| Acoustic Classics II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 August 2017 | |||
| Recorded | Rumiville Studio, Austin, Texas | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 54:24 | |||
| Label | Beeswing | |||
| Producer | Richard Thompson and Simon Tassano | |||
| Richard Thompson chronology | ||||
| ||||
Acoustic Classics II is the seventeenth solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. It was released by Beeswing Records on 10 August 2017.
Acoustic Classics II is the second acoustic compilation album by Richard Thompson. The songs range from his time in Fairport Convention, as half of a duo with Linda Thompson and as a solo artist.
The album was released on vinyl, CD and digital download.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100 [1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Financial Times | [3] |
| Folk Radio UK | Positive [4] |
| The Guardian | [5] |
| The Independent | [6] |
| Record Collector | [7] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [8] |
| The Press | [9] |
| The Times | [10] |
| Uncut | [11] |
On the Metacritic website, which aggregates reviews from critics and assigns a normalised rating out of 100, Acoustic Classics II received a score of 78, based on 1 mixed and 4 positive reviews. [1]
Among the critics that gave the album positive reviews, Uncut called the album "an unalloyed treat" adding that "there's something fundamentally satisfying about Thompson unplugged". [11] Andy Gill writing in The Independent states that "there’s no dip in quality here as Richard Thompson revisits material" [6] and Folk Radio UK call the album "one to treasure". [4] David Honigman of the Financial Times writes that "this second volume Richard Thompson has recorded of acoustic cover versions of his own songs works better than the first" [3] and Jude Rogers in The Guardian praises Thompson's "authoritative, confident voice" and "pearl-bright guitar-playing". [5]
All tracks written by Richard Thompson except "Crazy Man Michael" by Thompson and Dave Swarbrick:
| # | Title | Original version on | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | "She Twists the Knife Again" | Across a Crowded Room (1985) | 2:48 |
2. | "The Ghost of You Walks" | You? Me? Us? (1996) | 4:41 |
3. | "Genesis Hall" | Unhalfbricking (1969) | 3:30 |
4. | "Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair" | Pour Down Like Silver (1975) | 2:29 |
5. | "A Heart Needs a Home" | Hokey Pokey (1975) | 3:26 |
6. | "Pharaoh" | Amnesia (1988) | 4:25 |
7. | "Gethsemane" | The Old Kit Bag (2003) | 5:13 |
8. | "Devonside" | Hand of Kindness (1983) | 3:05 |
9. | "Meet on the Ledge" | What We Did on Our Holidays (1969) | 3:05 |
10. | "Keep Your Distance" | Rumor and Sigh (1991) | 3:35 |
11. | "Bathsheba Smiles" | Mock Tudor (1999) | 3:33 |
12. | "Crazy Man Michael" | Liege & Lief (1969) | 4:23 |
13. | "Guns Are the Tongues" | Sweet Warrior (2007) | 6:05 |
14. | "Why Must I Plead?" | Rumor and Sigh (1991) | 4:06 |
Richard Thompson – guitars and vocals
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC) [12] | 24 |
Richard Thompson is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Psychedelic folk is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music.
Chemical Chords is the ninth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab, released on 18 August 2008 by 4AD and Duophonic Records.
The Evangelist is the fifth solo album by Australian singer-songwriter Robert Forster, released by YepRoc in 2008.
Submarine is the debut solo EP by English musician and Arctic Monkeys lead vocalist Alex Turner, released on 14 March 2011 by Domino Recording Company. It was written by Turner in 2009, on an acoustic guitar, at his New York City home. It was produced in London by frequent collaborator James Ford, alongside guest musician Bill Ryder-Jones, and string arranger Owen Pallett. The EP consists of six original songs that act as the soundtrack of Richard Ayoade's debut feature film, Submarine (2010), based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne. The artwork is a resized version of the film's poster, which depicts lead actor Craig Roberts.
Child Ballads is a studio album by American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and musician Jefferson Hamer, released on February 11, 2013, by Wilderland Records. It serves as Mitchell's sixth studio album and Hamer's second. The album is composed of old folk ballads from the collection of the same name by Francis James Child re-arranged by the duo. They recorded the album with producer Gary Paczosa in early 2012. Child Ballads received generally positive reviews from music critics.
