Watching The Dark: The History of Richard Thompson

Artist: Richard Thompson
Label: Hannibal
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Box set
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 3

UPC: 031257530323
EAN: 0031257530323
ASIN: B00000064O

Release Date: 1993-05-04

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Listmania:

Albums Without a Hint of American Idol About Them
albums I return to again and again
Desert Island CD's - A Baker's Dozen
Bonuses & guest appearances of Richard Thompson Part 2 of 4
The Genius of Richard Thompson
My favorite modern folk CD's, and then some...
Top Five Songs (and the albums they are on)
MY BEST IN ROCK BLUES AND JAZZ
Odd Guitar Sounds
Best Albums Ever

Tracks:

A Man In Need
Can't Win
Waltzing's For Dreamers
Crash The Party
I Still Dream
Bird In God's Garden / Lost And Found
Now Be Thankful
A Sailor's Life
Genesis Hall
The Knife-Edge
Walking On A Wire
Small Town Romance
Shepherd's March / Maggie Cameron
Wall Of Death

Tracks:

For Shame Of Doing Wrong
Back Street Slide
Strange Affair
The Wrong Heartbeat
Borrowed Time
From Galway To Graceland
Tear Stained Letter
Keep Your Distance
Bogie's Bonnie Belle
Poor Wee Jockey Clarke
Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair
Dimming Of The Day
Old Man Inside A Young Man
Never Again
Hokey Pokey (The Ice Cream Song)
A Heart Needs A Home
Beat The Retreat

Tracks:

Al Bowlly's In Heaven
Walking Through A Wasted Land
When The Spell Is Broken
Devonside
Little Blue Number
I Ain't Going To Drag My Feet No More
Withered And Died
Nobody's Wedding
The Poor Ditching Boy
The Great Valerio
Twisted
Calvary Cross
Jennie
Hand Of Kindness
Two Left Feet
Shoot Out The Lights

Similar Items:

Action Packed: Best of the Capitol Years
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Front Parlour Ballads
Hand of Kindness
Henry the Human Fly

Customer Reviews:

It's OK by me 4 1/2 ****'s.......2006-06-26

This three disk set is a perfect dose of Richard Thompson for a modest fan of the singer/songwriter/ guitarist extrodinaire's vast talented career. It falls right in the middle of The Best of Richard and Linda Thompson:The Island Years or Action Packed and the recent mega box set RT; The life and Music of Richard Thompson.

For someone like myself, who owns quite a few Thompson disks, it provides a number of live and alternative takes on some of the classics that I already have in my collecton, as well as fills in the blanks on some of the more obscure albums that I don't yet own, as well as provide some solid songs that are previously unreleased. I can see where some fanatics may have some of these items, thus making it a somewhat redundant package. On the other hand, I can see it frustrating someone who is just beginning to explore Thompson's vast catalog. It does jump around a bit, thus frustrating those who look for continuity of performance.

Nobody should find fault in the numerous great performances included here such as a cathartic version of CAN'T WIN, the sublime WALTZINGS FOR DREAMERS or the haunting A BIRD IN GOD'S GARDEN. This set does a great job of hitting the highlights from the Fairport years through the Richard and Linda era, all the way to his solo works of the early ninties.

As with all box set type compilations, WATCHING THE DARK is not going to be 100% of what one is looking for. You may find that there are too many live cuts and rarities at the expence of original "hits", or complain that certain favorites have been omitted. I know that there are a few songs I'd like to see, but all in all I'm quite happy to enjoy the over three hours of fine music included here. It's not perfect, but then, what is?

Fans can never be objective..........2006-04-25

From an OBJECTIVE reviewer...critically WAY over rated, commercially perhaps underrated, but still forgettable sorta folk music.

Best Of/Rarities mixture.......2006-01-12

Although this emerged on Rykodisc's Hannibal label, it includes material first released on Island, Rhino, Capitol, Elixir, Chrysalis and Polydor, and spans the period 1969 to 1992, bringing it up to date at the point of its original release. This means that nothing has been unearthed from Richard Thompson's musical life prior to Fairport Convention (a couple of songs on the eponymous debut album were written during this period) or from Fairport's first, relatively underground couple of years, before they re-invented folk rock.
One major highlight is a long, previously unheard outtake of A Sailor's Life performed by the band alone, with Sandy Denny's wonderful vocal. The official Unhalfbricking version featured a guest appearance on fiddle from future band member Dave Swarbrick, and he is featured on lead vocal and fiddle on their 1970 non-album single Now Be Thankful, in a stereo mix. The other included Fairport track is Genesis Hall, originally the flip of Si Tu Dois Partir and readily available on Unhalfbricking and on compilations.
This pinpoints one of the flaws with this collection, in that it mixes previously unavailable or hard to find material with regular album tracks which Thompson followers are likely to already have. Over one hour 40 minutes, or approximately half of this box set is taken directly from albums, something that needs to be factored in when considering purchase.
Care has been taken to show Richard Thompson's considerable range, both in his songwriting and in his mastery of both acoustic and electric guitars. An explosive live version of Tear Stained Letter has some blistering, giddying guitar solos. He is also shown dabbling in a number of other instruments and, of course, exploring various musical styles. These are less successful when he moves towards the mainstream, as he does latterly in too much of this collection, and at their best when he utilises the fabulous interpretive skills of Linda Thompson, whose vocals on their joint seventies output is just matchless. Almost half of the 16 Richard and Linda Thompson tracks are not taken from their albums and make a strong argument in favour of this box set. Of course, if you are new to his work, and the price is right, there is no need to hesitate.

Had I Known ????!!!!.......2006-01-05

Another reviewer gave this collection 2 stars because they were disappointed that many of the tracks were sung by Linda Thompson.Wha...!Did they not know that almost a decade of Richard's career was spent making records with his former wife.Or that many of his finest songs were originally recorded with Linda providing the lead vocal.How could the inclusion of several (previously rare)tracks featuring one of the most lovely and distinctive voices in the history of folk-rock make this set anything less than a treasure.JB, please go back to your Paul McCartney & Al Stewart discs and reel with shock that they suck even though neither artist has made a worthwhile album in decades.Leave Richard (& Linda)Thompson to those who are not tone-deaf.

Had I Known.......2005-12-27

Had I known that many of these songs were sung not by Richard but by Linda I never would have purchased this set.It does say RT on the set.Not Linda Thompson.If I buy a 3 disc set by Bob Dylan then I expect to hear Bob Dylan.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Vanguard Sampler ~ Various Artists

Strange & Beautiful ~ Crimson Glory

Nattferd ~ Ragnarok

Trigana ~ Kabul Workshop

Pop ~ Joachim Witt

Te Lo Dice Camaron ~ El Camar%C3%B3n de la Isla

Acoustic Blend

Sina De Cantador ~ Maciel Melo

Cinema Classics: American Romance ~ Various Artists

John Flynn ~ John Flynn