Richard Thompson - Boxed Set, Cowcaddens, Glasgow, Britain, 8-16-1999

Here's a very nice Richard Thompson concert. It's from 1999, just after he released what I consider one of his best solo albums, "Mock Tudor," earlier that year.

I have to admit, I had planned to post this as the next album in my long series of Thompson's BBC albums. Most versions of this label it as a BBC concert. But right before posting, I did a little more digging and discovered this concert was done for a British TV show, but not a BBC one. "Boxed Set" was a short-lived music show around 1999 and 2000, done for Scottish Television (STV) in association with ITV. But, BBC or not, it's a worthy concert and one of his most high-profile TV appearances, so I'm posting it here.

I didn't have to do much audio editing. There was a short interview section with Thompson in the middle of the show that I got rid of, since it wasn't actually from the concert. Also, some of the cheering at the ends of songs got cut off as the TV show quickly went to commercial breaks and things like that. So, in those cases, I copied and pasted in some cheering from the ends of other songs. But that was about it.

Note that he was joined by his son Teddy Thompson to help sing the song "Persuasion." Teddy has had a successful music career of his own. 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 talk (Richard Thompson)
02 Cooksferry Queen (Richard Thompson)
03 Bathsheba Smiles (Richard Thompson)
04 talk (Richard Thompson)
05 Uninhabited Man (Richard Thompson)
06 Persuasion (Richard Thompson with Teddy Thompson)
07 Two Faced Love (Richard Thompson)
08 Al Bowlly's in Heaven (Richard Thompson)
09 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson)
10 The Sights and Sounds of London Town (Richard Thompson)
11 Tear-Stained Letter (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZeNZzz2P

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/Fd36kzW1Ex2q6fk/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a YouTube video of this exact concert. 

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 10: In Concert, Celtic Connections Festival, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Britain, 1-17-1998

Here's another of many BBC albums by singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. This one is a full solo acoustic concert.

At the time of this concert, his most recent album was 1997's "Industry," done in collaboration with bassist Danny Thompson (who, by the way, shows up only for the last few songs in this concert). But only one song here was performed from that album, "Last Shift." His next album would be "Mock Tudor" in 1999, and he already performed one song from that, "Crawl Back (Under My Stone)." Otherwise, the songs are from other parts of his long musical career, plus an interesting cover, "She May Call You Up Tonight," originally done by the Left Banke.

I'm sure this was a BBC recording. I know this because this actually was two sets, with "Razor Dance" being the first song of the second set. And between the two sets, there was a voiceover by a BBC DJ explaining how the first set was over but the BBC would be coming back for the second set. I cut all that out, as I usually cut out BBC DJ talk that wasn't part of the actual concert.

However, I find something puzzling: given that this is a BBC recording, the sound quality was surprisingly crappy for the BBC! The main problem was the echo-y vocals. They sounded like they were recorded in a tunnel. And the second set had even more echo than the first set. Luckily, thanks to recent improvements in audio editing technology, this was fixable. It's just that it was a pain in the ass. I used MVSEP on all the songs, splitting them into vocals and instruments. Then I took just the vocal track and ran it through MVSEP again, using their "Reverb Removal" filter.

That pretty much got rid of all of the problems with the vocals. Now, this sounds excellent, like you'd expect a BBC recording to sound.  

This unreleased album is an hour and 24 minutes long. 

01 I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson)
02 The Ghost of You Walks (Richard Thompson)
03 talk (Richard Thompson)
04 Hamlet (Richard Thompson)
05 talk (Richard Thompson)
06 Last Shift (Richard Thompson)
07 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
08 Pharaoh (Richard Thompson)
09 Keep Your Distance (Richard Thompson)
10 A Heart Needs a Home (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 She May Call You Up Tonight (Richard Thompson)
13 Razor Dance (Richard Thompson)
14 Turning of the Tide (Richard Thompson)
15 Bathsheba Smiles (Richard Thompson)
16 talk (Richard Thompson)
17 How Will I Ever Be Simple Again (Richard Thompson)
18 Walking on a Wire (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 Crawl Back [Under My Stone] (Richard Thompson)
21 talk (Richard Thompson)
22 Persuasion (Richard Thompson)
23 talk (Richard Thompson)
24 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson)
25 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson)
26 Beeswing (Richard Thompson)
27 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nT5vntg7

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/mLq34igKU2lILED/file

The cover photo is from a concert at San Jose State University, in San Jose, California, on June 28, 1998.

Richard Thompson - 1000 Years of Popular Music - Third Version (2008-2009)

From about 2001 to 2009, Richard Thompson occasionally put on a special type of concert, called "1000 Years of Popular Music." The idea started for him around the year 2000, when Playboy Magazine asked him and a bunch of other famous musicians to list what they considered to be the best songs of the millennium. Thompson alone took them literally and gave them a list that genuinely covered 1000 years, whereas everyone else made lists just of the last century. That inspired him to perform this concerts where he played some of his favorite songs of the last 1000 years, with many going back centuries. 

In 2021, I compiled and posted two versions of these kinds of concerts. Those mostly were sourced from concerts between 2001 and 2004. At that time, I also made a third version, mostly consisting of concerts from 2008. But I never felt ready to post it until now. The reason was sound quality. Most of the songs from the first two versions came from soundboard bootlegs or a DVD video. But this one pretty much entirely comes from unreleased audience bootlegs. (As usual, you can find sourcing details in the mp3 tags.) I felt that didn't meet the sound quality standards I'd set for my music blog. I waited, hoping either better sources would be found, or audio editing technology would improve enough for me to make this sound worthy of posting.

Well, better sources never were found, but audio editing technology did improve. Now, in January 2026, I feel this one sounds nearly as good as the first two. I just recently discovered a relatively new filter the MVSEP program has called "denoise." It's great for getting rid of hiss. So I used that on all the songs. I also ran all the songs through MVSEP's reverb reduction. And I additionally ran all the talking tracks through Adobe's vocal enhancer, which does wonders adding clarity to talking.

I know a couple of commenters have been asking for this ever since I mentioned a third version back in 2021. Thanks for your patience! Sorry it took so long. 

Speaking about that Adobe vocal enhancer, since that works so well, I recently used that on many of the talking tracks in the first two versions. Many of those talking bits were from audience boots instead of soundboard boots, so they needed help too. They sound much better now. So I strongly recommend you redownload those albums, if you'd downloaded them before.

Here's the link to the first version:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2021/05/richard-thompson-1000-years-of-popular.html

And the link to the second version:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2021/06/richard-thompson-1000-years-of-popular.html

I was very careful to avoid duplicating any songs from version to version. Luckily, Thompson kept changing the songs on his different "1000 Years" tours. So this should be just as entertaining as the other two versions. Also, like those versions, I've included sourcing information in brackets in the song titles. That includes the songwriter or writers, when known, and the year the song was written, if known.

