ALBUMS: R&L ‘Shoot Out the Lights (1982); Richard Thompson ‘Hand of Kindness’ (Solo album 1983)
MVC Rating: R&L 5.0 $$$$$; Richard 4.0/$$$$$
Oh man, this is a good one, I had going in this was a 4.5. In other words a high quality, almost perfect album. But then I dropped the needle after about 25 years of not hearing this album — at least all the way through.
It’s a ‘5.’
And the Richard solo album is excellent especially if you are a fan of his unusual guitar style.
‘Shoot’ was reportedly a break-up album kind of like Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
Richard and Linda, veterans of the English folk rock scene (Fairport Convention), broke up after about 10 years of marriage at the time this record was being made in early 1980s.
It is dark, full of pain, fraught with emotion. And wonderful because Linda has a beautiful voice. And Richard propels by guitar the mess of hurt through a carnival of dark shadows and broken dreams.
“I’m walking on a wire and I’m falling,” Linda sings.
More amusement ride imagery with both singing in a bouncy way that belies the words: “Won’t you ride on the Wall of Death one more time.”
The title song says the darkness makes it real — ‘real as a gun’ —shoot out the lights. Still another song plumbs the depths of human love and hate, and the confusion of the motives behind one’s actions.
‘Did she jump or was she pushed.’ A theme explored in depth by John A. Knowles in the novel. A Separate Peace.