I saw this iteration of RT’s touring band multiple times during the “Across a Crowded Room” tour. Great lineup, with Christine Collister and Clive Gregson providing able vocal and guitar backup, plus the rock solid rhythm section of Gerry Conway and Ruari McFarlane.
I remember videoing this gig when it was televised in the late 1980's.I wore the tape out through watching it too many times ! This gig had a great feel to it. Christine Collister was superb ! Richard Thompson deserves to be rated highly as a song writer ,performer and unique guitarist (electric and acoustic) .Clive Gregson once stated that Richard was his favourite player partly because he wasn't afraid to take risks on stage ,whilst Christine said that she really rated him as a vocalist .
Weighing in 6 years after the fact on the RT-Neil Young thing: RT finds and connects notes in sequences that are wholly unique to him. Period. Long passages of Richard''s guitar-solo architecture - because, yes, we have to discuss architectonics, as we would with Miles, Monk, Coltrane, or any of the great jazz improvisers - would never occur to Neil. That's not a criticism: they're both unique stylists, gifted musicians, but I cannot think of anyone who would set the two down side by side and say, "Neil is the superior creator, the superior technician, the superior stylist." I LOVE NEIL YOUNG, but puh-leez. Before anyone can make so reckless a statement as "Neil could play all this..." one might at least investigate RT's catalog a little more deeply.
I agree. To my mind, while Neil is a great restless, creative innovator, Richard takes the laurels as more melodic, more rhythmically interesting and more creative improviser.
@@martinevensen406 - I think Neil Young is also a superb vocalist with a genuine heartfelt delivery that touches the audience. However, I find (as with almost all other singer/songwriters) that I get bored before long because everything they write is so similar. Notable exceptions are (for me) Joni Mitchell, Devon Sproule and her husband Paul Curreri as well as the late Kelly Joe Phelps. Of course it goes without saying that RT is never boring - I could (and do) listen to him every day.
I’m just going to say, Richard Thompson’s right hand has few if any equals. He also approaches the guitar like a piano, playing multiple parts simultaneously.
@@jeffwhitehead7990 - He spoils you for other guitarists imo. I'm really hoping he'll do a band tour soon so that I can get to hear him play live. Last few gigs I've been to have been solo acoustic - which I love - but I miss the electric guitar. He did say that he has a band album coming out next year - so fingers crossed. Unfortunately I'm in England and he tends to come alone since Brexit has made visas etc. really expensive.
Spot on. I hear Verlaine in RT's spiralling fretwork - similar to the rave ups on TV's 'The Fire' 'Marquee Moon' ,'Torn Curtain' and 'Breakin In My Heart'- among others. Maybe it's because, like RT, Verlaine and Lloyd's soaring flights so often worked outside a blues based framework?
Awesome. I got into this song from yo la tengos version on you tube. could only find a video of linda singing this. I do think i liked that arrangement better though. 70s sound over 80s.
@jeffwhitehead7990 - he does indeed. You can't just let an RT solo wash over you - you have to put the work in - much like a Tchaikovsky or Rakmaninoff piano concerto - if you're only used to listening to blues it can feel disjointed and unmelodic at first, but put in the work and all of a sudden there's a sound explosion going on in your brain and you can never listen to those tired old blues licks that every other guitarist copies again. I never get bored of listening to RT play electric guitar. The only other guitarists that I feel the same about are Angus Young and the late Kelly Joe Phelps.
@@honeychurchgipsy6 Exactly right. RT does plenty of songs with “catchy riffs and melodies” (*very few* blues-based / pentatonic) but, he plays the guitar much more like a piano, playing multiple parts and utilizing diatonic/polyphonic scales. Plus, his right hand is insanely versatile
@@jeffwhitehead7990 - Agree with you on everything - I should know, I spent the last two days with Shame of Doing Wrong going through my head day and night because I'm learning it to sing/play on my uke - they don't come much catchier than that one!! However, his guitar solos are more like a jazz solo and not everyone (especially those not used to listening to anything but pop/easy listening blues) gets them at first. But like all the best music - put in the effort and something magic occurs. I think he also utilises a drone note (like you get with bagpipes) to solo over. I am a fan of British comedian - Stewart Lee - I think of him as the RT of stand up. Check him out - you might see what I mean.
