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Josef Herman: Warsaw, Brussels, Glasgow, London, 1938-1944
Josef Herman's early, cathartic work should not be missed
Richard Thompson
Dream Attic (Proper Records)
Sunday 22 August 2010
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Dream Attic is out now on Proper Records
Richard Thompson has a heritage that stretches back to the 1960s when, as a teenager, he was a founding member of English folk-rock group Fairport Convention. For that act alone we should be eternally grateful.
Dream Attic is a double album. One album is labelled electric and was recorded live, mostly in San Francisco with a four-piece backing band. The other album is studio-based and labelled guitar and vocal demos.
Although both albums feature the same songs, there is a world of difference between the two. The live album is looser and more vigorous with Thompson able to stretch out with his trademark swaggeringly assured guitar solos, especially at the end of If Love Whispers Your Name.
The second album is predominantly Thompson playing solo which gives the songs a sparser and more austere feel.
Lyrically and musically it is quintessentially English. Among The Gorse, Among The Grey could easily have fitted into any of the early Fairport albums. Sidney Wells is a murder ballad for the new millennium and there are a couple of out and out rockers in Haul Me Up and Bad Again.
At its very least Dream Attic confirms Thompson's unassailable place as one of our national living treasures.
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