The ‘usual’ amazing guitar madness from Mr Thompson.

06 January 2023 | James Porteous | Clipper Media

Richard Thompson Band – Can’t Win – Bristol 2011-01-22

I will keep looking, but so far have been unable to find a listing of the members of the band.

Richard Thompson Releases Dream Attic

Richard Thompson, the brilliant guitarist and songwriter known, released his new album Dream Attic this month. The songs were recorded during a West Coast tour in February of this year, and the bulk of the performances that made the album come from three shows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Produced by Thompson and longtime cohort Simon Tassano, Dream Attic vividly captures the inspired interaction of the musicians. “The thing about recording live is that you lose accuracy but you gain energy; you lose choices but you gain immediacy,”

Thompson says about his decision to work in a live setting. But at the same time, the accuracy is marvelously maintained thanks to the elevated musicianship, frequently leading to extended passages of eruptive forcefulness topped by one after another of Thompson’s incomparable solo forays.

On several levels, Thompson notes, these 2010 shows felt not terribly different from Fairport’s very first tour of the States in 1970.

Thompson’s last studio album, 2007’s critically acclaimed Sweet Warrior, also produced by Thompson and Tassano, featured the provocative and vivid evocation of the Iraq War, “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me,” recently featured on the season 3 premiere of FX’s “Sons of Anarchy.” In 2009, Shout! Factory released the career-spanning 4-CD box set, Walking On A Wire: 1968-2009, showcasing Richard Thompson’s illustrious career, which stretches back over 40 years.

A recent recipient of the Les Paul Award at the 2010 MOJO Honours Awards, Thompson also recently had the distinction of being the Artistic Director of the 17th Meltdown festival in the UK. Previous artists chosen to curate the festival include David Bowie, Patti Smith, Massive Attack, and Ornette Coleman.