Hand of Kindness

Last updated

Hand of Kindness
RT Hok.jpg
Studio album by
Richard Thompson
ReleasedJune 1983
Recorded1983
Studio Olympic, London
Ocean Way, Hollywood
Genre Rock, folk rock, zydeco
Length41:15
Label Hannibal
Producer Joe Boyd
Richard Thompson chronology
Strict Tempo!
(1981)		Hand of Kindness
(1983)		 Small Town Romance
(1984)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Hand of Kindness is the third solo album by singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson. It was recorded and released in 1983, after a ten year collaboration with former wife Linda Thompson. It is his first album of original solo material since Henry the Human Fly (1972).

Contents

Background and details

After having separated from Linda, and the "Tour From Hell" to promote the couple's Shoot Out the Lights , Richard resumed his own career as a recording and performing artist.

Several songs feature the twin saxophones of Pete Zorn and Pete Thomas, and for about 18 months after the release of Hand of Kindness, Thompson toured with his "Big Band" that featured the two sax players prominently.

The album opens with "Tear-Stained Letter", later a country music top ten hit for Jo-El Sonnier. In 2021, Thompson's ex-wife Linda cited album track "How I Wanted To" as her favorite of her former husband's songs. [4]

The album's cover photo features Thompson holding an acoustic guitar made for him by American luthier Danny Ferrington; the same guitar appears on the cover of Thompson's next release, Small Town Romance .

The backing band for the album featured Thompson's former Fairport Convention colleagues Simon Nicol (rhythm guitar), Dave Pegg (bass), and Dave Mattacks (drums). The album featured every musician from Fairport's Full House (except for violinist Dave Swarbrick).

Track listing

All tracks are written by Richard Thompson.

No.TitleLength
1."Tear-Stained Letter"4:42
2."How I Wanted To"5:12
3."Both Ends Burning"3:51
4."A Poisoned Heart and a Twisted Memory"5:25
5."Where the Wind Don't Whine" (B-side included as CD bonus track)4:09
6."The Wrong Heartbeat"3:15
7."Hand of Kindness"6:03
8."Devonside"4:46
9."Two Left Feet"3:53

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Deming, Mark (2011). "Hand of Kindness - Richard Thompson | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  3. ↑ "Rolling Stone review". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007.
  4. ↑ "Richard Thompson's famous fans choose their favourite songs". the Guardian. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.