Actually, I believe the last time Thompson toured with this theme was 2008. I have one song here from 2009, "Substitute," that came from a different kind of concert. But it was done in acoustic mode, like all the songs here, and I thought it fit in nicely, so I included it. Let's hope he comes back to this tour concept someday, because it's a fun way to learn musical history. (Besides, I'd love to see what songs he would deem worthy from the 2010s and 2020s.)  

This album is an hour and 26 minutes long. 

01 Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene [Praise to You, Queen of Heaven] [1200s] (Richard Thompson)
02 talk (Richard Thompson)
03 The Three Ravens [1400s or earlier] (Richard Thompson)
04 talk (Richard Thompson)
05 Ja Nus Hons Pris [King Richard, 1192] (Richard Thompson)
06 talk (Richard Thompson)
07 Cutty Wren [1300s] (Richard Thompson)
08 talk (Richard Thompson)
09 False Knight on the Road [1820s or earlier] (Richard Thompson)
10 talk (Richard Thompson)
11 Pipe, Shepherd's Pipe [unknown] (Richard Thompson)
12 talk (Richard Thompson)
13 A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid [Gilbert and Sullivan, 1888] (Richard Thompson)
14 talk (Richard Thompson)
15 Down by the Salley Gardens [William Butler Yeats, 1889, set to music in 1909] (Richard Thompson)
16 talk (Richard Thompson)
17 Rigs of the Time [1905 or earlier] (Richard Thompson)
18 talk (Richard Thompson)
19 Brother, Can You Spare a Dime [Bing Crosby, 1932] (Richard Thompson)
20 talk (Richard Thompson)
21 Strange Fruit [Abel Meeropol, 1937] (Richard Thompson)
22 talk (Richard Thompson)
23 Parchman Farm [Mose Allison, 1957] (Richard Thompson)
24 talk (Richard Thompson)
25 Little Boxes [Malvina Reynolds, 1962] (Richard Thompson)
26 Hold Me Tight - There's a Place - I Want to Hold Your Hand [Beatles, 1963] (Richard Thompson)
27 talk (Richard Thompson)
28 All Right [I'll Sign the Papers] [Ray Price, 1964] (Richard Thompson)
29 Substitute [Who, 1966] (Richard Thompson)
30 talk (Richard Thompson)
31 Workin' Man Blues [Merle Haggard, 1969] (Richard Thompson)
32 talk (Richard Thompson)
33 Get Up, Stand Up [Bob Marley & the Wailers, 1973] (Richard Thompson)
34 talk (Richard Thompson)
35 Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime [Korgis, 1980] (Richard Thompson)
36 talk (Richard Thompson)
37 Beds Are Burning [Midnight Oil, 1987] (Richard Thompson)
38 talk (Richard Thompson)
39 Maneater [Nelly Furtado, 2006] (Richard Thompson) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/wPFoeBMn

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/ruKCZLQUli3nX0K/file 

The cover photo comes from a concert at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2008. I also used the same framing artwork that I used on the first two versions.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 8: 1992-1994

Here's another BBC album by singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. This one consists of studio sessions, with all the performances in solo acoustic mode.

Actually, this album only consists of two studio sessions, both for BBC DJ Andy Kershaw's radio show. The first 10 tracks come from a session in 1992, when Thompson was touring to support his 1991 album "Rumour and Sigh." The remaining tracks are from a session in 1994, when Thompson was touring to support his album from that year, "Mirror Blue." Most of the songs are from those two albums, though there are some surprise choices thrown in as well.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 51 minutes long. 

01 I Ride in Your Slipstream (Richard Thompson)
02 Now that I Am Dead (Richard Thompson)
03 Withered and Died (Richard Thompson)
04 King of Bohemia (Richard Thompson)
05 I Misunderstood (Richard Thompson)
06 I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson)
07 talk (Richard Thompson)
08 King of Bohemia (Richard Thompson)
09 The Bloater - Job of Journeywork [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
10 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
11 For the Sake of Mary (Richard Thompson)
12 Taking My Business Elsewhere (Richard Thompson)
13 I Can't Wake Up (Richard Thompson)
14 Mingus Eyes (Richard Thompson)
15 Easy There, Steady Now (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/cHgk6XpK

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/437N8eR52xaKTxj/file

The cover photo is from a concert at The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, on March 10, 1992.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, The Venue, New Cross, London, Britain, 11-10-1983

Back in May 2025, I posted what I called "BBC Sessions, Volume 1" by Richard Thompson. But in my write-up, I noted that I'd seen mention of a BBC concert he did in 1983, and I wrote, "Note that if someone finds that one, I'll have to make that 'Volume 1' and rename everything after. So hopefully that can happen sooner rather than later, before I post more albums." Well, good news and bad news. The good is, that long-lost 1983 BBC concert has been found, and here it is! The bad news is, I've posted six later volumes already. So today I just renumbered them all, changing the cover art and mp3 tags for all of them as well. So, if you have downloaded some of them already, I suggest you get the latest versions.

The reason this has been found is due to musical associate Progsprog, who sent it to me. So a big thanks to him. I've looked high and low, and this hasn't been available on the Internet for a long time. Let's hope this puts it back into wide circulation, because it's a great concert.

Thompson broke up with his wife and musical duo partner Linda Thompson in 1982. He put out a solo album, "Hands of Kindness," in 1983. Many of the songs here are from that, though he also does songs written earlier in his musical career, as well as some covers ("Amaryllis - Nonesuch a la Mode de France," "Pennsylvania 6-5000," "Danny Boy," and "Great Balls of Fire").

Most of this was broadcast by the BBC, and later given to me by Progsprog. But not all of it. It turns out there also is a surprisingly good sounding audience bootleg of this exact concert. I compared the two, and found three songs on the audience boot that weren't broadcast by the BBC: "Wall of Death," "Down Where the Drunkards Roll," and "Great Balls of Fire." So I did some audio editing to try to bring them up to the same sound quality as the rest. I used the MVSEP program to boost the lead vocals relative to the instruments, and also to erase the crowd noise in the middle of those songs. Furthermore, I used the X-Minus program to get rid of some excessive echo on them. The final result is pretty impressive. Most of the time, it's hard to tell which ones of these are from the audience boot, except for the different sound of audience applause at the ends, and a brief flawed area in the middle of "Wall of Death" that I couldn't fix. 

Furthermore, the first 15 or so seconds of the first song, "The Wrong Heartbeat," were missed. So I patched in the missing portion from the audience boot. That's why that one song has "[Edit]" in its title. 

This album is an hour and 31 minutes long. 

