Rolling Stone's 485th Greatest Album of All Time: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson (1974)

When I scrolled down this list another notch and found this album, I felt it immediately pique my interest. Here were two artists, Richard and Linda Thompson, whom I'd never heard of before in all of my longish life. I'd never once come across their album, and I was fairly sure that I'd never heard any of their songs, and that last assumption proved to be true.

I loved that I could come into this album with a perfect baby mind. I fired up the first track...and I fell in love with the album right away.

Here was a sound and a style that I'd never heard before—except that Linda Thompson's singing sometimes sounds like Natalie Merchant's, but really Linda Thompson came first, so Natalie Merchant sounds like her.

On the first listen, with no research, I thought that the Thompsons were Irish, because they had a cadence and a use of traditional instruments that sounded Irish to me, but it turns out that they were English Folk artists.

It's not just old school instruments that they use; though, which include, according to Andy Kush's lengthy review in Pitchfork, the "hammered dulcimer, accordion, and crumhorn, a Renaissance-era woodwind whose nasal buzz makes bagpipes sound mellow."

They also use modern rock instruments at will, and Richard Thompson lays down some tasty guitar licks to go in with everything else. The combination works; it doesn't sound at all like a gimmick or a hipster contrivance. Here, listen...



The only comparable band I can think of is maybe Jethro Tull, but the two bands, while akin in superficial descriptors, are not really that close in sound. I like Tull a lot, but I think that I like this album from the Thompsons more than any of Jethro Tull's. Richard and Linda Thompson sound like themselves, and no one else. They are similar in that uniqueness to Steely Dan, Beck, Björk and Radiohead. And I think that they're amazing.

The Thompsons take turns singing on the album, so I'll have to post something from Linda here as well, because her clear voice is lovely. This song captures the overall mood of the album: colorful and vibrant yet bleak and jaded at the same time, which is really a neat trick to pull off. Here the song's protagonist is neither celebrating nor castigating going out on the weekend and getting tanked and getting laid; the activity is merely a necessary part of living.



So what happened with this album? How have I never heard of it?

In 1974, Island records put out the album in the United Kingdom. It was completely ignored by critics, and nobody bought it. At some point, around 10 years later, a few critics rediscovered the album and started calling it a masterpiece, and it was given a re-release in 1984, when it also didn't sell, but it's been a critical darling ever since, and I can understand why that is.

If you've listened to the two songs above and liked them, then I'll post you one more. This one's a live version; the song's pretty good, but the real gold is in the jam session at the end.



I took up this Top 500 list re-review as sort of a lark, and to have something to write about besides poker and slot machines, but discovering this album on its own has made this endeavor more than worth the effort.

Rolling Stone Says:
Richard played guitar like a Sufi-mystic Neil Young; Linda had the voice of a Celtic Emmylou Harris. Bright Lights is their devastating masterwork of folk-rock dread. Radiohead even picked up some guitar tricks from “The Calvary Cross.”

Thanks for the review and recommendation, Suited. Steeleye Span's "The Blacksmith" is one of my favorite songs (well, top 50 prolly), so your review drew my attention.

The videos you posted are not available here, and you didn't mention any titles, so I don't know which songs are your favorites on the album. But that's actually a good thing, because it incentivized me to check out the entire album on YouTube.

It turns out I liked the album but didn't fall in love with it. "Withered and Died" and "Down Where the Drunkards Roll" were my favorite tracks. Which were yours?

Hi Sheep!

I just listened to The Blacksmith and I liked it



I also found out, as you may already know—since you mentioned them—that some members of Steeleye Span were in the early English folk group Fairport Convention with Richard Thompson, and that they all split off after a bad car accident that killed Fairport's drummer and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson's girlfriend at the time.

Anyway, sorry about the international contretemps with the YouTube songs. In order, they are: When I Get to the Border, I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight and a live version of The Calvary Cross. I'm glad that you liked the album!

Another few days at the casino, and some more results. The poker hasn't been going great, and the slots were not going well at all at one point: when I found a somewhat marginal play on a large denomination ($8.00 a spin) Wheel of Fortune High Roller, and I proceeded to feed $500 into it in less than 5 minutes, and all that cash didn't actually grow the reels any, which meant that the play was still just as marginal as when I'd started it, but I was $500 poorer, and all for nothing.

I had $1000 left on me; did I want to feed it all into this machine? After some agonizing, I got up and walked away, but a few steps away, I turned around and spotted a vulture getting up from his perch on a nearby seat to take over my play, and my competitive instincts kicked in. I booked back to the slot and slid into the seat just a second before the vulture got there.

On this second round, Vanna White changed her aspect from Dame Fortune back to Lady Luck, and I cashed out for a $600 profit on the play.

MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 5.5 hours
(-$55.00)

MGM Springfield Slots: 8 hours
+$478.10

Running Poker Total: 470.5 hours, +$7802.00

Running Slot Total: 188 hours, +$5179.35

Grand Total: 658.5 hours, +$12981.35

In 1974 the folk and folk-rock movements were dead and county-rock was in its last death throws. People were saturated with that stuff. If they had released the album in 1964, it might have to some air play, but to me it seems like an afterthought.

The mid-to-late seventies was a waste land for R&R and other music forms, one reason punk and other forms emerged! Like a good shot of drugs it was very uplifting.

