The Richard Thompson Band: Live at Celtic Connections Blu-ray Review
There's no dimming of the day in sight for Richard Thompson.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, February 19, 2012
The Richard Thompson Band Live at Celtic Connections might beg the question: is Richard Thompson's music
really Celtic? That question might in turn beg an even more impertinent one: what exactly
is Celtic
Music? Modern day dilettantes might only know of Celtic Music through the
ersatz PBS pledge week
phenomenon of
Celtic Woman. (Note to these folks: even with Irish tin whistle and fiddle included in the
instrumentation, "My Heart Will Go On" from
Titanic is
not authentic Celtic music.) Other, more worldly
and experienced, types might mention everyone from The Chieftains to Clannad to Alan Stivell to Capercaillie to Deanta
to Aine Minogue to Anuna to The Corrs to, yes, U2 in even a cursory overview of this seemingly indefinable genre (if
genre is even the right word for something so obviously far reaching and varied). Perhaps if Celtic Music is simply seen
as a rather large niche within the larger Folk Music category can its inclusion of so many disparate artists be
understood, and there was arguably no more influential band in the United Kingdom's halcyon era of Folk Music than
Fairport Convention, the band that introduced many people to the particular (and at times, peculiar) charms of one
Richard Thompson. Thompson himself is on record eschewing either the folk or the Celtic labels, stating that he's a
"roots influenced rock 'n' roll guitarist who's still managing to get by after all these years," and, false modesty aside,
that may indeed be the best way to approach and enjoy the incredible variety of music on display in this
Celtic
Connections concert. The "connection" to Celtic Music may be tenuous at best (at least with regard to some of the
selections played here), but Thompson is squarely in a troubadour—even a bard—tradition, full of stories to tell which
spill out of him in often unusually eloquent lyrics and typically arresting and unexpected harmonic changes. Ultimately,
who cares what anyone wants to call this music: Celtic, folk, rock, whatever. It's often fantastic, and Thompson has
lost little of his formidable guitar technique as he moves into his sixties.
As critically loved, even adored, as Richard Thompson is today, it's hard to remember that his first forays away from
Fairport Convention weren't always roundly acclaimed. In fact his first solo album, the evocatively named
Henry the
Human Fly, was rather soundly lambasted at the time of its release, though it has slowly attained at least a
relatively more appreciated status in the intervening years. Thompson went on to a series of albums with his then wife
Linda before reestablishing himself as a solo artist in the early eighties.
The Richard Thompson Band Live at Celtic
Connections covers all of these eras in varying degrees, though the first half of the concert is given over entirely to
Richard's latest album
Dream Attic, an album Richard and his fantastic band spent most of last year touring in
support of.
Thompson's band for this outing includes Michael Jerome on drums, Taras Prodaniuk on bass, Pete Zorn on guitars,
flute, sax and mandolin, and Joel Zifkin on violin and mandolin. Thompson's voice is an acquired taste, and truth be told
his vocal prowess comes and goes throughout this concert, but he has the force of authority even when tonally he's not
quite there. One small quibble with this release is the lack of subtitles, which would have helped to clarify some of
Thompson's redolent lyric writing. But the music is incredibly varied, easily traversing everything from fairly straight
ahead rock to more traditional ethnic sounds that, while perhaps not authentically "Celtic" (and we already know how
broad that term is), still manage to evoke something ancient and perhaps even appropriately Scottish (as per
Thompson's ancestry).
The long and strong rapport between Thompson and his band, some of whom he's played with for years (if not
decades), is almost palpable throughout this concert. Thompson also seems to be having a great time, and jokes in an
understated (and almost inaudible at times) way with the audience, which seems almost surprised that an artist of his
caliber would be so self deprecating, not to mention so approachable and accessible. Several of Thompson's comments
are quite funny, but the audience is strangely reserved and reticent, and never really busts a gut laughing, perhaps out
of some perceived sense of respect. Thompson spends the bulk of this concert playing an electric guitar, but he does
switch out to acoustic for a few numbers, and proves that whatever his instrument, he's lost not of his facility with
increasing age. As problematic as Thompson's voice can be at times, his guitar playing is still near miraculous and is
one of the strongest selling points for this release.
The Richard Thompson Band's set list for this concert includes:
The Money Shuffle
Among the Gorse, Among the Grey
Haul Me Up
Burning Man
Here Comes Geordie
Demons in Her Dancing Shoes
Big Sun Falling in the River
Stumble On
Sidney Wells
A Brother Slips Away
If Love Whispers Your Name
The Angels Took My Racehorse Away
Can't Win
One Door Opens
Al Bowlly's in Heaven
I'll Never Give it Up
Wall of Death
Tear Stained Letter
Take Care the Road You Choose
A Man in Need
The Richard Thompson Band: Live at Celtic Connections Blu-ray, Audio Quality
As is usually the case with these Eagle Rock concert releases,
The Richard Thompson Band Live at Celtic
Connections features three audio options, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix, an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo
mix, and a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. Generally the two lossless tracks offer stellar fidelity, with brilliant
clarity in all of the instruments and in the case of the 5.1 mix a really appealingly wide soundstage that allows the listener
to seemingly "enter" the music. The one major complaint that some audiophiles might have with all of the tracks is the
somewhat muddy sound of having so many low frequencies competing with Thompson's voice, so much so that often his
singing is at least partially incomprehensible. This is really not the fault of the tracks
per se, but might be more
attributable to the mix, and as mentioned above in the main body of the review, the lack of subtitles makes this an
especially bothersome situation. With that caveat in mind, otherwise both of the lossless tracks are extremely enjoyable
and present the Thompson Band's music cleanly and clearly.
The Richard Thompson Band: Live at Celtic Connections Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation
Does it matter what you call music? There are some who insist The Beatles shouldn't properly be called "rock" and instead
belong more squarely in the "pop" category, but when you're listening to something as iconic as a Lennon/McCartney tune,
does it
really matter what category it's in? The same might be said of Richard Thompson's music, and truth be told,
he works such a huge variety of styles in this concert that trying to pigeonhole
Live at Celtic Connections as "this"
or "that" is a losing enterprise. Thompson's music is fun but challenging, and he is both an inveterate storyteller as well as
a piquant social critic. His band sounds magnificent in this outing, and while Thompson's voice is not especially pleasing at
times here, it nonetheless conveys the heart and soul of a true poet, and that ultimately is all that matters. Though
supplementary material here is on the light side, the video is acceptable and the sound is mostly superb.
Recommended.
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