They are probably equals as singer-songwriters, although very different (the commonality is that they both do folky and heavy rock music) but RT is definitely the more proficient guitarist even though he doesn't always show it especially when playing electric (I've heard some live performances where you expect a blistering solo and all you get is strumming, as with the 1994 live performance of Mascara Tears). He's in the same category as Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton, easily. I saw a comment on another video that said they were amazed that RT could sound like a whole rock & roll band. Neil Young had polio as a child and that partly explains the limitations of his guitar style.
This sounds a lot like the song from school of rock at the beginning intro. I don’t think this is as good as the version with Linda on vocals. Something about Linda made Richards music even better it gave their more texture, that’s why I think his best work is with Linda.
World's best electric guitarist? Seriously? I didn't hear anything Neil Young couldn't do and Neil's no Jeff Beck. Great song, Orchestrated and played well but I wouldn't say there was anything outstanding about the solo. Just my opinion of course.
You can have your Claptons and Van Halens - listen to the FREAKING AMAZING STUNNING guitar solo at the end here. Holyshit!!
I'd pay the price of admission just to hear those last 25 seconds of guitar.....
I can't stop listening to this version.
I love it too
@@jackieringersma7003 Life is when you really can see how freaking awesome he was. And God bless the band too!
GENIUS. The only word to describe Richard.:)
Seen him dozens of times. Across a Crowded room with a four piece band was as good as it got. The smaller the venue, the better the gig.
Yes! That's one thing that makes him quite different from many rock "stars" who don't have half his talent.
That there's a long, long list.
Amazing, and it tells me all I need to know about the music industry that this is out of print, and only available on garage sale VHS.
but, given that, thank god it was recorded at all
Clive Gregson on guitar and Christine Collister on vocals....great duo
They were special. I had the pleasure of interviewing Clive, then hearing him live. The interview was cool but nothing like hearing him sing and play.
Oh my God, this is awesome!
wonderful guitar style
I saw this iteration of RT’s touring band multiple times during the “Across a Crowded Room” tour. Great lineup, with Christine Collister and Clive Gregson providing able vocal and guitar backup, plus the rock solid rhythm section of Gerry Conway and Ruari McFarlane.
this is one fucking brilliant lesson on how to build a guitar solo
One of the best always thought it and this keeps me convinced
Gerry Conway RIP
Still sounds great
no one commented.........Clive and Christine........I am smacked of the Gob variety
They were special. I had the pleasure of interviewing Clive, then hearing him live. The interview was cool but nothing like hearing him sing and play.
I remember videoing this gig when it was televised in the late 1980's.I wore the tape out through watching it too many times ! This gig had a great feel to it. Christine Collister was superb ! Richard Thompson deserves to be rated highly as a song writer ,performer and unique guitarist (electric and acoustic) .Clive Gregson once stated that Richard was his favourite player partly because he wasn't afraid to take risks on stage ,whilst Christine said that she really rated him as a vocalist .
Absolutely incredible!
Weighing in 6 years after the fact on the RT-Neil Young thing: RT finds and connects notes in sequences that are wholly unique to him. Period. Long passages of Richard''s guitar-solo architecture - because, yes, we have to discuss architectonics, as we would with Miles, Monk, Coltrane, or any of the great jazz improvisers - would never occur to Neil. That's not a criticism: they're both unique stylists, gifted musicians, but I cannot think of anyone who would set the two down side by side and say, "Neil is the superior creator, the superior technician, the superior stylist." I LOVE NEIL YOUNG, but puh-leez. Before anyone can make so reckless a statement as "Neil could play all this..." one might at least investigate RT's catalog a little more deeply.
I agree. To my mind, while Neil is a great restless, creative innovator, Richard takes the laurels as more melodic, more rhythmically interesting and more creative improviser.
Richard makes neil look like a joke on all areas, except neil is a good songwriter
@@martinevensen406 - I think Neil Young is also a superb vocalist with a genuine heartfelt delivery that touches the audience. However, I find (as with almost all other singer/songwriters) that I get bored before long because everything they write is so similar. Notable exceptions are (for me) Joni Mitchell, Devon Sproule and her husband Paul Curreri as well as the late Kelly Joe Phelps. Of course it goes without saying that RT is never boring - I could (and do) listen to him every day.
I’m just going to say, Richard Thompson’s right hand has few if any equals. He also approaches the guitar like a piano, playing multiple parts simultaneously.
