Pour Down Like Silver

Last updated

Pour Down Like Silver
Pour Down Like Silver.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 1975 [1]
RecordedSummer 1975
Studio Sound Techniques, London
Genre Folk rock
Length40:40
Label Island
Producer Richard Thompson, John Wood
Richard and Linda Thompson chronology
Hokey Pokey
(1975)
Pour Down Like Silver
(1975)
First Light
(1978)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Christgau's Record Guide B+ [2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Pour Down Like Silver is the third album by the British duo of singer-songwriter and guitarist Richard and vocalist Linda Thompson. It was recorded in the summer of 1975 and released in November 1975 on the Island Records label.

Contents

Background

The Thompsons had adopted the Sufi faith in 1974 and had moved into a commune in London. The songs on this album reflect their new faith and the relief that Richard Thompson had found in that faith.

It seems that various and conflicting pressures were bearing down on the duo at the time.

And there was a recording contract. The Thompsons owed Island Records an album. The compromise seems to have been that the album to be delivered was to have a strong spiritual aspect. Linda Thompson later explained: "Pour Down Like Silver was when Sheikh Abdul Q'adir said we could make music as long as it was to God... "Dimming of the Day", "Beat the Retreat", "Night Comes In", they're all about God, and considering they're all about God some of them aren't bad." [4]

Despite these surrounding constraints and conflicts, the album is recognisably a Richard and Linda Thompson album in terms of melodies and the lyrical style.

Pour Down Like Silver was recorded at Sound Techniques studio in London, with engineer John Wood. Richard Thompson would have been familiar with both engineer and studio from his time with Fairport Convention. Joe Boyd, who had both produced and managed Fairport, did the vast majority of his production work at Sound Techniques and with Wood at the controls.

Richard Thompson had left Fairport Convention in 1971 with a considerable reputation as an electric guitar soloist. However, the first few albums of his post-Fairport career had placed more emphasis on the vocals and the songs themselves. As noted above, Thompson was under increasing pressure from his spiritual teacher to abandon the electric guitar. Certainly what recent live work there had been had placed the emphasis on acoustic guitar.

So it was notable that Pour Down Like Silver and the live shows either side of the album's release saw Thompson's electric guitar returning to the spotlight. Concert performances featured extended guitar solos on "The Calvary Cross" (from I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight ) and on "Night Comes In" and "For Shame of Doing Wrong" from the newly released Pour Down Like Silver.

The electric guitar is prominent indeed on this the third Richard and Linda album. More so because of the sparser arrangements and production that distinguish this album from its more lush sounding predecessor. Subsequently, Thompson disclosed that this stark and simple production was more by accident than design: "It was a stark record, but I think it was by accident in a sense – we were intending to have Simon [Nicol] come and play rhythm guitar but he wasn't available so everything ended up sounding very stark and I was always going to overdub rhythm guitar and stuff, but we thought we’ll just leave it, what the hell." [4]

Thompson may perhaps be regarded as being a little too off-hand here. In fact he overdubbed mandolin, keyboard and multiple guitar parts on some tracks, and session musicians were also called in. Another noticeable instrumental element of the album is the accordion of John Kirkpatrick which is prominent both on this album and during the Thompsons' live shows in 1975.

The understated and elegant "Dimming of the Day" was sung by Linda Thompson on this album, but Richard Thompson has continued to feature it in his own live shows for many years – an indication of its deep personal significance. This song is an example of Thompson writing in a centuries-old Sufic tradition of expressing divine love in earthly terms. On the album "Dimming of the Day" segues into a solo guitar performance of Scots composer James Scott Skinner's "Dargai" that perfectly matches the mood of the song and serves to bring the album to a contemplative conclusion.

"Night Comes In" is another song of profound personal significance and recounts Richard Thompson's formal initiation into the Sufi faith. The song is also notable for several prominent passages of electric guitar playing notable for their lyrical intensity – especially the closing, multi-tracked solo.

"Hard Luck Stories" is the most musically upbeat song on the album, with sardonic lyrics and a typically incisive guitar solo.

After this album and the following short tour, Richard and Linda Thompson took a sabbatical from recording, writing and performing music.