01 The Wrong Heartbeat [Edit] (Richard Thompson)
02 A Poisoned Heart and a Twisted Memory (Richard Thompson)
03 Tear Stained Letter (Richard Thompson)
04 How I Wanted To (Richard Thompson)
05 talk (Richard Thompson)
06 Amaryllis - Nonesuch a la Mode de France [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
07 Don't Renege on Our Love (Richard Thompson)
08 Shoot Out the Lights (Richard Thompson)
09 talk (Richard Thompson)
10 Hand of Kindness (Richard Thompson)
11 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson)
12 talk (Richard Thompson)
13 Pennsylvania 6-5000 [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
14 talk (Richard Thompson)
15 A Man in Need (Richard Thompson)
16 Two Left Feet (Richard Thompson)
17 talk (Richard Thompson)
18 Back Street Slide (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 Both Ends Burning (Richard Thompson)
21 Danny Boy (Richard Thompson)
22 talk (Richard Thompson)
23 Down Where the Drunkards Roll (Richard Thompson)
24 Great Balls of Fire (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/mRJ1etqY 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/JIBOvIznlmfUvy1/file 

The cover photo is from a concert at Tuts, in Chicago, Illinois, on October 17, 1983.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 7: In Concert, Town and Country Club, London, Britain, 8-18-1991

Months ago, I posted a poll about posting more albums from people's favorite musical acts. I've been distracted by a lot of things since then, including new polls, but I want to keep going back to that. So here's another BBC album from one of the top voters from that poll, Richard Thompson.

This is a concert from 1991, the year Thompson released the studio album "Rumour and Sigh." It got a lot of critical acclaim, and I believe its probably his best solo album. This concert heavily leans into that album, with eight songs out of the 13 songs coming from it. Note also this was performed with a full band.

There was one problem with this recording, and that was the very common problem of the lead vocals being too low in the mix. So, as usual, I fixed that with the use of the UVR5 audio editing program.

When I first posted this album, I posted a version that was a little under an hour long, and I thought that was all there was. But a commenter sent me a different version that was missing two songs ("Backlash Love Affair" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"), but also had two other songs I didn't have ("Oh I Swear" and "Crash the Party"). I compared the different versions and found that it was definitely the same concert, with the exact same banter and so forth. But it seems the BBC played different versions at different times with different edits. I did my best to put everything together to create the longest version yet available.   

The music here is unreleased, and the sound quality is close to excellent.

This album is an hour and 11 minutes long. The BBC edited down a longer concert to fit in an hour-long radio show slot. But this is longer than an hour, since it comes from two slightly different versions.

UPDATE: On November 8, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I found an earlier volume in this series that I'd missed, so the volume number changed. That meant the title, cover art, and mp3 tags changed too.

01 Read about Love (Richard Thompson)
02 Backlash Love Affair (Richard Thompson)
03 Gypsy Love Songs (Richard Thompson)
04 talk (Richard Thompson)
05 Keep Your Distance (Richard Thompson)
06 talk (Richard Thompson)
07 Tear Stained Letter (Richard Thompson)
08 talk (Richard Thompson)
09 Oh I Swear [Edit] (Richard Thompson & Shawn Colvin)
10 talk (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
13 talk (Richard Thompson)
14 I Misunderstood (Richard Thompson)
15 I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson)
16 Valerie (Richard Thompson)
17 Mother Knows Best (Richard Thompson)
18 Mystery Wind (Richard Thompson)
19 Crash the Party (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UCp6Hn3M

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/MHJelbd9TAV387n/file

The cover photo was taken at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, California, on July 17, 1991.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 6: 1988-1991

I had a weird dream last night (as I write this in October 2025). In the dream, I heard the song "Al Bowlly's in Heaven" by Richard Thompson, but I noticed a famous Queen song was basically the same song, just with different words and very different production. I don't think it's true that any Queen song resembles that one, but it was a fun was to be reminded what a fantastic song "Al Bowlly's in Heaven" is. And it also reminded me that it's time to post another Richard Thompson album. So here's the next BBC album from him. This one is a collection of BBC studio sessions, all solo acoustic.

Everything here remains unreleased. The first five songs are from an appearance on the Andy Kershaw Show in 1988. Tracks 6 through 9 are from another 1988 radio show, the Richard Skinner Show. "She Moved through the Fair" is a live cut from the "Folk on Two" radio show. The remaining songs, tracks 11 through 16 are from a 1992 radio show called "Kaleidoscope."

Unfortunately, "Al Bowlly's in Heaven" isn't on here, but it is on the "BBC Sessions, Volume 2" album I've posted here. That's probably the greatest song about war-related PTSD ever written. Most of the songs here are from his albums at the time, like 1988's "Amnesia" and 1991's "Rumour and Sigh." But there are a few rarities and older ones as well.

This album is 48 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On November 8, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I found an earlier volume in this series that I'd missed, so the volume number changed. That meant the title, cover art, and mp3 tags changed too. 

01 Killerman Gold Posse (Richard Thompson)
02 Waltzing's for Dreamers (Richard Thompson)
03 Pharoah (Richard Thompson)
04 Push and Shove (Richard Thompson)
05 Killing Jar (Richard Thompson)
06 Turning of the Tide (Richard Thompson)
07 talk (Richard Thompson)
08 Two Left Feet (Richard Thompson)
09 Valerie (Richard Thompson)
10 She Moved through the Fair (Richard Thompson)
11 I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson)
12 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
13 The Choice Wife [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
14 I Misunderstood (Richard Thompson)
15 Don't Let a Thief Steal into Your Heart (Richard Thompson)
16 God Loves a Drunk (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/xJM8VVUy

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/wL8TMxaJTATURtx/file

The cover photo is from 1992. That's all I know about it. 

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: Andy Kershaw Show, Strawberry Sound, Manchester, Britain, 1-7-1987

Here's another album I'm posting sooner rather than later due to the BBC poll. It's another BBC album by Richard Thompson, from 1987.

This one is kind of a strange one, because it's a single performance, but it's not from a concert. Instead, it's from an appearance on the Andy Kershaw Show. It's long enough to make up an album, though a short one. Unfortunately, whatever banter there may have been between songs has been lost. (If you have that, let me know!) And there's no applause, since it was done in a radio station.

The song quality is excellent. That's because it comes from the official album "Live at the BBC." Most of the songs here were included on the previous three BBC volumes, since the time frame isn't that different. (For instance, this took place less than two months after the concert in "Volume 4.") But those were generally done electric, with a full band, while these are all solo acoustic versions.

This album is 37 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On November 8, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I found an earlier volume in this series that I'd missed, so the volume number changed. That meant the title, cover art, and mp3 tags changed too. 

01 Withered and Died (Richard Thompson)
02 When the Spell Is Broken (Richard Thompson)
03 Simple Again (Richard Thompson)
04 Ghosts in the Wind (Richard Thompson)
05 Valerie (Richard Thompson)
06 Turning of the Tide (Richard Thompson)
07 She Twists the Knife Again (Richard Thompson)
08 Two Left Feet (Richard Thompson)
09 Shoot Out the Lights (Richard Thompson)
10 The End of the Rainbow (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/E3uMV61p

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/5wRLZdHe0jFaLnq/file

The cover photo shows Thompson at the 1987 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 03,1987.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: In Concert, Hammersmith Palais, London, Britain, 11-20-1986

Here's another volume of Richard Thompson performing for the BBC. This time, it's a concert from 1986.