@@jeffwhitehead7990 - He spoils you for other guitarists imo. I'm really hoping he'll do a band tour soon so that I can get to hear him play live. Last few gigs I've been to have been solo acoustic - which I love - but I miss the electric guitar. He did say that he has a band album coming out next year - so fingers crossed. Unfortunately I'm in England and he tends to come alone since Brexit has made visas etc. really expensive.
Wonderiffic by the way ! Genius !
este hombre es grande... extremamente sexy... gran musico ... muchissimo talento y sooo much good vibrations. muchas gracias r.t.
Saw RT play at the NO Jazz Fest in 1988, I think, playing an acoustic set in a tent. Simply awestruck.
Yes joynthis! Further pissed that Gregson's great vocal on Summer Rain is no longer on You Tube.
tell me about it..been looking for it and it's gone now...
Wow.
Great playing. Reminds me a lot of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd of Television. I wonder how much they were influenced by Thompson's playing?
Spot on. I hear Verlaine in RT's spiralling fretwork - similar to the rave ups on TV's 'The Fire' 'Marquee Moon' ,'Torn Curtain' and 'Breakin In My Heart'- among others. Maybe it's because, like RT, Verlaine and Lloyd's soaring flights so often worked outside a blues based framework?
Awesome. I got into this song from yo la tengos version on you tube. could only find a video of linda singing this. I do think i liked that arrangement better though. 70s sound over 80s.
Wow!
@maroonedsorrow - you're missing "Wall of Death" in your playlist.
There's RT and everyone else.
He challenges you to listen
@jeffwhitehead7990 - he does indeed. You can't just let an RT solo wash over you - you have to put the work in - much like a Tchaikovsky or Rakmaninoff piano concerto - if you're only used to listening to blues it can feel disjointed and unmelodic at first, but put in the work and all of a sudden there's a sound explosion going on in your brain and you can never listen to those tired old blues licks that every other guitarist copies again.
I never get bored of listening to RT play electric guitar. The only other guitarists that I feel the same about are Angus Young and the late Kelly Joe Phelps.
@@honeychurchgipsy6 Exactly right. RT does plenty of songs with “catchy riffs and melodies” (*very few* blues-based / pentatonic) but, he plays the guitar much more like a piano, playing multiple parts and utilizing diatonic/polyphonic scales. Plus, his right hand is insanely versatile
@@jeffwhitehead7990 - Agree with you on everything - I should know, I spent the last two days with Shame of Doing Wrong going through my head day and night because I'm learning it to sing/play on my uke - they don't come much catchier than that one!! However, his guitar solos are more like a jazz solo and not everyone (especially those not used to listening to anything but pop/easy listening blues) gets them at first.
But like all the best music - put in the effort and something magic occurs. I think he also utilises a drone note (like you get with bagpipes) to solo over.
I am a fan of British comedian - Stewart Lee - I think of him as the RT of stand up. Check him out - you might see what I mean.
@JonathanDaddy I believe it is drop D.
It would have been better if your friend had remarked that to you.
Anybody know what tuning RT is using on this tune?
It might have been what I heard another guitarist describe as "the Richard Thompson hell tuning."
You didn't hear anything Neil Young couldn't do? You're out of your freakin mind.
Yup
Technically he’s light years ahead of Neil listen to his acoustic playing ie Vincent black lighting and tell if Neil could get around that
@@stevenaustin8274 Expressively, too: he has all the expressive range of Neil and then some.
They are probably equals as singer-songwriters, although very different (the commonality is that they both do folky and heavy rock music) but RT is definitely the more proficient guitarist even though he doesn't always show it especially when playing electric (I've heard some live performances where you expect a blistering solo and all you get is strumming, as with the 1994 live performance of Mascara Tears). He's in the same category as Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton, easily. I saw a comment on another video that said they were amazed that RT could sound like a whole rock & roll band. Neil Young had polio as a child and that partly explains the limitations of his guitar style.
This sounds a lot like the song from school of rock at the beginning intro. I don’t think this is as good as the version with Linda on vocals. Something about Linda made Richards music even better it gave their more texture, that’s why I think his best work is with Linda.
World's best electric guitarist? Seriously? I didn't hear anything Neil Young couldn't do and Neil's no Jeff Beck. Great song, Orchestrated and played well but I wouldn't say there was anything outstanding about the solo. Just my opinion of course.
Of course it is and of course its also total bollocks
Theres a spiritual intendity to that solo that puts RT on a par with McLaughlin/Santana's Love Devotion Surrender album.
Well, I don't think Neil even knows hybrid picking for starters...