Richard Thompson - Henry the Human Fly (Reis)
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Richard ThompsonEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Import, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2004-07-12
Music Label: Fledg'ling UK
Soundtracks:
- Roll Over Vaughan Williams
- Nobody's Wedding
- The Poor Ditching Boy
- Shaky Nancy
- The Angels Took My Racehorse Away
- Wheely Down
- The New St. George
- Painted Ladies
- Cold Feet
- Mary & Joseph
- The Old Changing Way
- Twisted
Free Music Notes for Henry the Human Fly (Reis)
Free Music Review: Twisted
Hit: 5 Stars
Richard Thompson's first solo album has a lot to recommend it. Not only was it the worst selling album in Warner Bros. history, it was pretty much panned across the board. To top it all off, it's nearly out of print at the moment. I'm sure the Halloween get up on the cover didn't help either. All the more reason to seek this out. No self respecting Richard Thompson fan is complete without it.
It's no surpise that he doesn't quite shake off his Fairport trappings. Most of the band can be found in the credits. Yet, Thompson still manages to find his own voice while keeping Fairport's Medievil contrivences at bay. Mordant, playful and arcanely witty, HENRY is a perfect introduction to "rock's best kept secret". Here, Thompson's able to flesh out what was hinted at in his last outing with Fairport. "Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" was certainly a highlight off of FULL HOUSE and it would have been right at home on HENRY.
While "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" does nothing for Thompson's Doom & Gloom reputation, it's a memorable start. Imagine the reel & jig of Fairport's signature sound cut with early, more acoustic Black Sabbath. If Thompson was concerned with mainstream success, why kick off your first album with a refrain like "live in fear! live in fear!"
"Nobody's Wedding" might come off as a little too cute for it's own good but haunting lines like "why is the wild boy chopping up the floor" come to the rescue. "The Poor Ditching Boy" ranks as one of Thompson's most underrated ballads. Thompson's skill really comes to fore on this one, preceeding later gems like "Beeswing" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" by 20 years.
"The Angels Took My Racehorse Away" may have escaped WATCHING THE DARK's retrospective notice but is nevertheless a Thompson classic. Still a staple in his live shows, his solo here will drop your jaw while his words rip out what's left of your heartstings. A near impossible feat in this day & age. Another neglected standout is "Wheely Down". With lyrics that sound swiped from some prophetic Book of Doom, he hints at a personal, almost inconsolable loss. "Mary & Joseph"'s demetented Salvation Army stylings give Tom Waits a run for his money long before SWORDFISH TROMBONES. By the album's end, you're left "sitting in a bar, face down in a jar". The last line you hear is, "something tells me, I'm twisted".
Not only does Thompson surpass his work with Fairport Convention here, he manages to establish a unique voice for himself. A voice precociously ahead of it's time. From his more recent collaborations with Mitchell Froom on down to classics like BRIGHT & SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS, Thompson travels in a world that is part Dickens, part Poe, and a little Monty Python. And yet, for all of HENRY's tinkers, whores and doomsaying, he still manages to be far more topical than the thousand or so Glam Rock bands of the time. A buried treasure.
Henry the Human Fly (Reis) Poster
As lead guitarist for Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson had helped steer a band that initially emulated American rockers like Jefferson Airplane into an authentic British folk rock institution, swiftly evolving as a powerful songwriter ready to dip back into his own heritage for models. Thompson's first solo album finds him ranging through ballads, jigs, and reels as comfortably as he once had tackled Dylan and Joni Mitchell, tapping British brass bands and reviving old ballad forms and pre-industrial imagery to make his point. From "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" to the jubilant surfer-at-the-track spree of "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away," he gives ample evidence of the musicianship and intelligence that have since made him a cornerstone of folk rock regardless of nationality. --Sam SutherlandFolk Music CDs
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