“I think in life you go through enough shit to last you a lifetime of creativity usually. You know most writers have a large fund to draw on of the ups and downs of life.”

RICHARD THOMPSONS’ NEW ALBUM IS HIS MOST POLITICAL TO DATE.

BY BRIAN WISE

Richard Thompson is a worried man, although he would never show it. Given the accolades he has received you would hardly think that this is musician who would have much to worry about. But somewhere percolating in Thompson’s subconscious there are some deep, dark themes that occasionally come to the surface when he releases a new recording.

Thompson’s new album, Sweet Warrior, is about war – but in all its forms: military, domestic, psychological. The very title of the album conjures up images. The cover shot of young boy dressed up in uniform and the booklet’s back cover shot of a blackened soldier being kissed by two models is redolent with meaning.

The album includes Thompson’s most overtly political song to date with the ambiguously titled ‘Dad’s Gonna Kill Me’ about the war in Iraq (Baghdad being one of the ‘dads’). It just happens to be the most powerful song about that conflict to date. The lyrics are graphic (‘they’ll be shovelling bits of you into a sack’) and it ranks as one of the most powerful anti-war songs of the modern era. ‘At least we’re winning on the Fox Evening News’ he observes.

It is obviously a subject which weighs heavily on Thompson’s mind and, being British but also a resident of the United States, the song’s release is a brave move in the era of George W Bush.

‘Guns Are Tongues’ takes an even more personal look at the effects of war and terrorism in what one presumes is a story about the IRA.  So Thompson is hardly shirking the hard subjects. His songs are potent vignettes with lyrics that avoid clichés and challenge the listener. It is forty years since Thompson first played with Fairport Convention yet he has never forgotten the fact that great songs are grounded in reality and reflect a life that is far more complex than that usually covered in a three-minute pop song.

The album’s opener ‘Needle And Thread’ is deceptive in its jauntiness as it deals with the theme of loneliness. This is followed by the slower ‘I’ll Never Give Up’ (and let us hope he does not) could easily be about a character from his own career. The ska-infused ‘Francesca,’ featuring Joe Sublett’s tenor sax and a mighty guitar solo, could be read as being about the modern media.

The stunning ballad ‘Take Care The Road You Choose’ is a cautionary tale that is almost deceptively gorgeous. ‘Mr Stupid’ is a bitter letter from an ex to his former wife. ‘Poppy Red’ is a story of lost love. ‘Sneaky Boy’ might be about Tony Blair. Or it might not. Amusingly, the main character in ‘Johnny’s Too Far Away’ joins a band called The Drones, the song harking back to some of Thompson’s more traditional days, with a modern twist. ‘She Sang the Angels To Rest’ is a tender love song which contrasts sharply with ‘Too Late To Come Fishing’ and its reference to ‘a vixen’ and a chump’ who has his revenge in rejection.

The CD booklet includes Edmund Spenser’s Sonnet LVII in which he proclaims ‘Sweet warrior when shall I have peace with you?’ and closes with ‘make peace therefore, and graunt me timely grace/That al my wounds will heale in little space.’ Thompson’s songs seem as much therapy for him as they are enlightening for us.

There is so much to digest in Sweet Warrior that you almost forget that Thompson’s main claim to fame is his guitar playing which remains stunningly inventive, often beautiful and moving and always interesting. On the joyously ragged ‘Bad Monkey’ (read anything you like into the lyrics here) Thompson’s playing is so positively frenetic yet so crisp that I am reminded of all those so-called heavy rock guitar players who throw away notes with abandon as if they mean nothing, all technique and no feeling. On this one song we are treated with three solos as good as anything you are likely to hear anywhere this year.

This is Thompson’s first band album in four years and a welcome return to a setting in which his guitar playing is given full reign to express itself. A superb supporting cast also includes famed bassist Danny Thompson, drummer Michael Jerome, rhythm guitarist Michael Hays, Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins and backing singer Judith Owen.

The album also arrives after what has been an almost frenzied period of activity. Over the past few years we have been treated to the excellent box set The Life And Music of Richard Thompson, the wry 1000 Years Of Popular Music, the soundtrack to Grizzly Man and the acoustic album Front Parlour Ballads, along with the Austin City Limits CD and DVD. There was even a BBC documentary about the revered guitarist, Solitary Life. We have also heard him on son Teddy’s most recent albums

It seems that whenever Thompson’s name is mentioned it comes with descriptions such as ‘under-rated,’ ‘cult’ or ‘not as famous as he should be.’ (Fill in your own description here). It seems to me that the fact that, forty years after his first professional outings, Thompson is still making great albums and maintains his reputation as one of the world’s finest guitarists is a triumph in itself and one that should be celebrated.

I spoke to Richard Thompson by phone the week of Sweet Warrior’s release. He was at his home in Los Angeles just prior to undertaking an extensive fifty-date American and European tour (including the Cropredy Festival).

You can read the full RichardThompson interview in July Rhythms. Subscribe online now.