| Acoustic Classics II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 August 2017 | |||
| Recorded | Rumiville Studio, 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.
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".
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.
Linda Thompson is an English singer-songwriter.
Steve Tilston is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist.
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.
O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. O'Hooley & Tidow were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album Shadows was given a five-star review in The Guardian, and four of their other albums, including their 2017 release WinterFolk Volume 1, have received four-star reviews in the British national press. From 2019 to 2022, their song "Gentleman Jack", from the album The Fragile, featured as the closing theme for the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack. Their album Cloudheads was released on 21 April 2023.
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.
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 in the UK.
Spooky Action is the debut solo album by English singer songwriter and ex-Mansun frontman Paul Draper, released on 11 August 2017. It entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 19 and peaked at No. 3 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.
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.
"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.