Head Butler - Music

Watching the Dark
Richard Thompson

I spent 22 years in the concert business, and three years prior to that in radio, so I am often asked what was the best show I've ever seen (a tie between the Boss and Prince), the worst show (Sting, because of the expectation/disappointment ratio), and just who is my favorite guitar player.

With no disrespect to Messrs. Hendrix, Clapton, Knopfler or Vaughan, and without hesitation, the answer to that last query will always be Richard Thompson. All this stated while admitting that I'm not a big fan of folk music, which encompasses half his repertoire. One could listen to this guy practicing his scales.

Richard Thompson first engaged the public's ear as the teenage guitarist for Fairport Convention. He has never lost his interest in Celtic music, but it is the rock n roll RT that I have come to praise. I am not alone in this adulation. REM, Bonnie Raitt, X, David Byrne, Dinosaur Jr. (whatever became of them?) and Los Lobos all appeared on the tribute album to RT, “Beat the Retreat.” Nicholas Hornby raved about RT in his novel “High Fidelity.”

The first thing to do when opening a new RT CD is to listen to any track longer than five minutes. This length guarantees a sizzling, innovative guitar break. On 1993's “Watching the Dark" --- 3 CD compilation that should be in every musical library --- there is a live, rocking version (as opposed to the live acoustic version that appears in future years) of “Tear Stained Letter.” Four minutes into this tune comes, arguably, the best guitar playing you will ever hear. You would think he is trading licks with two or three fellow guitarists, but it's just RT at his best. This compilation also includes terrific live versions of “Calvary Cross,” “Shoot Out the Lights” and “Can't Win”--- any one of these songs would justify the purchase of this CD.

"Richard Thompson could say more in one line than I could in a whole song," John Mellencamp has said. But musicians don't live by riffs alone. There just isn't much there, there, without lyrical content (case in point: Cream).

RT has had a tumultuous life and a very public marriage and divorce. Those experiences have inspired his finest work. (Isn't that always the case?)

Anyone who suffered a failed relationship can relate to “When the Spell is Broken."

no kiss,
no tears
no farewell souvenirs
not even a token,
when the spell is broken

And how many of us cannot nod in agreement to “I Misunderstood” --- “I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying goodbye.”

As for storytelling, listen to “I Feel So Good”…about a guy just out of the slammer:

they put me in jail for my deviant ways,
2 years, 7 months, 16 days
now I'm back on the streets in a purple haze……
I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight

Rolling Stone named “Shoot out the Lights" (done with his then wife Linda) as the 9th best album of the 80s, after “London Calling,” “Purple Rain,” “The Joshua Tree,” “Remain in Light,” “Graceland,” “Born in the USA,” “Thriller” and “Murmur.” Pretty heady company.

RT claims to not listen to contemporary guitarists; his idols are Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker. But anyone who doesn't listen to Richard Thompson is missing out on the greatest player of this generation.

--- by Barry Finkenberg

[Interesting facts about Guest Butler Barry Finkenberg: In 1993, he started the "Guns for Tickets" program, which encouraged gun owners to trade their unarmed weapons for tickets to rock concerts. Now retired and living in Hawaii, he works hard at " regularly scheduled goofing off, which includes outrigger canoeing, basketball, golf and reading Head Butler."]

To buy "Watching the Dark" from Amazon.com, click here.