"Volume 3" in this series is a concert from 1985. This concert is pretty similar, except it's shorter. Most likely, it was edited down to fit an hour-long radio slot. That includes getting rid of pretty much any banter between songs. Between the 1985 show and this one, however, Thompson released another studio album, "Daring Adventures." So there are three songs performed from that album here: "Valerie," "Jennie," and "A Bone through Her Nose." Too bad "Al Bowlly's in Heaven" from that album also wasn't included, since I think it's one of his greatest songs. (But a version of that song was included in "Volume 1.")

Six of the songs here made it onto the official box set "Live at the BBC." Those are tracks 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The rest are unreleased, from the BBC broadcast. The lead vocals were rather low on some songs, especially the unreleased ones, so I adjusted that using the UVR5 audio editing program.

During this tour, like the 1985, the folk duo of Clive Gregson and Christine Collister were a part of Thompson's band, helping with backing vocals and Gregson guitar. So that's why one song, "Like a Man," has the lead vocals by Gregson. 

This album is 56 minutes long.

UPDATE: On November 8, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I found an earlier volume in this series that I'd missed, so the volume number changed. That meant the title, cover art, and mp3 tags changed too. 

01 The Angels Took My Racehorse Away (Richard Thompson)
02 Valerie (Richard Thompson)
03 Jennie (Richard Thompson)
04 A Bone through Her Nose (Richard Thompson)
05 When the Spell Is Broken (Richard Thompson)
06 Like a Man (Richard Thompson with Clive Gregson)
07 You Don't Say (Richard Thompson)
08 Fire in the Engine Room (Richard Thompson)
09 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson)
10 Nearly in Love (Richard Thompson)
11 Tear-Stained Letter (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ELKALRpF

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/rcpMUTVQXYBMfo8/file

The cover photo was taken in Los Angeles, California, on March 18, 1985.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: 1984-1987

Here's another BBC album by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. This album is a collection of studio sessions, plus a live performance that was too short to make its own album. 

The first song is from the "Old Grey Whistle Test" BBC TV show in 1984. The next three are from a BBC session in 1985. Then the majority of the album, tracks 5 through 13, are a live performance recorded for the BBC radio show "Folk on Two." It took place at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London on May 20, 1987. Finally, the last song is a live performance from the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1987.

Tracks 2, 3, 4, and 14 have been officially released. The first three are from the album "Live at the BBC," and that last one is from the "Life and Music Of" box set. Everything else is unreleased.

Also note that this album contains two versions of "She Twists the Knife Again." That's kind of unfortunate, but at least one was done in the studio while the other one was in concert.

This album is 49 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On November 8, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I found an earlier volume in this series that I'd missed, so the volume number changed. That meant the title, cover art, and mp3 tags changed too.

01 Tear-Stained Letter (Richard Thompson)
02 You Don't Say (Richard Thompson)
03 She Twists the Knife Again (Richard Thompson)
04 When the Spell Is Broken (Richard Thompson)
05 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson)
06 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson)
07 Valerie (Richard Thompson)
08 talk (Richard Thompson)
09 Air for Morris Ogg - Mrs. MacLeod's Reel [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
10 She Twists the Knife Again (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 Al Bowlly's in Heaven (Richard Thompson)
13 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson)
14 Drowned Dog Black Night (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/p18hDkSW

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/9WneWZconJYw9w3/file

The cover photo was taken at at Wolfgang's in San Francisco, California on October 7, 1983.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: In Concert, Barrymore's Music Hall, Ottawa, Canada, 4-11-1985

In the BBC poll I did back in February 2025, Peter Gabriel got the most votes. The second most went to Richard Thompson. So I posted a couple things from Gabriel recently, and now here's something from Thompson. More albums from more musical acts will be coming soon. This is a full concert from 1985.

From about 1972 to 1982, Richard Thompson was in a duo with his then-wife, Linda Thompson. After their marriage and musical partnership broke up in 1982, he got serious with a solo career. In 1983, he released the album "Hand of Kindness," and then in 1985, he released the album "Across a Crowded Room." This concert features him on tour promoting that latter album. For the tour, he recruited another male and female musical duo to join his band, Clive Gregson and Christine Collister. Collister, in particular, added female vocals that kind of filled the role Linda Thompson used to fill. Both Gregson and Collister got their own lead vocal songs during this concert, with Collister singing "Warm Love Gone Cold" and Gregson singing "Summer Rain."

In my opinion, Thompson's songwriting was especially good during this time period, with his 1982 album with Linda Thompson, "Shoot Out the Lights," being my favorite. It also was his most poppy and accessible. That continued with these albums. So I think this concert is an excellent introduction to his solo career, with him playing the best songs from his two recent solo albums plus key songs from earlier in his career.

I believe this concert was almost the end of the tour, with just one more concert a day later. So, to document the tour, this concert was recorded for both audio and video. A version edited down to an hour was shown on British TV, called "Across a Crowded Room Live." That also was broadcast on BBC radio. Seven of the tracks from it appeared on the DVD portion of the album "Live at the BBC" in 2011. Then, in 2019, the full concert was released, called "Across a Crowded Room - Live at Barrymore's 1985." Normally, I don't like to post stuff that's officially released already, but I'm doing that here since it's a good way to start a series of Thompson's BBC albums, the vast majority of which is unreleased. 

This album is an hour and 45 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On November 8, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I found an earlier volume in this series that I'd missed, so the volume number changed. That meant the title, cover art, and mp3 tags changed too.

01 Fire in the Engine Room (Richard Thompson)
02 She Twists the Knife (Richard Thompson)
03 Shoot Out the Lights (Richard Thompson)
04 You Don't Say (Richard Thompson)
05 Warm Love Gone Cold (Christine Collister with Richard Thompson)
06 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson)
07 How I Wanted To (Richard Thompson)
08 Little Blue Number (Richard Thompson)
09 When the Spell Is Broken (Richard Thompson)
10 Did She Jump or Was She Pushed (Richard Thompson)
11 The Wrong Heartbeat (Richard Thompson)
12 talk (Richard Thompson)
13 Summer Rain (Clive Gregson with Richard Thompson)
14 For Shame of Doing Wrong (Richard Thompson)
15 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson)
16 talk (Richard Thompson)
17 Nearly in Love (Richard Thompson)
18 Love in a Faithless Country (Richard Thompson)
19 I Ain't Going to Drag My Feet No More (Richard Thompson)
20 talk (Richard Thompson)
21 Tear Stained Letter (Richard Thompson)
22 talk (Richard Thompson)
23 Withered and Died (Richard Thompson)
24 Skull and Cross Bones (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/vTs7h383

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/hR9r5sVS8uhd5QN/file

For the cover image, I took a screenshot from a YouTube video of this exact concert. The video was low-res, as is often the case with these things. But I ran the image through the Krea AI program twice until it looked a lot better.

