The man that the Los Angeles Times describes as: ‘The finest rock songwriter since Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix’ is back, with 12 new songs.  The vindictive, the callous and the exploitive are amongst the characters that populate Hippies, Thugs and Heroes – an album that sits high in the Richard Thompson canon.

COOKED TO PERFECTION

The output rate is as reliable as it ever was.  It’s just two years since Richard Thompson’s last album, Ship To Shore, thrilled us with its darkly humorous lyrics, its full, satisfying sound and, of course, its fluid, soaring, mind-bending guitar solos.  And now, the master – the man that the Los Angeles Times has dubbed ‘The finest rock songwriter since Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix’ is back.

Time will, no doubt, tell – but, at this stage, I’m tempted to suggest that  Hippies, Thugs and Heroes is one of Thompson’s best.  Arguably his greatest achievement since Bright Lights.

All aspects of Richard Thompson get an airing on Hippies, Thugs and Heroes.  The tender romantic, the dark comedian, the creator of dubious characters; the acoustic wizard and the electric iconoclast.  They’re all here and they’re all cooked to perfection.

OLD FRIENDS, FALSE GURUS, FORMER SELVES

Hippies, Thugs and Heroes is, essentially, a collection of stories; a compendium of tales of the vindictive, the callous, the exploitive and the downright psychotic.  So far, so Richard Thompson…  Amongst Richard’s cast of characters, we meet old friends, false gurus, former selves and – yes – hippies, thugs and heroes.  They all climbed out of Thompson’s mind and staked out their half-inch of vinyl space.

As with Ship To Shore, Richard has opted for the pared-back approach for Hippies, Thugs and Heroes.  He’s stuck with the familiar faces, too.  Old mates Taras Prodanuik (bass), Michael Jerome (drums), David Mansfield (guitar and fiddle) are all back to take their place alongside Richard and his wife Zara Phillips.  Zara has been Richard’s backing vocalist of choice for quite a number of years now and it’s worth pointing out, right now, that her vocals on Hippies, Thugs and Heroes are uniformly superb. 

As usual, the band have been afforded the freedom to express themselves but, on this occasion, Richard is the first to point out that he’s deliberately placed himself right at the centre of things.  “You could say there’s much more of my identity being transferred to the final product,” he says.  “[The album is] ‘less them and more me.’  But I’m never strict about what I want to hear on a record.  I’m always interested to see where a song takes me.”

SPECIAL HANDS

It’s the Byrds-channeling Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the latter of the album’s two singles, that gets Hippies, Thugs and Heroes underway.  The jaunty tune and the chimes of 12-string guitar belie the sinister nature of lyrics like: “It dawns on me that you’re not quite well; you’re not quite compos mentis.”  Yes, folks, Richard Thompson is back!

It was back in early August, just prior to RT’s triumphal Cropredy appearance, that lead single, Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking, slid across the At The Barrier desk.  We loved it then and, if anything, it’s a song that has expanded its appeal.  It’s Richard’s gritty, upbeat, story of a stimulant-assisted liaison between a female King’s Road hippie and a tattooed ‘Sauchiehall Street thug’ (Richard’s words…).  The song is a thunderous rocker, driven along by Michael’s sonorous drums and Richard’s solid guitar riffs.  Richard sings with passion, and Zara’s otherworldly harmonies apply a sweet edge to his words.

The slow-building Pauper’s Grave starts life as an engaging acoustic reflection before morphing into a ballad reminiscent of Devonside (from 1991’s Rumour and Sigh).  Richard’s lyrics tell the story of last rites, administered to vagrant who was overcome by harsh weather and a hard life.  Richard’s and Zara’s voices blend tightly together and the guitar fills and solos could only have come from Richard’s special hands.

TIGHT AND FUNKY

I found myself wondering whether there’s an autobiographical element to Richard’s lyrics to Unsung Hero.  With words like: “O kings and queens and generals, that you all love to cheer-o, Spare a thought for the working souls – I am the unsung hero,” Richard laments how the privileged routinely take credit for the contributions of those who produce.  The backing is tight and remarkably funky and bassist Taras plays an absolute blinder.  Richard’s vocal delivery is forthright and, once again, Zara softens the harsh edge with her harmonies.  Thompson’s guitar solo is, of course, sublime.

The ashes of a lapsed, covert romantic relationship provide the subject matter for the wistful Make Believe You Don’t Know Me.  There’s real emotion in Richard’s voice as he sings the “Make believe you don’t know me and I’ll make believe I don’t know you” refrain, and I love how he fills every available space with a fluid jumble of guitar notes.  And the brass band that illuminates the song’s final chorus is a wonderful surprise.

Perhaps the album’s most unusual song, She Burns It All is a ghostly, haunting vocal duet between Richard and Zara.  Performed to a jangling acoustic guitar backing, the lyrics are deep and mystifying.  Try: “Snakes and ladders, life’s old ups and downs; words that sting and words that tear – the news flies all around” for size…  Taken as a whole, the song has the impact of a medieval madrigal – and, somehow, it’s rather unsettling.

SWEET HEARTBREAK

Muggers, crackheads, landlords and the taxman all face an accusing finger in the jaunty, Cajun-flavoured Everybody’s Stealing.  The song is a sprightly singalong in the recognizable vein of Smiffy’s Glass Eye or Mole In A Hole (both tracks from Richard & Linda’s 1975 Hokey Pokey album) and it’s packed with the same brand of black humour.  Drums and bass lay down a raucous rhythm as mandolin and John Kirkpatrick’s melodeon take the solo initiatives – but it’s the brass band that, once again, has the final word.

Mandolin and acoustic guitar interweave nicely on the heartfelt The Soul In Me.  There’s a pleading, plaintive tone to Richard’s voice and it’s left to Zara’s delightful harmonies to offer a note of hope and consolation.  And it’s Zara that takes the plaudits for her stunning harmonies in Pipe Dreams, a country-flavoured duet.  The subject is heartbreak, of course, but there’s a warmth to the song that suggests that things might not work out too badly, after all…

Do I stick with small town life and the gossip and intrusion that often accompanies it – or do I take the plunge and head for the anonymity of the big city?  That’s a dilemma that many of us have had to face over the years and it’s a quandary that Richard confronts with the Big Smoke.  Pensiveness and indecision are evident in every syllable of Richard’s vocal as he confronts his choices.  There’s a Caledonian feel to the tune that is suggestive of the origins of the song’s lead character and it’s a feel that is emphasized by David’s fiddle.

THE VILEST VILLAIN…

Dubious characters are no strangers to Richard Thompson songs – French chancer Jean-Paul and conman Mickey who both feature in Sights and Sounds of London Town from the 1999 Mock Tudor album spring immediately mind.  But Stringer, the eponymous lead character of Hippies, Thugs and Heroes’ penultimate track is, perhaps Richard’s vilest villain yet.  As the song’s opening lyrics make clear: “Stringer is a bad man, murders for pleasure.  Stringer is a bad man, a con man, a thief.”  The sinister vibe is carried over to Richard’s tune and solos as well, despite David’s best efforts to lighten the mood with his fiddle licks.

Hippies, Thugs and Heroes is wrapped up Siren, an inspired song of unconditional love.  The song features Richard , alone with an acoustic guitar.  Nothing else is required or desirable.  It’s a fitting way to conclude an album that – as I may have mentioned – is one of Richard Thompson’s finest.  And that’s really saying something.

Richard Thompson: Website

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