Richard and Linda Thompson LIVE 1973: "Once Brave Henry"

If you're a Richard and Linda Thompson fan and you've never heard this boot, make sure you're sitting down before you listen. This is one of the most stupendous ROIOs of all time, IMO. Recorded live at two British folk clubs in 1972 and 1973 (or rather, one club and one university, apparently), it features material from their first duo album, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, a few tunes from RT's solo debut Henry the Human Fly, a Fairport classic, and some magical versions of country, R&B, and trad. folk songs. It's an audience recording, kind of trebly but considering age and rarity, literally music to my ears. And not readily available anywhere else online, methinks...

Tracks 1-17: Memphis Folk Club, Guildford, London, 1973

Tracks 18-23: Durham University, Durham, 16th November 1972

Tracklist in comments.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I85PE9CX

PS If you want to support the artists, and get another great live set from a few years later, check this out.

Richard & Linda Thompson - Sunnyvista (1979)

... but what the heck, we're on a roll -- moody, wordy Brits it is! Here's a really hard-to-find R&LT album from 1979. It was their least successful album, I think, not least due to the tongue-in-cheek-but-not-to-the-untrained-eye cover, parodying a real estate brochure, and the photo on the back of a leering Richard and Linda in medical smocks. Throw in some slabs of beef and baby dolls and you've got a "butcher cover" cover version.

Another reason is its political message and fierce tone, in its overarching theme (and title song) mocking pre-fab middle-class domesticity, and, especially, in the daring militant anthem "Justice in the Streets," with its chanted chorus of "Allah, Allah". These days, putting the words "militant" and "Allah" in the same sentence carries unsavory implications, but this is a social-justice anthem, not a religious screed.

Despite that abrasiveness, this is also one of the most studio-slick albums in the duo's catalog, a state-of-the-art recording for '79. It balances the sharp wit and sound of the above songs with some beautiful ballads, including Lonely Hearts and Sisters, the latter featuring the appropriately sisterly harmonies of Kate [R.I.P.] and Anna McGarrigle (as do two other songs here). Backing vox on other tracks come courtesy of Gerry Rafferty and Squeeze's Glenn Tillbrook. The backups on the aforementioned "Justice", meanwhile, are by two folks named Hafsa Abdul Jabbas and Abdu Rahim.

This is a 320 rip of the 1992 cd on the Carthage label; it has not been reissued since, and I'm not holding my breath -- so here it is on The Rare Stuff!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RX8QAIVB