Richard Thompson - In Over Your Head - Non-Album Acoustic Tracks (1982-1985)

Here's the third and final of my three Richard Thompson posts today. When it comes to Thompson's extensive solo career, I think it makes the most sense to split his stray tracks into acoustic and non-acoustic. So this is the first of the acoustic ones.

Nearly all the songs here are covers. They display quite a range of music, from Django Reinhardt ("Melodie au Crepuscule") to Elvis Costello ("Pump It Up)." Five of the 13 songs are instrumentals, which are opportunities for Thompson to show off his guitar playing prowess.

There are a couple of originals though. "Love Is Bad for Business" is here, and also on the other stray tracks album I just posted, "Jealousy." But this is the solo acoustic version and that is the full-band version. It's a good song, so I don't know why it didn't make any of his studio albums in either form.

Much less well known is the song "In Over Your Head." This song has never been played by Thompson in concert, and we only know of it because of it was included on the rather obscure box set "The Life and Music Of." That version is incomplete at only about two minutes. It ends with Thompson muttering about how the song continues like that. But it's a really nice song that he definitely should have finished off and put on a studio album. I've made a major edit to it by repeating a section of it, making it three minutes long instead of two. I think it now sounds like a full song.

All but four of the songs here come from concerts. As I often do, I've removed the audience noise. Luckily, all of them are sourced from soundboards and have excellent sound quality. The last song though is somewhat interactive with the audience though, so one can hear some clapping and laughing.

By the way, there are a couple of supporting musicians on the first couple of songs, including a violinist. The rest is just Thompson, except for two other guitarists joining in on "Sheebeg and Sheemore."

This album is 43 minutes long.

01 Honky Tonk Blues (Richard Thompson)
02 Farther Along [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
03 Why Don't Women Like Me (Richard Thompson)
04 Melodie au Crepuscule [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
05 Love Is Bad for Business (Richard Thompson)
06 The Kid on the Mountain [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
07 You're Gonna Change [Or I'm Gonna Leave] (Richard Thompson)
08 Shepherd's March - The Braes of Lochiel [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
09 In Over Your Head [Edit] (Richard Thompson)
10 Sheebeg and Sheemore [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson with Steve Morse & David Lindley)
11 Pump It Up (Richard Thompson)
12 Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll (Richard Thompson)
13 Willie and the Hand Jive - Not Fade Away (Richard Thompson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15268066/RichrdT_1982-1985_InOvrYourHeadAcoustc_atse.zip.html

Note that in November 2019, I changed the cover art photo. I thought the photo I'd used was from around 1985, but I later discovered it actually dates to 1991. So I replaced it with a photo of Thompson that actually dates from 1985, when he had a concert in Chicago.