{"id":751,"date":"2011-01-21T13:53:02","date_gmt":"2011-01-21T13:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/?p=751"},"modified":"2011-01-21T13:57:31","modified_gmt":"2011-01-21T13:57:31","slug":"richard-thompson-obe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/richard-thompson-obe\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Thompson OBE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is an extended version of the interview that appears in today’s Nottingham Post<\/a>. You can read the shorter version here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Richard Thompson is in Manchester, about to embark on three days of band rehearsals for his new tour, which comes to Nottingham next Thursday. He doesn\u2019t like rehearsals generally, but this time should be more straightforward than usual. For his new album Dream Attic<\/em> was recorded on the road, in the USA last year (quote about advantages\/disadvantages).<\/p>\n

\u2018People often come up to me after shows and say the studio versions are great but we prefer the live versions of songs. So this one\u2019s looser. There\u2019s the odd mistake on there. I hadn\u2019t realised that it would involve so much work for the band. In the studio you can focus on one song at a time, do retakes, overdubs, fix stuff pretty much anywhere you want to. When you\u2019re doing it live you pretty much have to learn 75 minutes of music then play it flawlessly. We chose the best versions from eight nights. We didn\u2019t want to do a lot of tweaking with the finished results, so there are mistakes, some tuning issues, but the upside is that you get the energy from the audience.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another upside is that he\u2019s touring with the same band, so the rehearsals can be cut down from three days to two. \u2018I hate rehearsals. The process is usually as short as possible.\u2019 He chooses which old songs to play in advance but \u2018often I\u2019m wrong and we swap songs around as the tour continues. You think you know the pace of the show but sometimes you need a bit more energy and sometimes you need something that\u2019s slower and more reflective.\u2019<\/p>\n

Thompson has a thorough approach to gigging, keeping a card index (\u2018haven\u2019t got this computerised yet\u2019) where he notes every song played at every show, including all of his visits to Nottingham. \u2018If I\u2019ve played twenty shows over thirty years in a town, it\u2019s nice to know exactly what I\u2019ve played so that I can tweak the set to suit the audience. Especially in acoustic shows.\u2019 His most memorable Nottingham visits were the two acoustic shows he did at the Old Vic in the 1980\u2019s. \u2018That was always fun.\u2019 I write these set lists and it\u2019s a bit of a fantasy really, a security blanket. I get to the third number and throw them out of the window, and play what I feel like or the audience start shouting requests and I do requests. But at least I have a plan, even if I don\u2019t stick to it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Does he have trouble remembering all the songs from his vast repertoire.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is hard, without resorting to autocues and that kind of thing. Sometimes I have to admit defeat and say I can\u2019t remember a particular song. But if I\u2019ve written four or five hundred songs, the audience is only going to request from 250 of those and more likely from 150. So I can just about know 150 songs.<\/p>\n

How does he feel his songs have changed over the years.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019ve evolved some. I think I\u2019m a better songwriter than I used to be. I\u2019ve explored more areas and I\u2019ve got to some stranger places. Your songs have to be accessible to an audience but, having said that, it\u2019s rewarding to write a song where you think no-one\u2019s been in this area before<\/em>. It\u2019s a different chord sequence or a different kind of topic. <\/em>But it\u2019s hard for me to say how I\u2019ve evolved. I\u2019m not sure I have perspective on what I do in that way.\u2019<\/p>\n

I tell him I\u2019ve just been listening to his son Teddy\u2019s new album, \u2018Bella\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Great singer, great writer, great musician. New album\u2019s probably his strongest album and it\u2019s good to see him getting some success. Fantastic.\u2019<\/p>\n

I mention seeing his daughter Kami support Tim Robbins in Nottingham last year and ask whether there are any more Thompson family musicians in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u2018My son, Jack, who\u2019s nineteen, is an extremely good bass player. Plays with various bands. My grandson, Zack, is seventeen. He\u2019s an excellent singer and guitar player.\u2019<\/p>\n

