Personally I think Richard Thompson is the most underrated British artist to come out of the sixties. People are welcome to their own opinions of course but that's mine.
I can hear some well dodgy notes in that solo, not a patch on clappers and nowhere near getting to claptons' emotional depth. Good effort, but no cigar!!
There's the amazing Pete Zorn I saw RT at the Boulder Theater years ago. I hung out afterward on the chance RT might come back out to chat a bit. He didn't, but i had a wonderful conversation with Pete. He told me about a banned book. The Yellow Line, about all the Allied soldiers in WW1 executed at the Front for cowardice. During the show, Pete took an absolutely Hendrix-esque solo on an Oud. Richard took the challenge and was mercilessly cranking his tuning machines while he soloed. Everyone in the Theater was in shock. Absolute magic. Thank you, Pete I'll Love You Forever
Back in the early 1980s, I toured Europe playing guitar with Peter Rowan. I kept hearing, "Your playing sounds like Richard Thompson." "Yeah, cheers", i responded, having know idea who this fellow was. . Then one night I was at a Scottish castle owned by a very drunk aristocrat of some sort. He put this song on from the Richard & Linda Thompson LP of the same name, "Who", I asked is that?" "That my friend, is Richard fucking Thompson." my inebriated new friend replied. I wanted to go back a kiss the hand of each person of every person who had likened my playing to his. Been a fan ever since.
Perfect cover. Richard Thompson being himself and simultaneously playing tribute to Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton. I'm a huge fan of Fairport and Cream, and appreciate this type of homage. I do prefer Ginger Bakers more emphatic drumming, though. Though we may all die in sadness of the world we've gained, we've been privileged to know these musicians as fresh acts, like Fresh Cream.
Incredible performance. His playing is legendary but one thing I always appreciate about RT is how his accent shines through in his vocals. It’s so true to his speaking voice and his range is very impressive.
Strange to hear another drummer's take on this -- I keep hearing ginger's flams and rolls -- but I kind of like what this is doing here. Retains the essence of the drum part but he's made it his.
What seemed to have started as a joke became a brilliant homage and a serious performance. Jimi, Eric, and Richard: why the strat was invented. Wonder if Leo could have foreseen this.
I'm a big fan of Cream and a big fan of Richard Thompson and I loved this. He stayed true to the original while still giving it an unmistakable dash of RT flavour.