Richard Thompson - The Fairport Convention Era - Home Concert, London, Britain, 9-27-2020

In 2020, the worst year of the Covid pandemic, Richard Thompson performed a few home concerts that were broadcast over the Internet. I could be wrong, but I believe I've already posted all but one of them at this blog. Here, finally, is the last one. 

Richard Thompson was a member of Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1971, the most celebrated years of the band's long musical history. For this solo acoustic home concert, he decided to perform just songs from his Fairport Convention era. I'm not aware of any other concert where he had this exclusive focus, this this is a special treat for both Richard Thompson solo and Fairport Convention fans.

The reason I've never posted this before is because when the concert happened, it was one of those "pay to view" deals. I don't want to deny Thompson of a revenue stream, especially considering it's become increasingly hard for musicians to make a living. But I figure enough time has passed, and I checked the download page for this, and it's defunct. There's no way to pay for it. (By the way, if anyone has any more of these types of "pay to view" shows from artists that are also expired, please let me know so I can help share them.) 

Thompson performed the concert with just his acoustic guitar. Because it was in his home, there was no audience. However, his girlfriend Zara Phillips, who is a talented musician in her own right, joined him near the end of the concert to sing song harmony vocals. He largely played the songs in chronological order of the years the songs were recorded. However, he saved up some harmony one for the end with Phillips.

This concert is especially interesting because Thompson only sang on a minority of songs when he was in Fairport Convention, since the band had other sings, especially Sandy Denny. But in this concert, he sang some songs in public for the very first time that were sang by Denny and others, in order to show off a full picture of the band in that era. He also played a few songs from his first solo album, "Henry the Human Fly" from 1972, apparently since he linked that with the Fairport years in his mind.

There's a lot of interesting banter between songs. In recent years especially, Thompson has an annoying habit of coughing quite a lot when he's on stage. (I'm guessing this is related to a stuttering problem he's had his whole life.) So I edited out most of the coughs.

This album is an hour and 28 minutes long.

01 talk (Richard Thompson)
02 Jack O'Diamonds (Richard Thompson)
03 talk (Richard Thompson)
04 One Sure Thing (Richard Thompson)
05 talk (Richard Thompson)
06 She Moves through the Fair (Richard Thompson)
07 talk (Richard Thompson)
08 Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Richard Thompson)
09 talk (Richard Thompson)
10 Reynardine (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 Matty Groves (Richard Thompson)
13 talk (Richard Thompson)
14 The Deserter (Richard Thompson)
15 talk (Richard Thompson)
16 Crazy Man Michael (Richard Thompson)
17 talk (Richard Thompson)
18 Sir Patrick Spens (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 Sloth (Richard Thompson)
21 talk (Richard Thompson)
22 Now Be Thankful (Richard Thompson)
23 talk (Richard Thompson)
24 Roll Over Vaughan Williams (Richard Thompson)
25 talk (Richard Thompson)
26 The Poor Ditching Boy (Richard Thompson)
27 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
28 I Still Miss Someone (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
29 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
30 Gone, Gone, Gone (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
31 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
32 Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
33 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
34 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
35 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
36 Meet on the Ledge (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
37 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ERKBtUjV

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/kow2GTpg0mqKq62/file

I used a promotional advertisement for the cover. The only change I made was that I swapped the text at the bottom.

Richard Thompson - What We Did on Our Holidays - Home Concert, Montclair, NJ, 12-16-2020

I have a Richard Thompson Christmas-themed home concert from 2020 that I only discovered a few days ago. It seems crazy to post that in August, the exact opposite of the Christmas season, but I want to post it now because otherwise I'm liable to forget come December. Then it occurred to me, "Hey, having Trump prosecuted for the January 6th insurrection is like Christmas coming early, so this is good timing after all."

Anyway, if that excuse doesn't work for you, consider that it's not really that much of a Christmas-themed album in the first place. Thompson did give the home concert the title "What We Did on Our Holidays" - a clever reference to the title of a 1969 Fairport Convention album - and he did play a few Christmas-themed songs: "Father Christmas" by the Kinks, "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses, "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley, a rockabilly version of "Winter Wonderland," and his own "The Wrong Present." But for the 13 other songs, there's little to no Christmas connection. Still, it's a fun bunch of songs, which some rarely played tunes included.

As with his other home concerts, this was done in the solo acoustic format, except his partner Zara Phillips added harmony vocals to a bunch of the songs. The sound quality is excellent, with no problems at all. I did cut out a little bit of dead air between songs, such as guitar tuning, but not much. 

Also, in recent years, Thompson has developed a very annoying habit of loudly and frequently clearing his throat or coughing. That happened between every single song here, though thankfully never during any of the songs. I tried to edit out all such noises. Perhaps I missed one or two, but I got nearly all of them, at least.

This album is an hour and 21 minutes long.

Oh, and by the way, if you're a Trump supporter, what the heck are you doing listening to Richard Thompson? He even wrote an anti-Trump song in 2014, "Fergus Laing," before Trump started his run for president. I put that on my "Rock Trump Out" compilation, which you can find here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/10/various-artists-rock-trump-out-volumes_24.html

01 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
02 Father Christmas (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
03 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
04 As I Hold You (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
05 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
06 Tinker's Rhapsody (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
07 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
08 The Rattle Within (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
09 talk (Richard Thompson)
10 The Cutty Wren (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
13 talk (Richard Thompson)
14 Sloth (Richard Thompson)
15 talk (Richard Thompson)
16 Flowers of the Forest (Richard Thompson)
17 talk (Richard Thompson)
18 Christmas Wrapping (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 If I Could Live My Life Again (Richard Thompson)
21 talk (Richard Thompson)
22 Blue Christmas (Richard Thompson)
23 talk (Richard Thompson)
24 Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
25 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
26 The Wrong Present (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
27 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
28 I Still Miss Someone (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
29 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
30 The Fortress (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
31 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
32 When the Saints Rise Out of Their Graves (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
33 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
34 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
35 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
36 Winter Wonderland (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)
37 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Philips)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/deMLxDab

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/quGwAoJkjqp3N7R/file

The cover is a screenshot I took from a video of this concert. In January 2025, I improved the image with the Krea AI program.

Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips - Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY, 8-30-2022

What has British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson been up to lately (as I write this in February 2023)? Unfortunately, he hasn't put out any new albums since the start of the Covid pandemic. However, he has put out two generous EPs, which would make up a nice album. Plus, he's back doing concerts, and he sings and plays just as great as ever. For some reason, this concert from August 2022 was broadcast live on the Internet. It was professionally recorded, and it sounds great, so I figured it's worth sharing here.

