One of the notable releases from this past month has been the latest album by Richard Thompson, ‘Hippies Thugs And Heroes.’ As always with Richard, the release was administered with only a moderate fanfare, nothing anywhere near the level of excitement an artist of his talent and importance should receive. That he will soon be celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of a recording career that has seen the formation of Fairport Convention, including some of the most groundbreaking albums in British folk history, the classic Island duo years when his dark folk-rock was beautifully elevated by the voice of then wife Linda Thompson and a subsequent four decades of solo activity which has not really had to sail through a weak patch is quite remarkable. Among Thompson watchers that might be a matter for some debate, there are many seventies’ veterans whose fondness for the Richard & Linda records will never be surpassed whilst others of a purest persuasion will be cooler about a series of nineties records aglow with the studio polish a major label deal inevitably brings. But for all that, I absolutely love the records he put out for Capitol in that decade, for all the trebly cleanliness of the production, there is never a hint that Thompson’s songwriting deviates from an upward trajectory, in fact 1999’s ‘Mock Tudor’ remains my favourite record of the mans entire catalogue, and he fully deserved the chance to be touted alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon as one of the major talents of their generation.

I myself was a little late to the Richard Thompson party in the nineties, in fact it was the John Peel radio show towards the end of that decade that turned my head in the right direction. Peel was doing a thing called the ‘Peelenium’ back then, dedicating a section of every show that entire year to a selection of recordings from a single year per night, running from 1900 to 1999. When he played a track from 1974’s ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight’ our curator advised the listeners that anyone who was interested in music, needed to hear Richard Thompson, so I took him on his word. Of course, Peel was famously disinterested in giving airtime to anyone who had broken through in commercial terms, he did not see that as his role at Radio One at all, hence the misplaced perception that he dropped people the minute they became successful. There was no truth in that, the DJ never hated it when his bands became successful, just as long as they did not start making crap records. The fact that over thirty years after Richard Thompson first emerged John Peel still gave him an on-air heads up does speak to the lack of mainstream recognition Thompson has received, but it also demonstrates he never hit a peak of creativity before entering terminal decline. No, Thompson has continued to develop, refine and progress his music and that is still apparent on this latest release. I reviewed ‘Hippies Thugs and Heroes’ over at KLOFMag where you will also find in their archive two interviews I have conducted with Richard Thompson over the past few years, he also kicks off this month’s playlist…