Albums That Should Exist : Richard Thompson From Home 2020 (with Zara Philips) Albums That Should Exist

This is fun! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Like the Holidays Come Early!!

Richard Thompson - What We Did on Our Holidays - Home Concert, Montclair, NJ, 12-16-2020

Paul at ATSE says: Today the world got the news that former President Donald Trump has been indicted again, this time for his January 6th related crimes. I'm politically progressive, so I think it's great that the long arm of the law is finally starting to reach him. On a totally unrelated note, I have a Richard Thompson Christmas-themed home concert from 2020 that I only discovered a few days ago. It seems crazy to post that in August, the exact opposite of the Christmas season, but I want to post it now because otherwise I'm liable to forget come December. Then it occurred to me, "Hey, having Trump prosecuted for the January 6th insurrection is like Christmas coming early, so this is good timing after all.” BRILLIANT!

Anyway, if that excuse doesn't work for you, consider that it's not really that much of a Christmas-themed album in the first place. Thompson did give the home concert the title "What We Did on Our Holidays" - a clever reference to the title of a 1969 Fairport Convention album - and he did play a few Christmas-themed songs: "Father Christmas" by the Kinks, "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses, "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley, a rockabilly version of "Winter Wonderland," and his own "The Wrong Present." But for the 13 other songs, there's little to no Christmas connection. Still, it's a fun bunch of songs, which some rarely played tunes included.

As with his other home concerts, this was done in the solo acoustic format, except his partner Zara Phillips added harmony vocals to a bunch of the songs. The sound quality is excellent, with no problems at all. I did cut out a little bit of dead air between songs, such as guitar tuning, but not much. 

Also, in recent years, Thompson has developed a very annoying habit of loudly and frequently clearing his throat or coughing. That happened between every single song here, though thankfully never during any of the songs. I tried to edit out all such noises. Perhaps I missed one or two, but I got nearly all of them, at least.

This album is an hour and 21 minutes long.

Richard Thompson (& Zara Philips) - What We Did on Our Holiday 2020 - Albums that Should Exist

01 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
02 Father Christmas (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
03 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
04 As I Hold You (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
05 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
06 Tinker's Rhapsody (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
07 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
08 The Rattle Within (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
09 talk (Richard Thompson)
10 The Cutty Wren (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
13 talk (Richard Thompson)
14 Sloth (Richard Thompson)
15 talk (Richard Thompson)
16 Flowers of the Forest (Richard Thompson)
17 talk (Richard Thompson)
18 Christmas Wrapping (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 If I Could Live My Life Again (Richard Thompson)
21 talk (Richard Thompson)
22 Blue Christmas (Richard Thompson)
23 talk (Richard Thompson)
24 Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
25 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
26 The Wrong Present (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
27 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
28 I Still Miss Someone (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
29 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
30 The Fortress (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
31 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
32 When the Saints Rise Out of Their Graves (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
33 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
34 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
35 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
36 Winter Wonderland (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)

37 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)