I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON-Industry (with Danny Thompson) (1997), Mock Tudor (1999), 1000 Years of Popular Music (2003).

My wife heard the new RT song on the radio (hooray for WXPN, Philadelphia…oh and go listen online, it’s great stuff!) and asked if he had a new song out. She likes RT but isn’t a huge fan; she was amazed at how she knew immediately that it was him, but that it didn’t sound like an older song that she knew already. I think that’s a great feature of RTs style. He is clearly himself, and yet he’s not afraid to experiment.

Industry. Which brings us to this. When I bought it, I swore I loved the record, and it made me want to get more RT stuff. I don’t recall when I bought, it but it was probably not long after it came out. The only reason I can think for loving this so much then was that I was into jazzier stuff at the time. This is such a weird little record, and it doesn’t work as a “just listening to it” piece. There is a lot going on, and a lot of subtext involved which just doesn’t come across while you’re playing with your kid in the den. It reminded me a lot of some of the weirder orchestral Frank Zappa works and maybe some John Zorn thrown in there too. Both of these guys I really love, by the way, I just don’t listen to the all the time). For me “Lotteryland” really stands out as the quintessential RT song of the bunch.

Mock Tudor. Ahh, this is more like it. Although I had previous starts for falling in love with RT, it was Mock Tudor that totally captivated me. Just reading the track listing, the first TEN songs are fantastic. Wow, “Cooksferry Queen,” “Sibella,” “Bathsheba Smiles”! Wow. The last two songs on the disc I don’t remember by title, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t know them by sound. This was another example of listening back now and thinking “Huh, I was sure that that song was twenty, twenty-five years old, not EIGHT!” “Hard on Me,” just seems like it’s a canonical work. And “Walking The Long Miles Home” is a great song that gets even better live. Any live rendition is stunning. And, if you like this record, check out Semi Detached Mock Tudor from RTs website, and hear how great these songs are live. Awesome! Just for the record, RT and the folks there have not paid me to say any of these things. However, if they like what the see, gifts are always welcomed!

1000 Years of Popular Music. So the story on this goes that Playboy was asking musicians what the best songs of the last 1,000 years were (at the dawning of 2000 of course), and RT took it literally and went back 1,000 years instead of the 50 years that Playboy actually meant. They never published his piece, but it led to this fun collection of songs. RT has a great sense for tunes and lyrics and the songs he has chosen are great. Clearly no one but him has ever heard the bulk of these songs (until we reach probably “Cry Me a River”). But I found myself humming along with a lot of them. In particular “So Beb Mi Con Tempo” (whatever that means). Beauty, eh? Plus, his rendition of and explanation behind why he included the Britney Spears song, “Oops I Did it Again” is hilarious. Of course, he plays it with its original chord structure but as a dirgy ballad. You will love that song despite yourself.

[READ: Summer 2006] A Family Daughter.

A Family Daughter continues the exploits of the Santerre family whom Meloy talked about in Liars and Saints. The twist in this version is that it comes from the point of view of Abby, one of the characters in Liars and Saints. Strangely, I can’t decide if it’s better to have read Liars and Saints or not. For the most part I say not only yes, but, ideally right before reading this one. Because the two stories play off each other, and alter details, leaving the reader unsure of what actually happened in the previous story. As such, I put this under unreliable narrator because it casts doubts on the story presented in Liars and Saints.

So, by having the full story fresh in your mind it adds great depth to this version. However, it makes it very hard to review this work as a stand alone piece. I couldn’t say whether this story was better than Liars because they are so linked. I can say that Meloy’s writing is still sharp and crisp, and really engaging. The most intriguing aspect of Abby’s life is that she becomes a writer and decides to write a history of her family’s affairs, casting even more doubts on the “facts” of the story. The intrigues of Liars come fully into play here, but Abby also has experiences that were not covered previously.

There’s a part of me that wishes Meloy would continue with this family, wringing new aspects of this fascinating clan. However, I’d also really like to see what else she can do. With a writing style as solid as hers I’ll be reading everything that she releases.