I took this from a large video file, and broke it up into individual mp3s. There were no problems. I cut out a little bit of dead air between songs, mostly guitar tuning, but not much. Oh, also, Thompson has developed an annoying habit in recent years of coughing a lot between songs. This concert wasn't so bad compared to what I expected, so maybe he's getting better. But still, I edited out nearly all the coughing.

In recent years, Thompson has been romantically involved with musician Zara Phillips. This is a solo acoustic concert, except Phillips joined in on backing vocals for the second half of the concert. Since she was only there for half of the concert, and didn't say a word between songs, I credited this album to "Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips" rather than "Richard Thompson & Zara Phillips."

This concert left me even more impressed with Thompson's talent. As I write this, he's 73 years old, but he sure as hell doesn't sound like it. He's perfected a technique of playing solo parts while keeping the rhythm going, making it sound like there are two guitars playing at once. But it's all just him. Also, his songwriting is still at a high level. He played a nice mix of older classics and new songs from his recent EPs, plus one song, "Singapore Sadie," that hasn't been released yet.

This concert is an hour and 35 minutes long.

01 talk (Richard Thompson)
02 Gethsemane (Richard Thompson)
03 talk (Richard Thompson)
04 If I Could Live My Life Again (Richard Thompson)
05 talk (Richard Thompson)
06 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson)
07 talk (Richard Thompson)
08 Turning of the Tide (Richard Thompson)
09 talk (Richard Thompson)
10 Persuasion (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 Johnny's Far Away (Richard Thompson)
13 talk (Richard Thompson)
14 She Moves through the Fair (Richard Thompson)
15 talk (Richard Thompson)
16 Walking the Long Miles Home (Richard Thompson)
17 talk (Richard Thompson)
18 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Richard Thompson)
21 talk (Richard Thompson)
22 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
23 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
24 Singapore Sadie (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
25 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
26 Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
27 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
28 The Rattle Within (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
29 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
30 Keep Your Distance (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
31 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
32 She Never Could Resist a Winding Road (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
33 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
34 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
35 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
36 Walking on a Wire (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
37 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
38 The Tinker's Rhapsody (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
39 She Was Lost in the Crowd (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/SzkMWYM4

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/hw48lmbgc1UYZxC/file

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from the video footage for this concert. However, Thompson and Phillips were a bit father away from each other, but I moved them closer using Photoshop. In January 2025, I upgraded the image with the Krea AI program.

Richard Thompson - Cutty Wren - Non-Album Acoustic Tracks (2007-2008)

My goodness, Richard Thompson is a really prolific guy.  I'm slowly working my way chronologically through his music career, and I still have a long way to go to get to the present day. This is another collection of him doing nothing but acoustic versions of songs. 

The vast majority of the songs are cover versions, though I believe he wrote "Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman" decades earlier. Plus, he was on the original recording of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" by Fairport Convention, though that was written by Sandy Denny.

The only version here that has been officially released is "See My Friends." That came from a BBC session, as well as the last two. The rest were done at concerts, but I've edited the songs to remove the audience applause at the end. 

The reason "The Wind Cries Mary" has "[Edit]" in the title is because there was some applause when the familiar chords of this classic Jimi Hendrix song were played, and then again when the first words were sung. Since it was just a solo acoustic performance, I was able to use the sound editing program Spleeter to remove most of that applause.

This album took place at a time when Thompson was still involved with his "1000 Years of Popular Music" concerts. The last three songs, the ones done for a BBC session, were commonly played during those concerts at the time. I've included them because these are the closest he seems to have done clean studio versions of them. All the other songs come from other concerts. While many of them could have fit the "1000 Years" theme, I don't believe any of them were played in those types of concerts.

I particularly like his version of "War." The original Motown soul version is great, and very well known. His version is drastically different, almost turning it into a folk ballad, but I think it works that way too.

The sound quality is mostly very good, but it varies. Some of these songs were only bootlegged a single time, and probably were only played that one time in concert, so it's no surprise stellar sound quality wasn't achieved for all of them. A couple near the beginning like "Concrete and Clay" and "Rain on the Roof" have the roughest sound.

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Joshua Gone Barbados (Richard Thompson)
02 Concrete and Clay (Richard Thompson & Julian Dawson)
03 Rain on the Roof (Richard Thompson & Julian Dawson)
04 Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman (Richard Thompson)
05 The Wind Cries Mary [Edit] (Richard Thompson)
06 Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Richard Thompson)
07 John the Gun (Richard Thompson)
08 All Along the Watchtower (Richard Thompson)
09 War (Richard Thompson)
10 See My Friends (Richard Thompson)
11 So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo (Richard Thompson)
12 Cutty Wren (Richard Thompson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15271028/RichrdT_2007-2008_CuttyWrnAcoustc_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from a concert in New Orleans in 2008.

Richard Thompson - Breaking Down the Walls - Non-Album Tracks (2003-2012)

Here's the next in a long line of Richard Thompson stray tracks albums. For his music career, because he plays in acoustic mode so often, I've posted two kinds of stray tracks albums: one of full band tracks, and one of acoustic tracks. This is the full band kind.

Note that this album deals with a unusually long time period, nine years. By contrast, I have some acoustic collections from around these same years that often deal with only a couple of years each. I figure that's because it's very easy for him to perform a new song, such as a cover, if it's just him playing alone. But it takes a lot more effort to get a full band to learn a song.

This album can be divided into two parts. The first four songs are a grab bag from different sources, recorded from 2003 to 2007. They're all officially released, and come from movie soundtracks and various artists compilation albums. 

The rest of the songs all come from the 2012 Thompson studio album "Cabaret of Souls." This album has no less than 30 songs on it, all written by Thompson, but I've only selected five. That's because it's an unusual album, with many song actually narrative links, others instrumentals, and other songs sung by other people. I'm not a fan of most of those. I've boiled things down to just full songs that are sung by Thompson.

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Season of the Witch (Richard Thompson)
02 Main Title [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
03 The Coo Coo Bird (Richard Thompson & Eliza Carthy)
04 Harlan's Bounce [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
05 Clyde Smythe (Richard Thompson)
06 Auldie Riggs (Richard Thompson)
07 Breaking Down the Walls (Richard Thompson)
08 Run Judas Run (Richard Thompson)
09 Bosom of the Lord (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/M7o9n3Ep

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Onbie3BxsH5TkI2/file

The cover photo is a publicity photo from 2008. It's somewhat low-res, and I had other options, but I liked it so I used it anyway. In January 2025, I sharpened it with the use of the Krea AI program.

Richard Thompson - Hots for the Smarts - Non-Album Acoustic Tracks (2003-2005)

It's been a while since I've posted a Richard Thompson stray tracks album. But yesterday someone asked me for the third volume of his "1000 Years of Popular Music" shows. I want to keep posting things in chronological order, so I need to get through a few albums before I get to that one. This next one contains only acoustic versions of songs.