Reception

Writing in 2000, Robert Christgau describes the album as "semimiraculous" and one of the Thompsons' four "knockout" albums. [5]

Track listing

All songs written by Richard Thompson, except "Dargai" by J. Scott Skinner, arranged by Thompson.

Side one

  1. "Streets of Paradise" – 4:17
  2. "For Shame of Doing Wrong" – 4:44
  3. "The Poor Boy Is Taken Away" – 3:35
  4. "Night Comes In" – 8:12

Side two

  1. "Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair" – 2:48
  2. "Beat the Retreat" – 5:52
  3. "Hard Luck Stories" – 3:51
  4. "Dimming of the Day"/"Dargai" – 7:16

Bonus tracks

Available on 2004 Island Reissue [6]

  1. "Streets of Paradise" (live) – 3.57
  2. "Night Comes In" (live) – 12.22
  3. "Dark End of the Street" (live) (Chips Moman, Dan Penn) – 4.16
  4. "Beat the Retreat" (live) – 6.25

Personnel

Cover version

Sandy Denny covered "For Shame of Doing Wrong" under the title "I Wish I Was a Fool For You (For Shame of Doing Wrong)" on her album Rendezvous .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Thompson (musician)</span> British recording artist; singer, songwriter, guitarist

Richard Thompson is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Pegg</span> English bass guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and record producer (born 1947)

Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk and rock groups including the Ian Campbell Folk Group and Jethro Tull.

<i>What We Did on Our Holidays</i> 1969 studio album by Fairport Convention

What We Did on Our Holidays is the second album by British band Fairport Convention, released in 1969. It was their first album to feature singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. The album also showed a move towards the folk rock for which the band became noted, including tracks later to become perennial favourites such as "Fotheringay" and the song traditionally used to close live concerts, "Meet on the Ledge".

<i>Rise Up Like the Sun</i> 1978 studio album by The Albion Band

Rise Up Like the Sun is a British folk rock album released in 1978 by The Albion Band. The album is in part a collaboration between John Tams on vocals and melodeon and Ashley Hutchings on electric bass. This is not the first album on which the two worked together but it remains the most fulfilling for listeners. To build the sound Hutchings brought in two of his former compatriots from Fairport Convention, Dave Mattacks on drums and tambourine and Simon Nicol on vocals and electric and acoustic guitars. In addition another ex-member of Fairport, Richard Thompson, contributed songs and backing vocals. Having assembled the principal contributors and an ambiance that encouraged their friends to drop in, Hutchings gave Tams the freedom to act as the project's musical director. They were joined by Philip Pickett on shawms, bagpipes, curtals and trumpet, Pete Bullock on synthesiser, piano, clarinet, sax, and organ, Michael Gregory on percussion, Ric Sanders on violin and violectra and Graeme Taylor on electric and acoustic guitars. Kate McGarrigle, Julie Covington, Linda Thompson, Pat Donaldson, Martin Carthy, Andy Fairweather-Low and Dave Bristow make guest appearances.

Linda Thompson is an English singer-songwriter.

<i>Henry the Human Fly</i> 1972 studio album by Richard Thompson

Henry the Human Fly is the debut solo album by Richard Thompson, his first release following his leaving former group Fairport Convention. It was released on the Island label in the U.K. and the Reprise label in the U.S.A. in April 1972. The album was reissued by Rykodisc in 1991.

<i>I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight</i> 1974 studio album by Richard and Linda Thompson

I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is the second album released by Richard Thompson, and his first to include his then wife, Linda Thompson, the pair being credited as Richard and Linda Thompson. It was issued by Island Records in the UK in 1974. Although the album did not sell and was critically ignored, it has been descried as "a timeless masterpiece" and considered one of the finest releases by the two singers, whether working singly or together.

<i>First Light</i> (Richard and Linda Thompson album) 1978 studio album by Richard and Linda Thompson

First Light is the fourth album by folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was released in 1978 on Chrysalis Records.

