Paul notes: Here's a very nice Richard Thompson concert. It's from 1999, just after he released what I consider one of his best solo albums, "Mock Tudor," earlier that year.
I have to admit, I had planned to post this as the next album in my long series of Thompson's BBC albums. Most versions of this label it as a BBC concert. But right before posting, I did a little more digging and discovered this concert was done for a British TV show, but not a BBC one. "Boxed Set" was a short-lived music show around 1999 and 2000, done for Scottish Television (STV) in association with ITV. But, BBC or not, it's a worthy concert and one of his most high-profile TV appearances, so I'm posting it here.
I didn't have to do much audio editing. There was a short interview section with Thompson in the middle of the show that I got rid of, since it wasn't actually from the concert. Also, some of the cheering at the ends of songs got cut off as the TV show quickly went to commercial breaks and things like that. So, in those cases, I copied and pasted in some cheering from the ends of other songs. But that was about it.
Note that he was joined by his son Teddy Thompson to help sing the song "Persuasion." Teddy has had a successful music career of his own. *
The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent.
This album is 47 minutes long.
01 talk 02 Cooksferry Queen 03 Bathsheba Smiles 04 talk 05 Uninhabited Man 06 Persuasion (Richard Thompson with Teddy Thompson) 07 Two Faced Love 08 Al Bowlly's in Heaven 09 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight 10 The Sights and Sounds of London Town 11 Tear-Stained Letter
(all tracks Richard Thompson except where noted)
+ BUMP Now we’re talking and that is my weekend made up now! Can’t beat a Richard Thompson set of this quality (with the guest aappearance of his son Teddy who has a new album forthcoming himself ) especially after the post from Floppy Boot Stomp last of Richard in Denmark which I bump the link here (if you haven’t got it and are a fan it is frankly peerless quality and you really need it it is essential listening IMHO Richard Thompson live in Denmark 2000 here from Floppy Boot Stomp
. . . from an all time favourite album . . I think I always placed this second to Astral Weeks for reasons best known to someone else but I LOVE this album (it rotates but I come back around to it time after time . . . . oh Redwood Tree!)
She is invariably, unquestionably herself in every situation she finds herself in. It’s little wonder that she got her management deal by cornering the manager she wanted in a nightclub bathroom and singing at her without even really introducing herself. I can absolutely believe that the front woman of Florence and the Machine would have done that, whatever she sounded like, even if she didn’t have the God-given pipes she’s blessed us with for the past two decades.
The key to her star power has been that mix of genuine kookiness and utter unmistakability that makes throwaway projects like this so wonderful and unforgettable. In 2007, Welch was a year into her work as Florence and the Machine and was already getting noticed for her artistry and startling singing voice. One of the people who took notice was Dev Hynes, freshly shorn from Test Icicles and about to take on the world in his first solo project, the alt-country outfit Lightspeed Champion.
Welch and Hynes worked together a lot in that year, guesting at each other’s gigs and writing together. However, what wouldn’t come out until three years later was the fact that they’d formed a band together. Sort of. Under the name Team Perfect, Hynes and Welch had recorded a few songs together in the bare bones of fashion. Hynes thrashing away at a (slightly) out-of-tune acoustic guitar and Welch singing into Hynes’ laptop. It was clearly a lark, however, and you can see this from their choice of material.
These were not originals, they were covers. Specifically, Green Day covers. Even more specifically, from their 1997 album Nimrod.
How does this Green Day covers album suit Florence Welch?
This might sound strange on the surface as none of the music that Welch and Hynes have ever made have all that much to do with the Bay Area pop punk kings, but once you look a little deeper, it makes perfect sense. Both of them grew up as rock kids, Hynes in particular citing the Smashing Pumpkins 2000 “farewell” gig at Wembley Arena as the thing that made him want to become a musician. Nimrod was released when they would have been around 11 and 12, and thus, the absolute target audience for that album.
One can hear their passion for it in the sheer, slightly stoned glee with which they attack the songs. These are songs they’d grown up with for a decade before Florence was howling them out into Dev’s laptop, and the love they have for them is plainly audible. Even in all of Dev’s guitar fluffs and Flo’s occasional deviations from the key. Yet that’s just it. This is still built around the voice of Florence Welch, and no matter how much of a throwaway curio this is, one that should probably have stayed in their personal collection, her sheer star power is still evident.
Her slurring through ‘Hitchin’ A Ride’ and ‘Nice Guys Finish Last’ is genuinely like stumbling on a Caravaggio’s toilet door graffiti. The person themselves probably wouldn’t want to be associated with it, but to everyone else, it’s an absolute hidden gem. One worth seeking out, even simply for the sheer novelty of it all. Two people whose musical genius was becoming deeply apparent, throwing together a few Green Day songs for the fuck of it.
Our heroes really are a lot more like us than we think.
Florence & The Machine and Dev Hynes Perform Green Day's "Hitchin' A Ride”
Everyone loves Green Day, right? We think so. Anyway, here's Dev Hynes (Blood Orange, Lightspeed Champion) joins Florence & The Machine covering Green Day's "Hitchin' A Ride" at Coachella in King's Highway at Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs, CA.
Somebody posted a version of this complete with clicks na dear the needle drop on the record so here’s a cleaner version . . . . plus a live in London favourite
Leonard Cohen If It Be Your Will (Various Positions 1984)
Leonard Cohen If It Be Your Will (Live in London) 2008
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