We discuss the relatively few covers of his work. He\u2019s pleased that he\u2019s had a few country hits and enjoys covers of his work on the UK folk scene, but his favourite cover is of early song \u2018The Great Valerio\u2019, as covered by Swan Arcade, a three piece, unaccompanied group. His favourite of all of his albums is \u2018Mock Tudor\u2019. ‘It got very close to my intentions. On that album, we got lucky and a lot of things worked really well in the studio.’ He feels that his most under-rated album is one he made with Phil Pickett and the guys from Fairport, \u2018The Bones Of All Man\u2019, a synthesis of early music and rock music. ‘I think that\u2019s just a fantastic record, really exciting and original.<\/p>\n

I congratulate him on being awarded an OBE. Was it a surprise?<\/p>\n

\u2018Totally. A shock.\u2019 Was it odd, getting it from a Tory government? \u2018It\u2019s not a political thing. I think this comes from a different kind of committee and had nothing to do with government. It\u2019s recommendations from the community.\u2019 He hasn\u2019t voted in the UK for a while. \u2018I live away and it would feel hypocritical to do so. But I used to vote Labour, and I would today.\u2019<\/p>\n

Since leaving Fairport in 1969, he has not been tempted to join another band, apart from helping out with friends like the late Sandy Denny and Fairport reunions. But is it true that he was asked to join The Eagles?<\/p>\n

\u2018Apparently, yes. A request came through management.\u2019<\/p>\n

And you turned it down.<\/p>\n

(Exasperated American teen voice). \u2018Well yeah.\u2019 (Back to normal, sardonic voice). \u2018Who wants to be really rich and famous?\u2019<\/p>\n

Is there any band after Fairport that you might have been tempted to join?<\/p>\n

‘There were a lot of things that I could have done that would have seemed more like a job, something to pay the rent while I was doing other things. But I\u2019ve always wanted to pursue my own musical direction and I\u2019ve always been able to just about earn a living doing that.\u2019 He worked on tours with Sandy Denny and Iain Matthews but \u2018to be in a more serious band would have been a distraction. I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t have to do that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Does he still have any ambitions left to fulfil?<\/p>\n

‘A lot. It\u2019s difficult to talk about because it\u2019s really about projects that I\u2019m envisioning in the future. It doesn\u2019t involve other people, like collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin or something. It\u2019s stuff that I\u2019m still figuring out how to do or how to structure. So it\u2019s just kind of personal stuff and not stuff I can talk about really.\u2019<\/p>\n

I pass on James Windsor\u2019s offer for him to play an acoustic warm-up show at The Maze for Cosmic American Music and keep all the door receipts (\u2018I\u2019ll bear it in mind\u2019) and make a suggestion for an old song I\u2019ve never heard him do that he might slip into the set next week (\u2018A Heart Needs A Home\u2019), which gets an equally cagey response. Then our time is over. You have to be wary of meeting your heroes, but this was a treat. After listening to his music for thirty-five years, I just spent half an hour talking to Richard Thompson and, though I must have seen him play twenty times, I can\u2019t wait to see what his new tour will be like. Here’s my favourite track from the new album with another from the album that Richard told me was his favourite, ‘Mock Tudor’. This is one of the bitter, dark songs that takes Richard into territory that only writers like Randy Newman cover regularly. There’s another cracking Richard song in the post below. On Sunday, I’ll be paying tribute to another fine singer\/songwriter from Richard’s generation, one who’s about to turn 70.<\/p>\n

Stumble On – Richard Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

Richard Thompson – Hope You Like the New Me<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is an extended version of the interview that appears in today’s Nottingham Post. You can read the shorter version here. Richard Thompson is in Manchester, about to embark on three days of band rehearsals for his new tour, which comes to Nottingham next Thursday. He doesn\u2019t like rehearsals generally, but this time should be more straightforward than usual. For his new album Dream Attic was recorded on the road, in the USA last year (quote about advantages\/disadvantages). \u2018People often come up to me after shows and say the studio versions are great but we prefer the live versions of songs. So this one\u2019s looser. There\u2019s the odd mistake on there. I hadn\u2019t realised that it would involve so much work for the band. In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-songs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions\/758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}