes, I would like to have seen "When the Spell is Broken" and possibly "Layla" (not the Clapton song) from First Light included, and there is nothing featured from Front Parlour Ballads, but if you have most of the albums already, it may not be entirely necessary. The remastering job here is excellent, however, the track production details not so much. But for someone looking for a solid career-spanning overview of Richard Thompson, Walking on a Wire is otherwise perfect. Well done, Shout! Factory.
The Ultimate Richard Thompson Collection Submitted on: 2009-09-30
Even if you're not a Richard Thompson devotee, there is something for everyone in this excellent compilation of his career.
Absolutely the best intro to the genius of Richard Thompson Submitted on: 2009-08-30
Richard Thompson has been the recipient of a rare honor, a third box set while still at the height of his powers and while still producing quality original music. But I think the case for this particular box set is strong. The first two box sets were not intended for people unfamiliar with Richard Thompson's music, but for long-term fans. Both WATCHING THE DARK and RT contained scads of performances not previously released, and relatively few of his familiar great songs. WALKING ON A WIRE, on the other hand, has virtually all of Thompson's finest music, whether with Fairport Convention, with his ex-wife Linda, or from his solo career. This instantly becomes the number one Richard Thompson album, the one essential introduction to his genius.
I sort of miss the late seventies and early eighties, when some of us who were huge fans could shock people who were unfamiliar with his work by playing them a few of his best songs. Rolling Stone put is well a few years later upon the re-release of several of his best albums, including I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT. They asked people to imagine never having heard of artists of the caliber of Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Hendrix, or Pete Townshend, but that their albums were suddenly released out of nowhere. That was what they compared the release of several of Thompson's best albums twenty years ago. Thompson is astonishing on three levels. First, he is a shockingly great guitarist, admired by his fellow musicians everywhere. Second, he is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in music, his songs performed by many of the world's finest musicians. Third, he is a highly accomplished singer, able to sing his and others' compositions with tremendous passion. As a guitarist, he has few peers. For those who define great guitarists in terms of speed he may not be as impressive as some, but if you define brilliance in terms of musical innovation, he is, in my opinion, the best guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. The musical combinations he comes up sometimes are jaw dropping. His long solos, which he mainly saves for live performances, are astonishing. He might play, for instance, a solo that lasts for two minutes during which he plays continuously two strings at a time. His prowess is so extreme that even the abysmally silly Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists rated him #19 (something that probably embarrassed those in front of him, who all know they can't carry his guitar pick). If you listen to the two solos he plays on the otherwise pretty average song "Hard on Me" from MOCK TUDOR, you hear guitar playing that seems to come from an alternative dimension. Much of the uniqueness of his guitar playing stems from his basing much of his chords on the English folk tradition rather than, unlike nearly every other rock guitarist, American blues. The most impressive thing about Thompson as a guitarist is that he is always willing to subjugate his guitar pyrotechnics to the songs. If the guitar doesn't enhance the song, he doesn't play something merely to be impressive.
Perhaps Thompson's only weakness is that his songs are better than his albums. By that I mean that Thompson has written scores of great songs, but he has few truly great albums. Even his very best albums have weak songs on them. On the other hand, even his worst albums have some great songs. For instance, on YOU? ME? US?, generally considered one of Thompson's worst albums, there is one of my favorite Thompson songs, the heartbreaking "She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair." As a result, his songs are stronger than his albums. Sadly, before now there was never a single collection that put Thompson at his best on display. And Thompson is hardly the only great song writer who potentially is better represented by an anthology than by individual albums. Leonard Cohen has some truly weak albums that nonetheless have some stunning individual songs. This collection shows Thompson at his very vest and it puts his virtues and major quirks as a songwriter. One of the great paradoxes of his songwriting is that he is in concert a funny, warm, compelling, endearing individual, while many of his songs are thunderingly depressing. The most extreme example may be "The End of the Rainbow," a song off I WANT TO SEE TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT, in which the singer addresses a small baby as "a little horror" and after recounting the ways that his or her life situation is a nightmare, tells it in the chorus, "There's nothing at the end of the rainbow/There's nothing to grow up for anymore." In one of the greatest songs -- "Shoot Out the Lights" -- on his and Linda's finest album, he depicts a murderous/suicidal man in the throes of despair. In another song on that same album someone wonders if a person who died was the victim of a suicide or a murder. The darkness of his songs is shown in his first box set, WATCHING THE DARK. When you see Thompson in concert of you hear him interviewed, he comes across as someone passionately in love with life, someone filled with the joy of living. You end up wondering if he is masking a despairing view of life through his light-hearted banter or uses his bleak songs as cathartic release. But alongside the despair are also songs of such heartbreaking beauty that they can sometimes be overwhelming. "Dimming of the Day" is an extraordinarily gorgeous song, one that can function as either a love song to someone who keeps the singer's life from falling to bits (as performed by Richard and Linda or by the Coors or by Emmylou Harris) or a burning blues (as performed by Albert Lee or Bonnie Raitt) or even a hymn (as performed by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, in perhaps my favorite version of the song). (That song also shows up in a surprisingly effective version as part of the diegetic music as performed by diegetic in John Sayles's film LIMBO).
In the past I recommended that anyone interested in learning more about Richard Thompson buy a number of his best discs. A basic Richard Thompson album would consist of UNHALFBRICKING and LIEGE AND LIEF; from his period with Linda I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT and the great classic SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS (and if those please, HOKEY POKEY and POUR DOWN LIKE SILVER); and from his solo period HAND OF KINDNESS, AMNESIA, MOCK TUDOR, and FRONT PALOUR BALLADS. But even at that it leaves out too many great songs. Granted even WALKING ON A WIRE leaves off a lot of great songs, but it leaves off a lot less than buy any 8 or 9 individual Richard Thompson albums. This is not just the best entry into the music of Richard Thompson, it is one of the finest albums you can possibly get.
Finally, I want to address a trend in some mainstream reviews of the album (though not by my fellow reviewers here on Amazon). Some reviewers have complained that the album contains nothing that hasn't been released before. Well, precisely! The one great lack in the discography of Richard Thompson has been a collection of his best work. As I mentioned above, the first two boxed sets focused on previously unreleased material. To complain that a third box set is flawed because it doesn't contain previously unreleased material seems simply absurd. Such a box would not have filled a need. This one does.
Superfluous & Essential Submitted on: 2009-08-29
For those already heavily invested in RT recordings this may be unnecessary. I had the early Fairport stuff, the (guitar, vocal) compilation, the Watching the Dark compilation, the Live at Crawley 1993 set with Danny Thompson and Mirror Blue. This fact put me right on the fence. Watching the Dark really covering some of the best material on this set. Mirror Blue is also well covered here. That being said, this set really has an edge in a couple of regards. Discs filled to the brim with well chosen tracks, chronilogically sequenced, for one. The first rate remastering being another. For me the deciding factor was all the newer material that I did not already have and the price being reasonable. This is a nice encapsulation of a musical journey worth hearing. If you're already invested, go see this guy, "live", again. One way or another, get your RT on. His talent, these songs, they are a deserving tandem. Cheers.
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another great collection