<i>Shoot Out the Lights</i> 1982 studio album by Richard and Linda Thompson

Shoot Out the Lights is the sixth and final album by British husband-and-wife rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was produced by Joe Boyd and released in 1982 on his Hannibal label. A critically acclaimed work, AllMusic's Mark Deming noted that Shoot Out the Lights has "often been cited as Richard Thompson's greatest work."

<i>(guitar, vocal)</i> 1976 compilation album by Richard Thompson

(guitar, vocal) is a 1976 album by Richard Thompson. It was released by Island Records as a career retrospective after he and his wife Linda had gone into semi-retirement from the business of making and performing music following the release of Pour Down Like Silver (1975).

<i>Watching the Dark</i> 1993 compilation album by Richard Thompson

Watching the Dark is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1993. The three-CD retrospective set was compiled with Thompson's co-operation and consent. It runs from 1969, when Thompson was a member of Fairport Convention, through to 1992. However, it is not sequenced in chronological order.

<i>The Best of Richard & Linda Thompson: The Island Records Years</i> 2000 compilation album by Richard and Linda Thompson

Island Records issued this compilation in 2000 as the first step in a program to re-master and re-issue the albums that Richard and Linda Thompson had cut for them.

<i>The Chrono Show</i> 2004 live album by Richard Thompson

The Chrono Show is a live album by Richard Thompson. The album is compiled from recordings made during Thompson's 2004 tour of America, and features songs from Thompson's back catalog, most of them written prior to 1983 and arranged in mostly chronological order.

<i>RT- The Life and Music of Richard Thompson</i> 2006 box set by Richard Thompson

RT- The Life and Music of Richard Thompson is a 5-CD box set by Richard Thompson, released in February 2006. It gives an extensive overview of Thompson's long career without including content from any of his mainstream albums.

<i>Like an Old Fashioned Waltz</i> 1974 studio album by Sandy Denny

Like an Old Fashioned Waltz is the third solo album by English folk rock singer Sandy Denny, released in June 1974.

<i>Rendezvous</i> (Sandy Denny album) 1977 studio album by Sandy Denny

Rendezvous is the fourth and final studio album by English folk rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny, released on Island Records in May 1977, and the final album released during her lifetime.

"Dimming of the Day" is a song written by Richard Thompson and performed with his then-wife Linda Thompson on their 1975 album Pour Down Like Silver. Acoustic version can be found on Richard Thompson's 1996 album Acoustic Classics.

<i>Walking on a Wire</i> (Richard Thompson album) 2009 compilation album by Richard Thompson

Walking on a Wire is a 2009 compilation CD set of songs by Richard Thompson. It was released on August 26, 2009, a set of four CDs. The set contains the bulk of Thompson's songs, but contains no unreleased material.

<i>In Concert, November 1975</i> 2007 live album by Richard and Linda Thompson

In Concert, November 1975 is a live album by Richard and Linda Thompson, released on Island Records in 2007. It is a document of the pair's second tour as headliners, which took them through the United Kingdom during the autumn of 1975. Like every other album by the couple, it did not make the charts in either the UK or the United States.

<i>Live at the BBC</i> (Richard & Linda Thompson album) 2011 live album by Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson - Live at the BBC is a compilation of audio and video recordings made by Richard Thompson for the BBC. The set consists of three CDs and a DVD. The included material was recorded over a number of years; the earliest tracks date back to 1973, the most recent to 2009. Most of the material was recorded for various TV and radio shows broadcast by the BBC. About 40% of the included material was performed by Richard and Linda Thompson.

References

  1. "Richard & Linda Thompson - Pour Down Like Silver". 2 November 1975 via www.discogs.com.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved 16 March 2019 via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Humphries, Patrick, Richard Thompson – The Biography, Schirmer, 1997. ISBN   0-02-864752-1
  5. Christgau, Robert (2000). Grown Up All Wrong: 75 Great Rock and Pop Artists from Vaudeville to Techno. Harvard University Press. p. 164. ISBN   9780674003828.
  6. "Richard & Linda Thompson - Pour Down Like Silver". 2 November 2004 via www.discogs.com.
  7. 1 2 "Richard & Linda Thompson: Pour Down Like Silver".
  8. "Song-o-matic - Pour Down Like Silver". Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.