My aim was to include unique songs that don't appear in similar versions somewhere else. Some of the songs here were done for his "1000 Years of Popular Music," such as the first two. But these were done in studio settings without any crowd noise, so the sound quality is markedly better. "Genesis Hall" and "Crazy Man Michael" were first done by Fairport Convention back in the 1960s. But again it's rare to have acoustic studio versions with top notch sound quality.

All but three of the performances here have been officially released. Four of those came from the "Life and Music Of" box set, and two more were on a BBC compilation. The three unreleased ones are from in-person radio station appearances, so the sound quality is excellent.

I did a little tweaking to "Dear Janet Jackson," so that's why it has "[Edit]" in the title. Although this version is from the box set, it's from a concert and the sound quality is a bit rough. I was able to use the Spleeter sound editing program to remove some of the crowd noise, including a brief clap along during the middle of the song.

I believe "Dear Janet Jackson" and "Hots for the Smarts" are both Thompson originals, and both are very funny. It would be interesting to put an album together of all his humorous songs, but I'm not sure if there's enough for an album.

This album is 38 minutes long.

01 Blackleg Miner (Richard Thompson)
02 Tempted (Richard Thompson)
03 Watch Me Go (Richard Thompson)
04 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson)
05 Dear Janet Jackson [Edit] (Richard Thompson)
06 One Door Opens (Richard Thompson)
07 Crazy Man Michael (Richard Thompson)
08 Josef Locke (Richard Thompson)
09 Let It Blow (Richard Thompson)
10 Hots for the Smarts (Richard Thompson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376719/RICHRDTHMPSN2003-2005_HtsfrtheSmrtsAcustc_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a concert in Amsterdam in 2003.

Richard Thompson - 1000 Years of Popular Music - Second Version (2001-2007)

A couple of weeks ago, I posted my version of Richard Thompson's "1000 Years of Popular Music" concerts. If you liked that one, you should like this one too. It's the exact same thing, the same concept, except that every single song is different!

Here's a quick review. Starting around 2001, Thompson began playing his occasional "1000 Years of Popular Music" concerts, which consisted entirely of covers of songs from the last 1000 years. And "1000 years" wasn't an exaggeration, either: many of the songs go back hundreds of years. In 2004, he put out an album of the concert, and the first version I posted largely contains the same set of songs, though I made some changes, such as including more of his banter about the songs, and changing the song order to make more chronological sense. 

In 2006, he released a DVD of the show, with many different songs than the ones on the album. I took those different songs as the start of this version - there are nine of those. But then I added a bunch more, because there were many changes to his set lists as he kept playing "1000 Years" themed concerts from time to time in the 2000s. I found another 12 songs to add. All of these are officially unreleased in any form, and come from concert bootlegs. Luckily, most of them sound pretty good, but sometimes there's a drop in sound quality from the songs sourced from the DVD.

As with the first version I posted, I made a concerted effort to find comments he made about each song. I got lucky and found him saying at least a few words for every song, with two exceptions ("You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Ring of Fire").

Also like the first version I posted, I sorted the songs by the years they were first created, instead of by the order Thompson performed them in concert. Doing the latter pretty much would have been impossible, since the songs come from a bunch of concerts with very different set lists. With the first version, Thompson gave a great lesson on the history of Western music over the last 1000 years, and here he does it again, without repeating himself at all. Not only that, but I'm planning a third version where that feat is repeated.

This album is an hour and 25 minutes long, which was roughly the length of one of his typical concerts with this theme. As with the first version, I've included the years the songs were created in the song titles, to help make that clear. I did some research on that to help me with the ordering of the songs.

UPDATE: On January 24, 2026, I updated the mp3 download file. When I first posted this, in 2021, the sound quality of much of the banter was often lower quality than the songs, since those often came from different sources that happened to be rougher. But when I updated it, I ran all those low quality talking tracks through the Adobe vocal enhancer program. I think they sound much better now.

01 Worlds Blis Ne Last [1200s] (Richard Thompson)
02 talk (Richard Thompson)
03 Bonnie St. Johnstone [unknown] (Richard Thompson)
04 talk (Richard Thompson)
05 O Sleep Fond Fancy [Thomas Morley, 1597] (Richard Thompson)
06 talk (Richard Thompson)
07 Remember O Thou Man [Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609] (Richard Thompson)
08 talk (Richard Thompson)
09 Full Fathom Five [Robert Johnson, 1611] (Richard Thompson)
10 talk (Richard Thompson)
11 A-Begging I Will Go [1817 or earlier] (Richard Thompson)
12 talk (Richard Thompson)
13 Hobo Bill's Last Ride [Jimmie Rodgers, 1929] (Richard Thompson)
14 talk (Richard Thompson)
15 Night and Day [Cole Porter, 1932] (Richard Thompson)
16 talk (Richard Thompson)
17 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter [Fats Waller, 1935] (Richard Thompson)
18 talk (Richard Thompson)
19 Java Jive [Ink Spots, 1941] (Richard Thompson)
20 talk (Richard Thompson)
21 London Pride [Noel Coward, 1941] (Richard Thompson)
22 You'll Never Walk Alone [Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1945] (Richard Thompson)
23 talk (Richard Thompson)
24 Don't Stop the Music [George Jones, 1957] (Richard Thompson)
25 Ring of Fire [Johnny Cash, 1963] (Richard Thompson)
26 talk (Richard Thompson)
27 A-11 [Buck Owens, 1964] (Richard Thompson)
28 talk (Richard Thompson)
29 I Ain't Marching Anymore [Phil Ochs, 1965] (Richard Thompson)
30 talk (Richard Thompson)
31 See My Friends [Kinks, 1965] (Richard Thompson)
32 talk (Richard Thompson)
33 Walk Away Renee [Left Banke, 1966] (Richard Thompson)
34 talk (Richard Thompson)
35 Friday on My Mind [Easybeats, 1967] (Richard Thompson)
36 talk (Richard Thompson)
37 There's Always Someone Cooler than You [Ben Folds Five, 2003] (Richard Thompson)
38 talk (Richard Thompson)
39 1985 [Bowling for Soup, 2005] (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/w4kPffc2

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/thcksVZeTQQb8UU/file

The album cover uses a photo of Thompson in concert in 2007. I don't know any more details. I used the same artwork on each side as I did with the first version.

Richard Thompson - 1000 Years of Popular Music - First Version (2001-2002)

Here's something that I'm especially proud of. Around 2000, Playboy Magazine asked Richard Thompson and a bunch of other famous musicians to list what they considered to be the best songs of the millennium. Thompson alone took them literally and gave them a list that genuinely covered 1000 years, whereas everyone else made lists just of the last century. Probably because his list was so weird, Playboy never published it. But it gave Thompson the idea for a show called "1000 Years of Popular Music," which he did off and on from about 2001 until 2009. 

