General Article name: Live from Austin TX
Genre: Folk / Folklore Product type: LP (Vinyl) Label: Rykodisc Number of tracks: 27 Tracklist LP - 1 1. Richard Thompson - Cooksferry Queen 2. Richard Thompson - Uninhabited Man 3. Richard Thompson - Walking the Long Miles Home 4. Richard Thompson - Al Bowlly's In Heaven 5. Richard Thompson - Mingus Eyes 6. Richard Thompson - Dry My Tears & Move On 7. Richard Thompson - Easy There, Steady Now 8. Richard Thompson - Persuasion 9. Richard Thompson - Bathsheba Smiles 10. Richard Thompson - Mr. Rebound 11. Richard Thompson - Ghosts In the Wind 12. Richard Thompson - She Twists the Knife Again 13. Richard Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights 14. Richard Thompson - Crawl Back (Under My Stone) 15. Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning   Tracklist - 2 Thompson, Richard - Mingus eyes Thompson, Richard - Dry My Tears And Move On Thompson, Richard - Easy There Steady Now Thompson, Richard - Persuasion Thompson, Richard - Bathsheba smiles   Tracklist - 3 Thompson, Richard - Mr. Rebound Thompson, Richard - Ghosts in the wind Thompson, Richard - She twists the knife again Thompson, Richard - Shoot Out The Lights   Tracklist - 4 Thompson, Richard - Crawl back (Under my stone) Thompson, Richard - 1952 Vincent Black lightning Thompson, Richard - Put It There, Pal   Description Description

There are few more reliable live performers than Richard Thompson, who never fails to impress on-stage in any context, and in recent years Thompson has been issuing a steady stream of live recordings (available through his website and at live shows), finally filling a void that bootleggers had been attempting to satisfy for some time. Live from Austin, TX is a slightly different animal than most of Thompson's self-released live offerings -- while many of Thompson's live offerings were culled from several dates from the same tour, this is a direct audio recording of the set he played at a taping for the great PBS music series Austin City Limits on July 2, 2001. It's also available through normal retail outlets, which means more people will be able to get hold of it, though in some ways it isn't quite as strong as Semi-Detached Mock Tudor, Thompson's 2002 release which includes much of the same material and a stronger, more dynamic sound mix. Still, there are those who will argue you can't have too many recordings of Thompson singing his songs or offering up his dazzling guitar work, and it's difficult not to agree after giving Live from Austin, TX a spin -- his interplay with bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Michael Jerome is remarkable, his wiry guitar playing is largely sublime (though the version of "Bathsheba Smiles" features that modern rarity, Thompson actually flubbing a phrase!), and the set list strikes a lovely balance between material from Mock Tudor and gems from his back catalog. In short, this disc features Richard Thompson playing 15 excellent songs in concert, and really, how far wrong can you go with that? ~ Mark Deming

Mark Deming

Contributors Artist: Richard Thompson Record Label: New West