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Watching The Dark: The History of Richard Thompson
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0031257530323
Format: Box set
Label: Hannibal
Manufacturer: Hannibal
MPN: 575303
Number Of Discs: 3
Publisher: Hannibal
Release Date: May 04, 1993
Studio: Hannibal
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Editorial Review:
Richard Thompson did not achieve overnight his now-acknowledged status as a pillar of British folk-rock, as a towering guitarist, and as a songwriter as distinctive and thematically provocative as any of his contemporaries. As late as 1980 when Thompson already had a formidable dossier of wonderful recordings with Fairport Convention as well as with his then-wife Linda, the would-be folk god was more cult artist than recognizable entity. This superb three-disc retrospective provides an intelligent overview of his evolution, avoiding the conventions of a "hits first" approach (silly in this case) or a completist's preoccupation with chronology and minutiae (dreary move, that). Instead, the discs shuttle back and forth across different period's in Thompson's career, swap excellent live performances and alternate takes for certain tracks, and let the music dictate the flow. That makes Watching the Dark as engaging for life-long Thompson fans as it will surely be for new recruits. --Sam Sutherland
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A Fine Introduction.
This 3 CD set covers Richard Thompson recording career through 1969 until 1992. A mixture of early Fairport Convention, his work with his former wife Linda and solo recordings. Many tracks have not been previously released, most of them live-recordings or alternate versions.
Obviously a 3 CD-set will give a pretty good overview of this period of his career, but some might find it a little confusing that there is no strict chronology in the tracklisting. But musically I think it works ... Read More
Rating: - It's OK by me 4 1/2 ****'s
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 ... Read More
Rating:  - Fans can never be objective...
From an OBJECTIVE reviewer...critically WAY over rated, commercially perhaps underrated, but still forgettable sorta folk music.
Rating:  - Best Of/Rarities mixture
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 ... Read More
Rating: - Had I Known ????!!!!
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 ... Read More
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