Thompson released a CD of one of these shows in 2003. Then he released a DVD in 2006 of a show from a later tour with a fairly different set list. What I have here is related, but different. Since Thompson toured with this concept for most of a decade, the show evolved over time, and the set list changed. I've found enough different songs to create three full-length concerts of about an hour and a half each, with those three concerts having totally different set lists. Not a single song is repeated between any of the three shows.

In order to get enough material for all three shows, I've drawn upon the CD, the DVD, and various bootlegs. For this first concert, the vast majority of the songs come from the CD. However, I enjoy Thompson's banter before the songs, and I wanted to see if I could find some comments he made for every single song. Because many of the songs are obscure, with some dating back hundreds of years, his comments can be very illuminating. He only had comments for about half of the songs on the CD, but by using the DVD and bootleg sources, I was able to find comments for almost all of the rest. 

Another change I've made is that I've organized all the songs by when they were first created. Thompson more or less did this for the CD version, but he bounced around some, especially for the encores. For instance, his cover of "Sam Hall," a song from the 1700s, came after his cover of the Britney Spears hit "Oops... I Did It Again" from the year 2000. I think the concert makes better sense and has improved flow with the songs in proper chronological order.

Between adding in more of the banter and moving some songs around, I developed some flow issues. For instance, the audience applause might come to a sudden end, with the next track starting with silence. So I carefully checked the transitions from song to song and made little fixes. For example, if his next comments started with some lingering applause, I'd make sure the previous song ended with a moderate amount of clapping going on. Hopefully the result is that it'll sound like one concert, even though in fact it has a handful of different sources.

This mostly just features Thompson and his acoustic guitar. However, Judith Owen sings backing vocals occasionally, and takes the lead vocals on a few songs, such as "Cry Me a River." There's also some percussion here and there. 

The total length of this concert is an hour and 36 minutes. By comparison, the CD version is an hour and 16 minutes long. If you're familiar with that CD, you'll be familiar with most of this. Things get more interesting with the second concert, which has about half of its source material from bootlegs, and then the third concert, which is entirely sourced from bootlegs.

Oh, by the way, I don't normally do this, but given the unique "history lesson" aspect of this concert, I've added to the song titles the year (or rough estimate) of when each song was created, as well as the author, when that's known.

UPDATE: On January 24, 2026, I updated the mp3 download file. When I first posted this, in 2021, the sound quality of much of the banter was often lower quality than the songs, since those often came from different sources that happened to be rougher. But when I updated it, I ran all those low quality talking tracks through the Adobe vocal enhancer program. I think they sound much better now.

01 Sumer Is Icumen In [1200s] (Richard Thompson)
02 talk (Richard Thompson)
03 King Henry V's Conquest of France [1400s] (Richard Thompson)
04 talk (Richard Thompson)
05 When I Am Laid in Earth [Dido's Lament] [Henry Purcell, 1689] (Richard Thompson)
06 talk (Richard Thompson)
07 So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo [Orazio Vecchi, 1590] (Richard Thompson)
08 talk (Richard Thompson)
09 Sam Hall [1700s] (Richard Thompson)
10 talk (Richard Thompson)
11 Shenandoah [early 1800s] (Richard Thompson)
12 talk (Richard Thompson)
13 Blackleg Miner [1840s] (Richard Thompson)
14 talk (Richard Thompson)
15 Banks of the Nile (Richard Thompson)
16 talk (Richard Thompson)
17 Why Have My Loved Ones Gone [Stephen Foster, 1861] (Richard Thompson)
18 talk (Richard Thompson)
19 There Is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast [Gilbert and Sullivan, 1885] (Richard Thompson)
20 talk (Richard Thompson)
21 I Live in Trafalgar Square [C. W. Murphy, 1902] (Richard Thompson)
22 talk (Richard Thompson)
23 Waiting at the Church [Vesta Victoria, 1907] (Richard Thompson)
24 talk (Richard Thompson)
25 Rockin' Chair [Hoagy Carmichael, 1929] (Richard Thompson)
26 talk (Richard Thompson)
27 Orange Coloured Sky [Jonny Edwards, 1930] (Richard Thompson)
28 talk (Richard Thompson)
29 Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee [Sonny Parker, 1949] (Richard Thompson)
30 talk (Richard Thompson)
31 Cry Me a River [Julie London, 1955] (Richard Thompson)
32 talk (Richard Thompson)
33 The Fool [Sanford Clark, 1956] (Richard Thompson)
34 It Won't Be Long [The Beatles, 1963] (Richard Thompson)
35 talk (Richard Thompson)
36 A Legal Matter [The Who, 1965] (Richard Thompson)
37 talk (Richard Thompson)
38 Money, Money, Money [ABBA, 1976] (Richard Thompson)
39 Tempted [Squeeze, 1981] (Richard Thompson)
40 talk (Richard Thompson)
41 Kiss [Prince, 1986] (Richard Thompson)
42 talk (Richard Thompson)
43 Oops... I Did It Again [Britney Spears, 2000] (Richard Thompson)
44 Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt [Oops... I Did It Again] (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZTqYWDHp

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/7SesG6uP1P71CLc/file

I believe the cover photo comes from a "1000 years" concert in Sadler's Wells, London, in 2003. The picture was taller than it was wide, so I filled in some of the space to the sides with Celtic designs.

Richard Thompson - Red Wine Promises - Non-Album Acoustic Tracks (2002-2003)

I've been posting two kinds of stray tracks albums for Richard Thompson: songs done with a band, and songs done in the solo acoustic format. Here's another album with him in the solo acoustic format.

Six out of 12 songs here have been officially released. But I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference, because most of the unreleased ones come from in-studio radio station appearances, usually with no audience noise.

The time period of this album coincides with when Thompson started to do a lot of concerts with the "1000 Years of Popular Music" theme. That'll be the focus of my next album I post from him. But suffice to say that explains why he started doing covers of songs like "You'll Never Walk Alone," "Shenandoah" and even "Oops... I Did It Again" by Britney Spears. But note that none of these versions are actually from any of those "1000 Years" shows. It seems he liked some of the songs enough to play them elsewhere.

This album is 40 minutes long.

01 Les Flammes d'Enfer (Richard Thompson)
02 Red Wine Promises (Richard Thompson)
03 Madonna's Wedding (Richard Thompson)
04 Oops... I Did It Again (Richard Thompson)
05 You'll Never Walk Alone (Richard Thompson)
06 Poseidon (Judith Owen & Richard Thompson)
07 Alexander Graham Bell (Richard Thompson)
08 A Love You Can't Survive (Richard Thompson)
09 Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen (Richard Thompson)
10 Kidzz (Richard Thompson)
11 Shenandoah (Richard Thompson)
12 She Said It Was Destiny (Richard Thompson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15270957/RichrdT_2002-2003_RedWnePromisesAcoustc_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a concert in the Netherlands in June 2003.