The great guitar masters — Segovia, Clapton, Montgomery, Garcia, Hendrix — have a style and sound so distinctive that you’re able to recognize them after only a few notes.
So it is with Richard Thompson, the British guitarist who burst into semi-prominence with Fairport Convention, the seminal folk-rock band, and has blazed an amazing career — both as a group leader and soloist — over the 25-plus years since Sandy Denny, Fairport’s lead singer, took one of music’s most tragic headers and died.
â€?1000 Years of Popular Music,â€? Thompson’s latest album, showcases his amazing playing and singing talents in a two CD medley of a millennium of music ranging from that big chartbuster from the Middle Ages, “Sumer is Icumen In,â€? through Cole Porter’s “Night and Dayâ€? to a droll send-up of Brittney Spears’ “Oops! . . . I Did It Again.â€? There is a third disk, as well, a DVD of Thompson and his trio performing several of the songs live.
Thompson explains in the liner notes – which also are a treat – that the idea for “1000 Years� came from Playboy Magazine:
“I was asked to submit a list, in late 1999, of the ten greatest songs of the Millennium. Hah! I thought, hypocrites – they don’t mean millennium, they mean twenty years – I’ll call their bluff and do a real thousand-year selection.â€?
Playboy failed to print Thompson’s list, but he has gotten his revenge.
Footnote: I have seen Thompson play several times. He has an astounding and unique finger picking style, but I still can’t figure how he is able to play two distinctly different riffs at the same time. Can anyone explain this to me?