The 500 - #332 - Shoot Out The Lights - Richard and Linda Thompson

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

---

Album: # 332

Album Title: Shoot Out The Lights

Artist: Richard and Linda Thompson

Genre: British Folk Rock

Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, U.K.

Released: March, 1982

My age at release: 16

How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? No

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Shoot Out The Lights

There are six Learning Skills on which Ontario Elementary Educators evaluate their students for report cards. Of the six, Collaboration is the skill I spend most of the year helping students foster.

Collaboration is challenging, and an attribute that requires effort to master. It is more than "working with someone." I can work with anyone, especially if the desired outcome is simple, clear and measurable. Washing dishes, cooking a meal, doing  yard work with someone else is  "co-operation" rather than "collaboration". The real test of collaborative skill is co-operating on a creative project – a coming together of minds where input from each determines the outcome.

Recently, I watched the new documentary Get Back. The three-part, eight-hour series covers the making of The Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be, which was their eighth and final studio recording. It is an intimate examination of collaboration -- four creative minds   working toward an album, concert and film project over 21 days in a London studio. The film chronicles the challenges, triumphs, drudgery, levity and frustrations of the creative process. There is a moment when guitarist George Harrison jokingly suggests that his friend Bob Dylan join them in the studio. Bandmate Paul McCartney immediately retorts: "It's bad enough with four of us!"

Shoot Out The Lights is also an interesting product of strained collaboration. It is the sixth and final album from British husband and wife folk-rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It is the second album from the couple on The 500. I wrote about I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, back in July, 2019. It is at position #471.

In 1979, the couple found themselves without a record contract after disappointing sales of their fifth album, Sunnyvista. By 1980, they were touring as the opening act for Gerry Rafferty and working on new material. Rafferty offered to help finance a new record and used his connections at United Artists to help secure a new contract for the Thompsons.

Singer/Songwriter Gerry Rafferty performing with his band (1979)

However, the Thompsons' collaborative relationship with Rafferty was short-lived. The couple, Richard in particular, were unhappy with Rafferty's production work on many of the songs that would, eventually, make up the Shoot Out The Lights record. Consequently, the songs were re-recorded. The original version was eventually leaked as a bootleg recording dubbed Rafferty's Folly.

The relationship between the couple was further strained when Richard began an affair with tour promoter Nancy Covey while Linda was pregnant. By the time the record was finished and released, the couple was separated. They continued to perform together promoting the record, but the relationship was tense. In fact, the acrimony was so apparent on stage that fans of the group labelled it the "Tour From Hell".

Linda & Richard Thompson on stage (1981)

The album, which was filled with songs containing barbed metaphors about their failing marriage, was critically well received. AllMusic magazine praised it as "a meditation on love and loss in which beauty, passion and heady joy can still be found in defeat." 

Much like The Beatles accomplished a decade before them with Let It Be, Richard and Linda Thompson managed to create something remarkable while simultaneously falling apart. Collaboration in a cauldron. It is not ideal, but sometimes it works -- testimony to the value of dedication, talent and creativity.

Truth be told, I think the other Thompson record on The 500 list, I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, is far superior. I am flummoxed by Shoot Out The Lights being rated higher. These thoughts were echoed by podcaster Josh Adam Meyers and a guest, Avery Pearson, on the accompanying episode of The 500 Podcast. It is well worth a listen as the comedic pair, Meyers and Pearson, take Shoot Out The Lights to task in a riotous, one-hour conversation.

The 500 - #471 - Richard & Linda Thompson "I want to see the Bright Lights Tonight"

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

My plan (amended). 

• 1 or 2 records per week & at least 2 complete listens.
• A quick blog post for each, highlighting the important details and a quick background story.
• No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation.

Album # 471

Album Title: I want to see Bright Lights Tonight
Artist: Richard & Linda Thompson
Released: April, 1974
My age at release: 8
How familiar am I with it: Not at all
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix:  I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Co-selected with Claudio S.)
Great Lyric:
You can be a gambler
Who never drew hand
You can be a sailor
Who never left dry land
You can be Lord Jesus
All the world will understand
Down where the drunkards roll. 

A few months ago, when I decided to start writing about these albums, I knew that I would encounter records with which I had limited familiarity.  However, even with Outkast's Aquemini, Biggie's Life After Death, & Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, I had a passing knowledge of the artist & genre. 

This 1974 British Folk Rock album was an entire mystery to me. I hadn't heard of Richard or Linda Thompson and no idea what to expect. As usual, I was pleasantly surprised. However, it took more than three listens for it to grow on me and, if it wasn't for a glowing endorsement by my chum Cladio (who helped pick the Spotify song), I may have stopped and missed out.

I am currently teaching Lego Robotics at Summer Numeracy Camps for 7-9 year olds. This morning, I needed to drive to Woodstock, Ontario (about an hour east of London) at 7:00 am. Traversing quiet, rural roads beneath a rapidly warming sun and alongside summer crops was the perfect backdrop for a final listen before writing this.

As it turns out, Richard Thompson was a member of the band Fairport Convention and I do know one of their songs: Who Knows Where the Time Goes? It's one of those funereal, folk-ballads that reminds me of either Joni Mitchell, or The Mamas & Papas, at their most morose. Even when I was a child, songs from that genre made me feel wistful and empty - like and old man who'd missed out on everything precious - except a sorrowful song that reminded him of things that were no longer possible. 

I had a childhood friend named Todd who loved the song Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks. I'd always listen patiently but, could never understand why we would choose that record when his mother's copy of Elton John's Crocodile Rock was sitting right beside it - full of silly, na-na-na-na-nah fun. 

This record certainly has several languid, forlorn entries ... particularly the painful torment of Withered & Died; but, they are broken up by the infectiously catchy, uptempo groove of the title track, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight. 

Not much more to say about this one - but I can share a few things I learned...

• Richard Thompson became sober shortly after penning Down where the Drunkards Roll. It's a lyrically interesting song because it could be interpreted as a tragic commentary on alcoholism or, a celebration of the non-judgemental community that they share. It sits in perfect contrast to the celebratory optimism of the title track - almost like two sides of the "let's go out for some drinks" coin.
• The 2004 Bonus CD (& Spotify version) contain a live version of The Calvary Cross which truly highlights Richard Thompson's guitar skills (and the reason Rolling Stone ranks him #69 on their list of greatest guitar players).
• The album features the Crumhorn a bassoon-ish wind instrument from the Renaissance. (Bet you didn't know you were going to learn that word today?)