Richard Thompson – Ship To Shore (2024) [FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

Richard Thompson – Ship To Shore (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 46:05 minutes | 873 MB | Genre: Folk Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records, LLC

When Richard Thompson began writing songs for his latest album, Ship to Shore, the artist was instinctively drawn to his own musical roots, employing them in the service of fashioning a deep and diverse 12-track collection that pulls from various styles, genres and eras, but remains unmistakably Richard Thompson. There’s the rumbling, Motown-style rhythm that propels “Trust,” and the straightforward riff-rock of “Turnstile Casanova” The drone-y “The Old Pack Mule,” an “old man’s song” that takes musical cues from 1600s-era European music, and “Life’s a Bloody Show,” an ode to “snake-oil salesmen and hucksters” that floats on a glammy, cabaret-like melody that’s “almost like a parody of a Noel Coward song, or something from Berlin in the 1920s,” Thompson says. “I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching out from there,” he says. “And I think of my base as being British traditional music, but there’s also Scottish music, there’s Irish music. There’s jazz and country and classical. As far as I’m concerned, once you establish your base you can reach out anywhere. It’ll still be you ringing through, wherever you decide to go musically.”From his time in folk-rock innovators Fairport Convention through the 50 years since his solo debut Henry the Human Fly, Richard Thompson has qualified as an obvious legend. His songwriting, singing, and guitar playing all stand out as both exceptional and versatile. Now in a later phase of his evolution, he’s moved away from the exploratory nature of his early and mid-career albums; like other recent Thopmson albums, Ship to Shore focuses on presenting a new set of his amazing songs and delivery, with a balance of cohesion and variety.

Thompson’s solo albums since his debut in 1972—a year after leaving Fairport Convention— through the ’90s, emphasized his collaboration with production and engineering teams. On 1974’s Henry the Human Fly and the classic Richard & Linda Thompson albums that followed it, producer Joe Boyd encouraged John Wood’s beautiful mixes to shine. Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake brought a decade of their unusual keyboards and inventive mix ideas starting with 1986’s Daring Adventures. This chapter ends with Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock’s 1999 work on Mock Tudor, coupling simpler arrangements with crisp elements of ’90s alt-rock.

Since 2003’s The Old Kit Bag, Thompson’s albums of new songs have had more straightforward production and mixes, even on albums with prominent musicians like Buddy Miller and Jeff Tweedy as producers. Drummer Michael Jerome has worked with Thompson since The Old Kit Bag, and Taras Prodaniuk joined on bass for 2007’s Sweet Warrior.

While songs on Ship to Shore vary in volume, tempo, and arrangement, they generally fall in the middle of his dynamic and emotional range. The album’s highest peaks—”Maybe” and “Turnstile Casanova”—never approach the blistering catharsis of “Shoot Out the Lights.” The acoustic arrangement that starts “Singapore Sadie” and the jazz-informed tonality of “Life’s a Bloody Show” still pair with rock elements with more visceral punch than Thompson’s acoustic hits like “Beeswing” or “Vincent Black Lightning 1952.” The combination of electric guitar and rock drums with fiddle and acoustic guitar gives the album a versatile tonal palette, as these elements take turns in the foreground.

Like any Richard Thompson album, the guitar solos emphasize some key emotional highlights. On Ship to Shore, in generally modest amounts of space, as on the 16-measure outro of opener “Freeze,” they combine creative tonal and formal explorations with his obvious fretboard dexterity. – Steve Silverstein

Tracklist:

1-1. Richard Thompson – Freeze (03:19)
1-2. Richard Thompson – The Fear Never Leaves You (04:45)
1-3. Richard Thompson – Singapore Sadie (03:54)
1-4. Richard Thompson – Trust (04:17)
1-5. Richard Thompson – The Day That I Give In (03:14)
1-6. Richard Thompson – The Old Pack Mule (04:20)
1-7. Richard Thompson – Turnstile Casanova (03:23)
1-8. Richard Thompson – Lost In The Crowd (02:58)
1-9. Richard Thompson – Maybe (04:03)
1-10. Richard Thompson – Life’s A Bloody Show (03:54)
1-11. Richard Thompson – What’s Left To Lose (04:09)
1-12. Richard Thompson – We Roll (03:44)

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