Acoustic Classics is the fifteenth solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. It was released by Beeswing Records via Proper Records on 21 July 2014 in the UK and 22 July 2014 in the US.
Bright Phoebus, fully titled Bright Phoebus: Songs by Lal & Mike Waterson, is a folk rock album by Lal and Mike Waterson. It was recorded in May 1972 with musical assistance from various well-known members of the British folk rock scene. The album failed to make an impact on its original release, but it was subsequently championed by many musicians, including Billy Bragg, Arcade Fire, Richard Hawley and Jarvis Cocker. For years the album was difficult to obtain. In 2017, a re-release of Bright Phoebus was announced and shortly thereafter pulled from the market for legal reasons.
The Rails is an English folk rock duo from London, England, composed of husband and wife James Walbourne and Kami Thompson. Thompson and Walbourne first met during the recording sessions for Versatile Heart by Thompson's mother Linda Thompson in 2007. The band signed to Island Records in January 2014 and released their debut album on 5 May 2014 on the label's Pink Label imprint, the first band to do so since the 1970s.
Still is the sixteenth solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. It was released by Fantasy Records on 23 June 2015 in the US and by Proper Records on 29 June 2015 in the UK.
Family is the debut studio album by folk rock family ensemble Thompson. It was released by Fantasy Records, part of Concord Music, on 17 November 2014.
Golden Sings That Have Been Sung is the third studio album by American musician Ryley Walker. It was released in August 2016 under Dead Oceans Records.
Windy City is the fourth solo studio album by bluegrass-country artist Alison Krauss. Released on February 17, 2017, the album is Krauss' first solo release since Forget About It in 1999, and includes ten covers of classic songs that she selected with producer Buddy Cannon.
Freedom Highway is the second solo studio album of Folk/Americana musician and Carolina Chocolate Drops front woman Rhiannon Giddens. It was released via Nonesuch Records on February 24, 2017. Freedom Highway was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2017 Americana Music Honors & Awards. The title track "Freedom Highway" is a 1965 civil rights protest song written by Roebuck Staples and title track of The Staple Singers' album of the same name.
The Order of Time is the fourth full-length album by American singer and songwriter Valerie June. Produced by Matt Marinelli, it was released on March 10, 2017. "Astral Plane" and "Shakedown" are the lead singles of the album. The Order of Time was well received by critics and was included on several yearly best-of lists of albums.
13 Rivers is the eighteenth solo studio album by British singer/songwriter Richard Thompson. It was released on 14 September 2018 by New West Records in the US and by Proper Records in the UK.
House and Land is a two-person experimental Appalachian old-time music band based in Asheville, North Carolina. The band members are guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Louise Henson and fiddler/banjoist Sally Anne Morgan. Both musicians contribute to vocals. They have two albums, the self-titled House and Land, released in June 2017, and Across the Field, released in June 2019. Their first album received a very positive 83 aggregate score on Metacritic and was named the 25th best album of 2017 by Magnet magazine, while their second received an 84 and was named Folk Album of the Month by The Guardian.
All the Good Times is the sixth studio album by Gillian Welch, the second solo studio album by David Rawlings, and the first studio album officially credited to both Welch and Rawlings together. It was released in 2020 and won the 2021 Grammy award for Best Folk Album. All songs on the album are either cover versions of other artists or traditional folk songs that were given new arrangements. Welch and Rawlings have collaborated for many years, including many instances of songwriting, studio production, and touring together, but this album marked the first instance of their music released in conjunction.
"Wild Wood" is a song by British singer-songwriter Paul Weller, released in August 1993 by Go! Discs as the second single from the singer's second solo album, Wild Wood (1993). The song was written by Weller and produced by Brendan Lynch, peaking at number 14 on the UK Singles Charts and being certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). A music video directed by Pedro Romhanyi was produced to promote the single. Portishead remixed the song for the 1999 re-release.
Between the Earth and Sky is the second studio album by Irish folk music group Lankum, released on 27 October 2017 through Rough Trade Records. It is their first album under the name Lankum and their first released on Rough Trade. It received positive reviews from critics and peaked at number 17 on the Irish Albums Chart.