Yikes those slots variance and to think you almost missed it $500 down. Damn The Bright Lights Tonight to me is the most solid of the albums you’ve reviewed so far and I never even heard of Richard and Linda Thompson.

Richard Thompson is a great guitarist and has written several great songs. I've seen him live 3 times and have all of his albums. One of my favorites

Folk started dying as early as '65, when Bob Dylan brought his Fender Stratocaster to the Newport Folk Festival and plugged it in, and was booed for his efforts. The people there probably knew that their hero was sticking a knife into their favorite genre.

Joan Baez sang Joe Hill at Woodstock in '69 and got a tepid smattering of applause from a crowd that was several hundred thousand people deep.



50's nostalgia act Sha Na Na did way better at Woodstock in comparison. And a few years later they had themselves a short-lived variety show. Remember that?




It's my favorite so far, too. Lot of albums to go, though. Hopefully there'll be a few more great ones that are brand new to us.

I want to hear some more from him. What are your top 3 songs from the other albums?

Can I do a related but slight hijack here to discuss made up band from F is For Family, Shire of Frodo. F is For Family if you're not familiar is an excellent animated series from Netflix about a 1970's blue collar family in some small sized rust belt American city, probably something like Patterson, New Jersey. On the show the teenage son and his friends are huge fans of a 70s mystical folk band that has songs inspired by JRR Tolkien novels. The Fanpedia page mentions Jethro Tull and Emerson Lake and Palmer. I see some similarities but I'm thinking there's a much better example and like to hear some of your guys take on it.


https://f-is-for-family.fandom.com/w...20Alchemist%22.



Lifted Riffs in this clip is clearly Led Zeppelin.



Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Lucky Man

I've seen him play at tiny venues in Austin. I've had friends fly in from Canada to sleep on my couch and catch his shows. Listen to Vincent Black Lightning for starters.

Sounds like Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords. It's an improvement on some other Tolkien-based balladeering.



Nice. I like the guitar picking on that. The later model Vincent Black Shadow was a favorite of Hunter S. Thompson.

A Nice Day

I had been quite card dead over the last few poker sessions, and yesterday had started out with more of the same. I sat down and bled $75 over the first two hours without actually getting into any spots.

Then it happened: I was dealt 5 playable hands in a row, and I opened or 3-bet all 5 of them, and I won all 5 of them, and suddenly I found myself with a decent stack.

Later on, I called off a big all-in raise (in a single-raised pot) with 66 on a K6Q48 turn, just hoping for the board to pair...it didn't, but Villain was semi-bluffing with KT and the river bricked out with a non-spade.

MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 4.5 hours
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MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
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Running Poker Total: 475 hours, +$8525.00

Running Slot Total: 190 hours, +$5236.60

Grand Total: 665 hours, +$13761.60

Correction: that was a K6Q4 turn.

Some favorite Richard Thompson tunes from various other albums:

1952 Vincent Black Lightning (mentioned by Phat Mack)

Shoot Out the Lights

Turning of the Tide

I Feel So Good

Tear-Stained Letter

Beeswing

Wall of Death

I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

I Misunderstood

Valerie

When the Spell Is Broken

For Shame of Doing Wrong

A Heart Needs a Home

Beat the Retreat

Thanks, jrrdesert! I'll check those out.

I've mentioned before that I had trouble getting some slot machines to read my player's card. I had replaced the old card, but even with the new card, there were still a few machines that weren't registering.

Last week, a lady in her 60's was sitting two machines away from me at the Ultimate X poker banks, and she noticed that I was having trouble with my card.

Without any introduction, she said "Oh, I know how to fix that." Then she plucked the card out of my hand and bent it lengthwise, hard, to the point where it put a small crease lengthwise across the middle of the card.



Since then, the bent card has worked on every single machine.

MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 3.5 hours
+$135.00

MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
+$147.80

Running Poker Total: 478.5 hours, +$8660.00

Running Slot Total: 192 hours, +$5384.40

Grand Total: 670.5 hours, +$14044.40

What a lovely lady!

Indeed. I'm trying to think of some sort of crease/increase pun but it's not coming to me.

'Tis the Crease of Increase

That's it. That's all I got.

She did put you at ease
Give the lady a lil something please

I played for a bit on Saturday, with no significant spots coming up.

This week I am working in my former office, covering for my old bosses' vacations. I've now completed one day out of five from this minor ordeal. Currently, I'm running on around 90 minutes of sleep from last night, after suffering my first bout of insomnia since I quit the old job.

Knowing it was required of me to be up early this morning caused a perverse feeling of wakefulness that kept me up tossing and turning through the night. Hopefully the dam breaks tonight and I get some sleep.



MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 3.5 hours
+$125.00

MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
(-$35.92)

Running Poker Total: 482 hours, +$8775.00

Running Slot Total: 194 hours, +$5348.48

Grand Total: 676 hours, +$14123.48

Really cool of you to cover for your old boss.

Yeah, what Da_Nit wrote. You should add the income to your win/loss.

Thanks, guys!

I forgot to mention that I drew a blank on the burglar alarm code on Monday, just before I opened the office door. I'd had no use for the code for all of this summer, so my mind had painted it over.

The office is a few hundred meters from the town police station, and in the past the cops had been good about getting out to the building quickly for (false) alarms.

Instead of trying to remember the code, I tried to clear my mind and think of nothing, and just go in and punch in the code from muscle memory. Fortunately, that gambit worked.